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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-12-18 Merit Appeals Board Minutes Merit Appeals Board Department of Human Resources 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 102 Hilo, Hawai`i December 18, 2019 (Wednesday) Call to Order(Item 1) The regular meeting of the Merit Appeals Board, County of Hawaii, was called to order at 10:00 a.m. by Chair Luahiwa Namahoe, at the Department of Human Resources (HR) Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 2, Hilo, Hawaii, on Wednesday, December 18, 2019. Roll Call—Present Ms. Luahiwa Namahoe, Chair Mr. William Chillingworth, Vice-Chair Mr. Mitch Tam, Member Mr. Mel Ventura, Member Absent and Excused Ms. Bella Hughes, Member Also Present Mr. J Yoshimoto, Deputy Corporation Counsel, Ofc. of the Corp. Counsel Mr. William V. Brilhante, Jr., Director, HR Department Ms. Glynis Yamada, Secretary-Reporter, HR Department Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 CHR. NAMAHOE: Happy end of the year and happy end of the 20 teens. Calling to order at 10 a.m. Addendum to the Agenda (Item 2) CHR. NAMAHOE: Any addendums to the agenda? None? MR. YOSHIMOTO: None. CHR. NAMAHOE: Okay. Statements from the Public (Item 3) CHR. NAMAHOE: And any statements from the public? None. All right. So— MR. CHILLINGWORTH: How do we handle that letter that came in from the individual? Is that a statement from the public or is that something else? MR. YOSHIMOTO: We've numbered it as a communication. And the usual procedure would be for the Board to just to receive it—motion to file. And then—yeah, close file the communication. MR. CHILLINGWORTH: Okay. Approval of Minutes (Item 4) CHR. NAMAHOE: So, while that's at point 5, point 4, right now, we have a bulk action in front of us. And I think, at some point, I'm going to call on J to elaborate a little further. But what we have right now is approval—mass approval of minutes. At this point, Mel, I'm going to ask you to audit the process, watch what we have to go through because what Mitch—Mr. Tam, Mr. Chillingworth, and I have in common is that we were physically present at all of the meetings listed below. So, one of the things that we have to deal with is approving these minutes and it's important for us to do so, because last July 2018 it was passed that public minutes needed to be posted 40 days after the meeting. So, we do have some urgency, which are the last four series of minutes are out of compliance. So, we need to make sure that they are entered into the record. And, although, I know that we have been quite efficient at take a motion, make a motion, second the motion, all in favor—while we're pretty efficient at that—somehow, we let this slip by. So, we have one of two things to do here. If we are comfortable, we can vote on it in an entirety or if we need to, we can take them piece by piece. Do you have any thoughts on the matter? Page 2 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 MR. CHILLINGWORTH: I've reviewed the minutes. The minutes for April 24th, 2019 need to be corrected. The rest, I think, are okay. CHR. NAMAHOE: Let's go to those minutes. April 24th, 2019. MR. CHILLINGWORTH: Page 5, paragraph 2, the word that is included there is "descending"—and the word that should be there is "dissenting"—d-i-s-s-e-n-t-i-n-g. MR. YOSHIMOTO: So, that'd be considered a motion to amend. MR. CHILLINGWORTH: Amend. MR. YOSHIMOTO: Yeah. You need a second. MR. TAM: I will second. CHR. NAMAHOE: All in favor? AYES: Board Members Chillingworth, Tam, and Chair Namahoe–3. NOES: None. ABSTAIN: Board Member Ventura– 1. ABSENT: Board Member Hughes– 1. EXCUSED: None. CHR. NAMAHOE: Thank you for catching that. So, before we make a decision on this, I'd like to entertain comments—either clarification from Corp. Counsel or from Mr. Brilhante? MR. YOSHIMOTO: At this point, Madam Chair, recommendation would be, if the Board decides to move forward on this recommendation—would be to approve all of the minutes as indicated on the agenda, with the amendment of April 24th, 2019. MR. BRILHANTE: Good morning. MR. TAM: Good morning. MR. CHILLINGWORTH: So moved. CHR. NAMAHOE: So, moved. MR. TAM: Second. • Page 3 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 CHR. NAMAHOE: So, all in favor of approving the minutes in totem? Any opposition? None. AYES: Board Members Chillingworth, Tam, and Chair Namahoe—3. NOES: None. ABSTAIN: Board Member Ventura— 1. ABSENT: Board Member Hughes— 1. EXCUSED: None. CHR. NAMAHOE: Thank you, Glynis. MS. YAMADA: Thank you. MR. YOSHIMOTO: So, Madam Chair, I do see, for the record, Mr. Sadegh has joined us. He has a communication, which is number 5 on the agenda. Since he is here, maybe you'd want to ask him if he wants to provide a statement—even though we passed that, he did make an effort to be here today, so— MR. SADEGH: I appreciate it. I wasn't (inaudible)this section to be on this one. I think it was originally intended for the Salary Commission, but I appreciate given the opportunity to explain because as it is written, it's really misleading. I consider our, first of all, as far as I am concerned, the Garden of Eden as such was just a metaphor. It wasn't real. It was like a story, Christ is to continuously talk about. And Garden of Eden means paradise. If you take humanity off this planet and put them somewhere else for awhile until this planet would heal itself as it is ultimate damage we have done to it. For most of the animal kingdom or all of them instinctively, this planet is a paradise. Where else would the dolphin or a shark or the bird be? But we have to make the paradise by choice. That is the— that's the difference. And we can also refer to our planet as spaceship earth. It is really a spaceship. It's travelling at 110,000 kilometers per hour in its orbit around the sun. And all of us are in there. Just imagine the movie Titanic—good and bad and every little—we are in there sharing the same destiny. So, then, when I look at our island and I believe there is a higher source—we use God for it—for me, again, believing in God is optional, because I'm a founder of a new faith or