2019-12-18 Merit Appeals Board Minutes

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Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 CHR. NAMAHOE: So, at the time when you elaborate further, a little later on today, then you'll also talk—well, the question that comes to mind is creating two positions out of what previously was one position—has that been—what's the budget calisthenics for you? MR. BRILHANTE: That's a very good question and that was in one of my primary areas of consideration when I was laying this out. I think, at the end of the day, the conclusion I drew upon was the fact that because the way the previous hierarchy or organization was structured, I had one individual who didn't have much work comp experience but had a great breadth of experience in the safety and the training area—managing the work comp division. The work comp division, that budget, in and of itself, stand alone is 2 point something—$2.2 million a year in payments and the like. So, I felt—and I have documentation to prove that we're bleeding money out of the work comp division—and a lot of that was because there wasn't enough attention spent on just managing the work comp claims. So, when I separated the two, I brought in a manager who has a strong background in work comp. She was in the private sector for 17 years where she did both vocational rehab. and return-to-work programs for a private entity here in Hilo exceptional references. And I brought her on board, and that's going to be part of my report—and we're saving so much money that we've more than doubled the salary that we've associated—we had to expend for creating that new position. So, and what I actually did was I took a lower level managers position, I reallocated it up to a higher level. So, all we're doing for that reorg—the only added expenditures—the difference between those two position—classes of work, which is significantly lower than if we created a brand-new position. The other thing I did to save some money is, if you've noticed, I still don't have a deputy. So, I've held off on appointing a deputy and because salary and wages are conclusive of—it's the totality of the whole budget is associate—is assigned to salary and wages. So, if I can save a dollar here, I get to use it, a dollar, one salary here—I get to use it for another position. So, I'm looking at maybe the first quarter of next—this coming year, to appoint a deputy. And I think I should have enough savings realized so that I can go forward with that. But I just, kind of, robbed from Peter to pay Paul for a little while going forward. Or I should say "borrowed." So, those are my three goals for last year and how we addressed them. Going forward is the survey results. Should I do—should I present my goals for 2019 or 20, or do you guys want to discuss the survey results first? MS. NAMAHOE: I'm happy to take your direction. I mean, we've already read these bullets in and I—you've also explained to us that you have a—you're—a balance of schedule concerns right now? Page 1 1