reached by the way I'm being persecuted. That they have the choice to make this a paradise, not just for the most powerful and influential at the highest level of their society but for everyone. And that's what I mean by looking at it as a family and looking at our island as a family. No one should—first of all, each child by the laws of nature has to reach its fullest potential and this is not limited only to the wealthy and the powerful—everyone. And they can create a paradise here. There should not be a man who has a woman, single mother or single parent that have to work—have two jobs just to put food on the table where they would not possibly be effective parents. Page 4 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 So, there has to be some level of equality. My son, one of his reactions to the id—my idea was, you mean everybody should make the same amount of money? I said, "No." If any son was here, it would—they say his wealth is equivalent to 50 billion. I think we should give him another 50 billion because he changed our lives. He changed—he brought us to a different level of existence with more than a thousand, believe it or not— CHR. NAMAHOE: Mr. Sadegh,just— MR. SADEGH: I am closing it. CHR. NAMAHOE: I appreciate—no, no, no—you have another two minutes and I'm grateful for what you're saying. Help bring me—help bring us into its application to the Merit Appeals Board. MR. SADEGH: Well, as I said, this wasn't supposed to be here. And I, of course, now, all of a sudden, this boat—that's how. All of us are in this boat, we are sharing the same destiny, and we have to be concerned with our entire population—and not just be limited to those who are—and remember, those who are in a position of power does not mean they're always going to be there. So, we need to look into new future generations and create the best place on this island, which happen to be a natural paradise. CHR. NAMAHOE: We share that with you. Thank you so much, sir. MR. SADEGH: Thank you. And thank you for allowing me to explain. CHR. NAMAHOE: Thank you so much for your statements. MR. SADEGH: You're welcome. Again, Happy New Year and all the other good things that are in between. CHR. NAMAHOE: Thank you so much, sir. MR. SADEGH: Yes, ma'am. CHR. NAMAHOE: Thank you. Okay, so we've now had elaboration. We had a combination of number 3, statements from the public; as well as Communication 5—number 19-04. Communication(s) (Item 5) Communication No. 19-04, received on April 25,2019 from Mr. Abolghassem Sadegh, transmitting a copy of an e-mail message entitled, "The Big Island as a Family Owned Corporation of About 200,000 Individuals with `Liberty and Justice for All,' Garden of Eden." Page 5 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 CHR. NAMAHOE: There's no motions to make on that, correct? MR. YOSHIMOTO: No, it's a motion to file. CHR. NAMAHOE: I'll entertain a motion to file it? MR. TAM: I make a motion to file the communication. CHR. NAMAHOE: Thank you, Mr. Tam. MR. CHILLINGWORTH: Second. CHR. NAMAHOE: Thank you, Mr. Chillingworth. All in favor? AYES: Board Members Chillingworth, Tam, Ventura, and Chair Namahoe–4. NOES: None. ABSENT: Board Member Hughes– 1. EXCUSED: None. CHR. NAMAHOE: Okay. And it passed unopposed. New business now. New Business (for discussion and appropriate action) (Item 6) FY 2018-2019 Annual Performance Evaluation of the Director of Human Resources (HR): Presentation By The Director Of HR Regarding Department's Goals And Objectives For FY 2018-2019; Survey Results For FY 2018-2019; Presentation By The Director Of HR Regarding Department's Goals And Objectives For FY 2019-2020; Merit Appeals Board's Evaluation Tool For The Director Of HR For FY 2019-2020; SurveyMonkey Questions For FY 2019-2020 and; Review of Executive Session minutes of: January 16,2018; January 29, 2018; February 12, 2018; December 19, 2018; February 21, 2019; April 24, 2019 CHR. NAMAHOE: Is it time for us to move into executive session? MR. YOSHIMOTO: I guess—probably the presentation with the director first, and then— CHR. NAMAHOE: And then we'll go into executive session? MR. YOSHIMOTO: Yeah. MS. YAMADA: I'll call him. CHR. NAMAHOE: Thank you so much. Page 6 Merit Appeals Board December 18,2019 (At this time, Mr. William V. Brilhante, Jr., Director, Department of Human Resources, entered the room.) CHR. NAMAHOE: Thank you, Mr. Brilhante, we're on section 6. MR. BRILHANTE: Are we on the first bullet—annual performance evaluation? CHR. NAMAHOE: Yes. We've read through the bullets, so the floor is yours, sir. MR. BRILHANTE: Oh, okay. Thank you. Sorry—good morning, Madam Chair, and other Board Members—William Brilhante, Director of Human Resources. Unfortunately, today, I'm multi-tasking—as part of my job where I'm supposed to be calling in or participating in a HR director—statewide HR directors telephone conference regarding discussion for one of the arbitrations—for one of the bargaining units coming up in January. So, that's why I was, kind of, going back and forth. So, I'll make this brief and then I'll let you guys do whatever you need to do moving forward. So, as it relates to the first item—presentation regarding last years 2018-2019 performance goals. I think it's this white sheet you have in front of you and it's labeled "July 1St, 2018 –June 30tH 2019 Human Resources Director"— CHR. NAMAHOE: Wait, one second, we need to figure out what—where our stuff is. MS. YAMADA: It's in your manila envelope— CHR. NAMAHOE: Manilla envelope. MR. CHILLINGWORTH: Manila envelope. Thank you. CHR. NAMAHOE: This one. This is manila? Excuse me. MR. BRILHANTE: For Fiscal Year 18-19, I—at the time of this submittal, I identified three goals that we're looking for from a departmental perspective going forward and trying to attain. Goal number 1 was to develop a County-wide supervisory management training and certification program. Goal 2 was develop a County-wide policy and education program on the prevention of workplace violence. And Goal 3 was to develop a department-by-department safety program to help reduce the frequency and expenses associated with workers compensation claims. So, what'll I do is I'll just take one—each one independently and just give a brief update as to where we are with that. For Goal 1, the supervisory training program. I'll be happy to announce that two weeks ago we had our graduating—our first graduating class. We had 32 participants who successfully Page 7 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 completed the class. The program consisted of 12 months of training. They met two days a month, generally, on Fridays. And they had anywhere from two to four hours of training each of those days, and they discussed and they addressed various topics related to professional development, identifying proper classifications of work, labor relations—the whole gamut of HR and supervisory responsibilities as it relates to human resources. And we had a graduation ceremony where we recognized and we gave a certificate of completion to each of the graduates and we also had the mayor in attendance as well. The mayor had some comments where he was very appreciative and supportive of the program. Yes? CHR. NAMAHOE: Thirty-two participants—so these are 32 leaders of the various County agencies? MR. BRILHANTE: Correct. They're—what we did was we opened up invitation to all mid- level managers. So, it'd be like your excluded management. So, not your department heads, your deputies—but your management or supervisors—departmental supervisors. And the reason we selected that as a class was, we're hoping that through the trickle-down effect, if we better educate and better equip our managers with a greater understanding and knowledge of management—management skills, resources available, how do you handle a particular situation, concerns with—say, a ADA accommodation request. How do you properly handle that? Conducting a proper investigation. What's the steps needed prior to imposing discipline on an employee. The mindset behind that was if we can better equip our mid-level managers with that knowledge and gain their confidence, then the trickle-down effect is we'll see less and less of these situations arise at the grievance level. CHR. NAMAHOE: So, to clarify, these 32 people are from all the agencies and these are, like, civil service? MR. BRILHANTE: Well, they're CHR. NAMAHOE: They'll be around. They're not serving at the pleasure MR. BRILHANTE: Correct. They're classified as excluded managers, so because they're management, they're outside of civil service. CHR. NAMAHOE: Okay. MR. BRILHANTE: So, they have some protection because under the HRS, they get no less than their civil service counterparts—collective bargaining counterparts. CHR. NAMAHOE: Okay. Page 8 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 MR. BRILHANTE: But, yet, it was County-wide and it was—the invitation was open to all. CHR. NAMAHOE: Okay. MR. BRILHANTE: Yeah. So, they'll be here as I open my statement I—at the graduation, I specifically articulated that these individuals who participated were, first-off, were very appreciative `cause it's time-consuming and it's dedication. They have to come in, they have to drive in. A third of them were from Kona and they drove in. But we identified them as the—not necessarily todays leaders. They're leaders in their department, but they're the County leaders going forward. They're—I bet you a handful of them will be the future department heads and deputies and going forward. So, that was communicated to them and that's our expectations. It was very—we have people like Pam Mizuno who completed the class. And she was the previous deputy for the Department of Parks and Recreation, but she felt it was worthwhile to come and—Mason Souza and various— Neil Tanaka. And so, there's a group, a handful of people who definitely will be with the County for a while and will be ascending to higher department-level deputy type positions— division heads. So, that—to me, that program was successful. We're continuing it. We'll be doing it, another training next year starting in January with managers. The mayor requested that we open it up to his department—open up the program to his department heads and deputies as well. So, we're looking—we're in the process of developing, somewhat, of an abbreviated schedule for the department heads and deputies and we will be doing that for our next year's. Goal 2 was develop a County-wide policy and education program on the prevention of workplace violence. We drafted up a policy, a document, it was submitted pursuant to the CBA requirements—was submitted to all of the four unions for consultation. Unfortunate—well, fortunately, police, fire, and HGEA did not have a problem with it. They said they're okay with it going forward—implementation of it. Unfortunately, UPW, we've had a history with—regarding this workplace violence program. The whole reason we had to amend it and draft a new program was because back in 2000 and—I want to say 7 or 8—UPW filed a grievance saying that the proper steps for the County to implement the program weren't followed. We didn't properly consult with them. And so, an arbitrator agreed—sided with them. So, that's why our policy—workplace violence program was not effective as it relates to UPW. So, that was the primary basis for redoing the policy. So, we submitted it to them and they are still in the—they had feedback, they had concerns—so, we're still going through the consultative process with UPW. That's the last agency—the last union organization that we're having discussions with. Their primary concern is that our policy deviates significantly from the other three jurisdictions in certain areas. So, we're addressing those specific concerns with them. And we should have some feedback within the next month or two. Our hands are tied at—we're, again, it's a process, Page 9 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 right. It was not one—it's not our way or the highways—it's kind of, a give and take. And what we did was we revised our policy to adopt the issue—the issues that were raised. We adopted what City and County of Honolulu—we drafted their language into our policy. So, revised our policy to reflect City and County of Honolulu, and that City and County of Honolulu has been accepted by UPW. So, hopefully, we're just waiting to get the greenlight from them. Once that comes into play—once all the unions agree with the policy then we'll go out—we'll roll out our training program. And, again, it'll be just like how we did in the past where we open it up County-wide. We have our labor relations specialist, and our professional development person go out and provide training. It's usually a one-day training and we just go through the policy and the requirements of managers and supervisors—and we also open it up to the employees—that way everybody is on the same page, `cause part of the rules of discipline is— there's a rule in place and everybody knows the rule. So—and that's why we're having to take those steps. So, that's a on-going—Goal number 2 is on-going. Goal number 3, is develop a department-by-department safety program to help reduce the frequency and expenses associated with workers compensation claims. I'm going to touch upon this more in my director's report, which will be—it's on Item number 8 on the agenda. But, basically, we're continuing to do the revision for our safety program—our Safety Division. We separated—previously, our Safety Division and our Workers Comp Division came under one manager. And so, it was kind of like a very broad area of responsibility, but it came under the Work Comp/Safety Division. I've since re-orged our Work Comp/Safety Division, so I separated the two. So, now I have a division manager solely for work comp and I took our previous work comp/safety manager and assigned him to just strictly safety. So, we've had weekly meetings addressing moving forward how best to reorg. the safety division. We're looking at funding a previous position that— position in training that was unfunded—and incorporating that, so that we can have two trainers and one manager, and then we can start going out and start doing more safety-centered training with the various departments. Right now, three of the departments—Public Works, DEM, and Department of Water Supply— they have their own safety training officers. The unfortunate part of that is they're strictly assigned to the CDL—the driver—the commercial driver certification training. So, they don't do much training in the other areas of proper fire extinguisher use, AED, first aid—all those other type of safety training measures. So, the rationale for funding that third training position is so that we can start offering those type of trainings to the various departments. So, those were my three goals. It's—Goal 3, likewise, is a continuation of last year's. Page 10 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 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 So, gentlemen, any thoughts on this? Keep going? MR. BRILHANTE: Okay. So, if you take—there's a purple paper in your envelope? Those are my goals for this coming fiscal year July 1st, 2019 to June 30th, 2020. I look at that—we're in December already. So, some of these goals have already been discussed. So, what we're—Goal number 1 is going to be the continuation of the reorg. for Health and Safety. Of course, the ultimate goal is that we want to introduce department-by-department safety training and programs, so that with the ultimate goal of reducing injuries associated with work comp claims. So, like I said, we did the reorg., we—in this current budget submittal, we're going to be—we requested that we fund the previously unfunded training position with the goal for that position is to assist. We have one trainer right now, officially, on staff. This trainer will be our second trainer and they'll be able to assist in the various programs. We are identifying safety programs—health and safety programs which are different than programs which come under the CDL—the Commercial Driver License training program. I think, in the past, the two have been interwound with each other as far as training goes, from our department. And what we're going to do is, the departments that have CDL or require CDL driver training, they already have trainers within their department—the three I mentioned. And so, we're going to ensure that they are, those trainers are more responsive in addressing more of the CDL training. We're going to pull back from our driver training requirements—not requirements—but topic and areas of discussion—and it's going to be more health and safety related—proper lifting techniques; proper operation of, say, a forklift or those type of things come to mind; AED type of training—more safe—health and safety training is what we're going to look at. And we're hoping to—that will help us with the reduction of some of our claims. CHR. NAMAHOE: May I make a comment here? MR. BRILHANTE: Sure. CHR. NAMAHOE: So, health and safety is critical. Something that we all saw happen in the past year in 2018 with the lava. We saw Civil Defense and we saw roads—they worked above and beyond, especially, the exempt employees—the leadership. I turn—I saw, personally, people walk off the job. They left—and all the institutional knowledge went with them. They went into the private sector because they couldn't strike that balance in the long run of needing to go home rest, having children—whatever life—whatever their work life balances demanded of them. And so, we lose people that—the ones that are going through my mind have been—worked for our government for at least ten years. They were willing to walk away from all of that. So, I know that that's not necessarily—that might not be who you're talking about, but if you can take Page 12 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 that into consideration, please do. How do we address the health and safety of some of that leadership. MR. BRILHANTE: And that's a great point because one of the things we realized during that incident, was the fact that—and the County was—we weren't adequately addressing the issue with respirators. Being able to provide our personnel on the ground proper breathing protection—respirators. One of the requirements—you can't just give an employee, under federal law, you can't just give an employee a respirator. You have to ensure that—one, the employee is properly trained to use all facets—change the filters and have all that knowledge. That's a two-hour training class,just proper use of the respirator. And, two, there's an issue regarding the proper fit of the respirator, and there's a—it's called a"fit"test that unless you conduct that testing for each employee and make sure that the mask you provide to them is properly fitted on their face, then it's like you haven't really helped that employee. You've given a piece of equipment but it's not properly— they're not able to properly use it. So, that was something that we realized and our safety officer—at that time, we just have Ryan and Doug, our two training officers—they went during the lava flow. And they certified everybody who was assigned to the lava flow area. And it took about six weeks to get everybody properly certified—all the police officers, all the firefighters, all the public works, the highways guys, the parks and rec. guys—everybody had to be properly certified and provided a mask. We were fortunate, Queens Hospital donated a few thousand masks for us. And— CHR. NAMAHOE: But I'm thinking of sleep. MR. BRILHANTE: Yeah. CHR. NAMAHOE: If you working 16-hour days for three months with no day off, you are a hazard on the job. MR. BRILHANTE: Oh, definitely. And we see that and part of the—fortunately, for us, we have requirements like that within the CBA. So, now, it's just a matter of us, again, through our supervisor/management training program is us being able to educate the supervisors and managers as to what is—what are the required and necessary rest times and time when you have to send somebody home and just being understanding of that and cognizant of those components. And that comes under our training— CHR. NAMAHOE: Thank you. MR. BRILHANTE: —as we provide that information. But you're right. An event like that— we've had events like that. We've had earthquakes,we've had tsunami warnings, we've had missile alerts. We've had it all, but what made this incident so unique was just the longitudinal Page 13 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 or the duration associated with. This was what, how many months and months of—every day you're in that heightened alert. With a hurricane, you're prepared three days before you start rationing everything up. The hurricane will pass through, then you'd do whatever your recovery is. This one, the incident was daily for all those months— CHR. NAMAHOE: Yeah. MR. BRILHANTE: —and it was just a—it was a unique situation and we learned a lot from it. And that's part of the reason we're coming up with some of these plans is—as it relates to safety and training associated with safety. We had a spike in work comp claims. We've even had a spike in work comp claims with the current situation up on Mauna Kea with the police officers. Now we know, okay, there's some concerns with altitude sickness. Who would have thought that? Oh, yeah, that kind of makes sense. But for those long duration of periods of time that they're up on the mountain, we've had several claims of altitude sickness. And so, that's something we're addressing as well. We—the day they took down that structure up on the mountain, we had a OSHA violation because we didn't properly provide safety equipment and training for our police officer who was on top of the pallet. So, we got dinged for that. And so, now that's something—oh, okay, now we set up a training program for these individuals. It's unfortunate but oftentimes it takes an incident for everybody to have a better understanding as to what's required and what's the importance of why we have these requirements in place. So, it's all part and parcel to each other. Number 2 goal is continue to expand the supervisory training program as I alluded to earlier. We're going to do another co-hart. We're hoping for at least 30 to 35 students for this coming year. Same program. It's going to be a 12-month, two-days a month training. We're going to- 11-12 different areas of management. We're also going to open it up to the department heads and deputies as well. We'll get them on board. We're going—the other thing we, kind of, missed during the supervisors and managers invitations is there's a unique group of employees. They're HGEA Unit 2. So they're supervisors and managers but they're not on the EM level. They're on a lower level because what they do is they supervise UPW—blue collar workers. So, we're going to open up the training to that class of employees as well. And so, they come under HGEA but they're technically UPW supervisors, so they're not as high level as the EMs—the Excluded Managers—but supervisors, nonetheless. So, we're going to open up for that group of individuals as well. And that's going to be a separate class that we're opening up the training for. Goal 3 is implement a new County-wide recruitment and examination procedures to ensure a fair and equitable selection process for all the qualified candidates. I'm not sure if you knew that that Page 14 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 was a topic of in—that was on the front page of the newspaper. So, we had—there was some concerns regarding the hiring process with the County in the past. It is what it is. So, what we did was we looked at the—myself and my recruitment and examination staff—we looked at the policies and procedures and we made a determination that we're going to revise. We're going to move away from the skillset selection process, which the departments made their own subjective-type determination as to who would qualify and that was made by department- by-department. We're moving the process back. It's going to be back to centralized screening and evaluation of applicants. We're going to go back to what is called Education and Experience—E&E. We're going to set requirements as it relates to education and experience. And we're going to go back to the exam—the civil service exam for highly recruited classes of work—clerical type work, custodian, park caretaker—those type of classes of work where we have high interest, high demand. We're going to go back to testing. That's going to make us being in compliance with the other three jurisdictions. The HRS has a sentence in the—their chapters that testing for civil service positions shall be effectuated. And so, we're—that's the criteria—that's the basis for us moving forward. It's going to be more of an objective standard. It's going to be done centrally here in-house, it'd be more uniformity, more consistency going forward. And, like I said, it'll bring us in alignment with the other jurisdictions as well. We were unique, we were an outlier as it related to our previous hiring practices. So, I think it's been well-received by everybody and I think it's a good thing going forward. We've already drafted rules. They're in place, We had public hearing. Of course, nobody showed up for the public hearing—that means it must have been good. That's how I look at that. CHR. NAMAHOE: Awesome. MR. BRILHANTE: So—and then, implementation, actually, is this past Monday, the 16th. So, we're on board with it going forward. Those are my goals for this coming year. CHR. NAMAHOE: Any feedback for Mr. Brilhante? No? MR. TAM: Nope. MR. CHILLINGWORTH: No. CHR. NAMAHOE: Well, thank you, sir. MR. BRILHANTE: Okay. No—thank you very much. I appreciate the time. And what's the— Page 15 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 MS. YAMADA: Are you going to request copies of the results? MR. BRILHANTE: Oh, yeah. I think you guys are going to discuss—yeah. And then, the only thing I will request is copies of the survey results so that I can self-assess. Outside of—I'm sure you guys going to give me good feedback. CHR. NAMAHOE: I think, right now, it's 10:45 so let's take a five-minute recess. When we come back, we can go into executive session. We'll take a motion at that time. Okay? MR. BRILHANTE: Thank you very much. CHR. NAMAHOE: Thank you. RECESS: The Chair called for a recess at 10:45 a.m. RECONVENE: The meeting reconvened at 10:52 a.m. CHR. NAMAHOE: So, we're now coming back on at 10:52. And we're ready to entertain a motion to enter into executive session. MR. YOSHIMOTO: Pursuant to HRS 92-4, 92-5(a)(2), 92-5(a)(4) for the purpose of evaluating an officer or employee of the County of Hawai`i, where the consideration of matters affecting privacy will be involved and consulting with the Board's attorney on questions and issues pertaining to the Board's powers, duties, privileges, immunities, and liabilities. MR. CHILLINGWORTH: So moved. MR. VENTURA: Second. CHR. NAMAHOE: Moved by Mr. Chillingworth, seconded by Mr. Ventura. All in favor? AYES: Board Members Chillingworth, Tam, Ventura, and Chair Namahoe–4. NOES: None. ABSENT: Board Member Hughes– 1. EXCUSED: None. CHR. NAMAHOE: Okay. We are now in executive session. RECESS: The Chair called for a recess at 10:53 a.m. to convene executive session. RECONVENE: The open session reconvened at 12:19 p.m. CHR. NAMAHOE: We're out at 12:19. Okay. MR. YOSHIMOTO: So, we're going to provide Bill with his minus— Page 16 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 CHR. NAMAHOE: Yes. MR. YOSHIMOTO: —pages 11 and 12. CHR. NAMAHOE: Yes. MS. YAMADA: Okay. MR. YOSHIMOTO: Okay. So, the Board needs to—better if the Board— CHR. NAMAHOE: Votes on that? MR. YOSHIMOTO: Yes. CHR. NAMAHOE: Okay. So, we will have some—now that we are in open session, we do have—I'd like to entertain a few motions— MR. YOSHIMOTO: Wait, wait—so, we're in open session—I'm just trying to think here— we're still talking about the— CHR. NAMAHOE: Well, a few things that we're going to take up. MR. YOSHIMOTO: Yeah, I'm just wondering if we need to do this in executive session or not, as far as the—I would feel better if we were in executive session just to make that determination. Yeah. Because it pertains to the evaluation. Can we go back to revisit? MR. TAM: I make a motion that we go back into executive session. MR. CHILLINGWORTH: Second. CHR. NAMAHOE: All in favor? AYES: Board Members Chillingworth, Tam, Ventura, and Chair Namahoe—4. NOES: None. ABSENT: Board Member Hughes— 1. EXCUSED: None. RECESS: The Chair called for a recess at 12:19 p.m. to convene executive session. RECONVENE: The open session reconvened at 12:20 p.m. Review of Executive Session minutes of: January 16,2018; January 29, 2018; February 12, 2018; December 19,2018; February 21,2019; April 24,2019 Page 17 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 CHR. NAMAHOE: We are now out of session at 12:20. So, now we're going to take some, take a few—I will entertain other motions. First and foremost, on the agenda is to— MR. YOSHIMOTO: Approve. CHR. NAMAHOE: —entertain a motion to approve the executive session minutes of January 16, January 29, February 12, December 19, 2018; February 21st, and April 24th 2019. MR. TAM: So, I do make a motion that we accept the minutes for the executive session for all of the dates quoted. CHR. NAMAHOE: Mr. Tam made the motion. MR. CHILLINGWORTH: Second. CHR. NAMAHOE: Seconded by Mr. Chillingworth. All in favor? AYES: Board Members Chillingworth, Tam, and Chair Namahoe–3 NOES: None. ABSTAIN: Board Member Ventura– 1. ABSENT: Board Member Hughes– 1. EXCUSED: None. CHR. NAMAHOE: Thank you. Motion carried. Okay. Schedule Next Meeting Date (Item 9) CHR. NAMAHOE: So, then, I'd also like to ask for us to make a—our next meeting, because we are now, as we are wrapping up, we have one final quarter left of availing ourselves of Mr. Mitch Tam. So, if we can please look at our calendars and purposes of that meeting will be to go over the evaluation tool for the director of HR for fiscal year 2019-2020. MS. YAMADA: And the survey questions? CHR. NAMAHOE: The survey questions. So, that will be the purpose of that meeting. MR. TAM: So, what month are you looking at? CHR. NAMAHOE: Well, sir, because it all about you, what month you want to come? MR. TAM: You tell me. CHR. NAMAHOE: Okay, February. MR. TAM: Okay. Page 18 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 CHR. NAMAHOE: Beginning of February. MR. TAM: The beginning? CHR. NAMAHOE: Please. MR. TAM: `Cause our meetings are usually Wednesdays, right? CHR. NAMAHOE: Correct. How's February 5th look for you? MR. TAM: Right now, it looks good. How does February 5th look for everyone else? MR. VENTURA: That's good. MR. CHILLINGWORTH: Good. MS. NAMAHOE: Well, then, I'm going to make a motion we hui on February 5th at 10 o'clock. MR. TAM: Ten o'clock, February 5th MS. YAMADA: Over here, yeah? CHR. NAMAHOE: Yes. Okay? And, again, what will be on the agenda is the evaluation tool for the director of HR. We good? MR. YOSHIMOTO: And other items as determined by the Chair. CHR. NAMAHOE: Yes. Okay? All right? MR. YAMADA: So, shall I call Bill back and you guys will vote on meet expectations? MR. YOSHIMOTO: Yeah. MS. YAMADA: And then, he'll go over the director's report? CHR. NAMAHOE: Yeah. MR. YAMADA: And give him a copy of the— CHR. NAMAHOE: (Inaudible.) We'll take a recess. Actually, can we do this part as the working lunch portion? Might as well it's 12— RECESS: The Chair called for a recess at 12:23 p.m. Page 19 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 RECONVENE: The meeting reconvened at 12:34 p.m. CHR. NAMAHOE: So, we are—where was I—providing you the survey, the numeric data, right. MR. BRILHANTE: What—Glynis provided that to me. CHR. NAMAHOE: Okay, thank you. MR. BRILHANTE: Thank you. Unfinished Business (for discussion and appropriate action) (Item 7) (There was none.) Director's Report(Item 8) HR Quarterly Reports: April–June 2019 And July–September 2019; And General Update Re Bargaining Units CHR. NAMAHOE: Hang on. Mahalo, J. Director's Report MR. YOSHIMOTO: Yeah, he would do his director's report. I think that's where we're at. CHR. NAMAHOE: So, Section number 8—HR Quarterly Report. MR. BRILHANTE: Thank you very much for allowing me to present my—this portion of the agenda to you, which is the December 4th Quarter Director's MAB Report. First, I have seven items I was just going touch upon briefly. I, kind of, mentioned or alluded to them in my—in various parts of my evaluation. But the first item is revisions to the hiring procedures. As I mentioned before, we've taken the skillset review process from the departments where we would forward anywhere from 40, 50, 60, 2-300 names—for a specific position to the department for them to conduct their evaluation and assessment. We are bringing that process in-house. We're going to give exams, we're going to conduct the evaluation, we have—we expanded our recruitment and evaluation division—and examination division. We now have three specialists working under a manager, Waylen Leopoldino. He has three specialists under them. They've divvied up the departments and they'll be the ones conducting the evaluations, monitoring any exams—written exams that are taking place, and they will go to the education and experience evaluation. The criteria are going to be more standardized across-the-board. And what we'll do is we'll evaluate, we'll go in and examine all of the applicants. And what we're going to do for the Page 20 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 departments is, we're going to give them up to ten names at a time for each vacancy, and we can give additional names, if needed, as the process goes. So, we're removing that—the evaluation, the whole skillset process from the departments. We're going to do that legwork here in-house. And then, what we'll do is we'll give them a finished product and they can just conduct an interview based on the names we provide to them. So, it should alleviate a lot of extra work for the departments, especially their department HR staff. And I think we end up with a more refined process. We give the departments a finished product, so to speak, and then they can just take it from there and do their own interview and assessment as they deem necessary. I think—like I said, it's been well received. We've rolled it out about a month ago. We've had meetings with the various departmental HR people and, like I said, at those meetings we got a lot of good, positive feedback from them. So, we'll see. It's—the moment you think you know everything—that's the moment you start falling behind. And so, I think it's a fluid process. We're going to get feedback. I'm sure there'll be bumps in the roads—in the road going forward. But, I think, overall, it'll be much cleaner, be much more transparent—and the public, I think, at the end of the day will have a better idea as to where they stand if they're an applicant—how the process works. And I think that's, kind of, the feedback we're hearing that more and more people want from us. Second is the work comp. Our new manager we've brought in, Sommer Tokihiro, she's amazing. She's working really well. She's created a great rapport with her staff She's closed about ten percent of the cases, right now, that were—we just, through paying better attention to detail and better case management. She identified claimants who, kind of, were forgotten. And we're making these monthly work comp payments and the people could either come back to work on light duty or they could come back to work at a—like a—to their work with some minor modifications or they could come back in their full capacity. Or, in some cases, they actually submitted for disability retirement and we're able to close the books on them. The problem with having cases open is your—you avail yourself to any type of possibilities out there and that's what we're, kind of, leery of it. It was almost like there's no concrete understanding of how much it's going to cost. And we're not cutting service to anybody, but we're just paying attention to the details—better case management. We're able to move these issues along down the road further, so that we're better able to address them. The other area that I emphasized with her and because of her strong—Sommer's strong background, we are expanding our return-to-work for light duty for claimants on work comp. And we're getting more and more of the departments buy-in with that prospect. And the realization—and it's understandable is that when you bring somebody back for light duty, it requires more monitoring, anyway—it requires more work from the departments. So, in their minds, they would rather the person just stay out, more often than not, because they don't have to deal with them. Now, the process, we pay the workers comp claims and Page 21 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 everything. So, it's kind of like, out of sight, out of mind—less work for them. So, to get the departments to buy into the light duty—the return-to-work program—it's, kind of, there's a little task, there's some finesse involved. But, so far, we've been—the departments have been really receptive and very helpful. Safety department. We continue to develop our County-wide safety training program. We're continuing to work on the re-org and we submitted a request to fund our unfunded training position. So, hopefully,with that going forward, we'll be able to provide more training, too—for County-wide safety training and that was something I mentioned in our goals. Budget. We submitted our budget. Again, we had to do three submittals. First was status quo, second was five percent reduction, third was eight percent reduction. We met the status quo, obviously. We were able to meet the request for the five percent reduction. Unfortunately, two of the things I gave up were support and expenses associated with Salary Commission and with the MAB so—but, it's—they wanted us to identify areas where we could cut. So, that's what we did. Because the mileage reimbursement, the lunches—all that type of stuff comes out of our budgets. So, we said we'll give this back to the Administration as far as funding those expenses so. And then, we weren't able to meet the eight percent. If we did a eight percent, the only eight percent—realistic--eight percent budget we could come up with reduction in our budget was if we eliminated staffing—and that's the last thing we're going—we have the ability to do. I met with Finance. We did a pre-budget briefing with finance—the finance director and deputy director, and the budget people—and they're understanding of where we are—a small department. You can't cut—we don't have trucks, we don't have equipment, we are very limited as to what capital-type of expenditures we have. So, it is what it is. One of the things I did, was I did submit a supplemental budget. And I explained that during my budget review that the basis for the supplemental budget is because we've cut training to the bone here—and I don't have the ability to send my people for outside training. The only type of training we do have is, like, internet—if there's a program or a training on the internet, we can jump in. But, even that, we have to be very careful as to what the price is. So, I requested a supplemental budget so that we could afford being able to send our people to training. I think one of the, for me, the reason I felt that that was important—we'd be able to afford that to our staff is—so much of what we do is cutting edge. We have our labor relations division and, like, J would attest to the fact that anytime you're dealing with legal concepts, legal principles, legal precedent—it's always changing. A decision in Ohio yesterday could affect how the Hawaii courts view something going forward. Or the way an employee was handled in California—especially in California—through their labor relations board or something has such an immediate and direct effect on how we should be treating our personnel going forward. Page 22 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 So, if we're not cutting edge, if our knowledge base is delayed or is based on something that happened a year ago and there's no new information, we're not providing our clients the best level of service that I think is possible. So, that's one of the areas that I identified as where we need continuous training and that's why I put that as a supplemental budget request. One of the things that was identified in our budget review was that we have two manager positions open. So,just to let you know, as far as our Classification and Pay Manager, we I filled that—I offered that position to a current employee who interviewed—and she accepted the position. She'll be starting on January 16th in that capacity. So, she'll be our classification and pay manager. The second management position I have open is our ADA/EEO Coordinator, Julie Rawlins. She retired at the end of November. We did a recruitment for that position in anticipation of her retirement. And we have four qualified applicants and we'll be conducting interviews with them in the next week or two, and we'll get that position filled as well. We should be able to get that position filled with a really good candidate. We're hoping for applicants from Corp. Counsel, but J refused to apply. MR. YOSHIMOTO: That was a joke, for the record. MR. BRILHANTE: He said he's happy where he is. And then, labor update. As you know, I'm continually involved in labor negotiations with four labor unions: SHOPO, Fire, HGEA, and UPW. We've settled with SHOPO, we've settled with Fire, and we settled with UPW. There's so many different units in HGEA although we've settled with four of the units there's three units still unsettled. Unit 4 is awaiting the Arbitrator's decision and we will be starting new arbitrations for both Units 3 and 14. CHR. NAMAHOE: Like the largest one? MR. BRILHANTE: Yeah, Unit 3 is the largest. Unit 3 is set for arbitration the second week of January and then Unit 14, which is our water safety officers that's set for arbitration the third week of January. We're going to have the same arbitrator for both. CHR. NAMAHOE: So, 3, 4, and 14? MR. BRILHANTE: Yeah, but 4 is pretty much completed. So, we're just waiting—well, we're still going back and forth on proposed settlements with Unit 4, even though the hearing is done and everything, we're still communicating with their management crew to see if we can try reach some type of resolution. Page 23 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 So, that being the case, we've been very successful settling—whatever agreements we've had. To date for HGEA, we've had generally—we've come within two-year increases of about 6.5 to 7.1 percent increases for a two-year period of time, which right now in this economy that's pretty good. And I think what kind of messed us up—not messed us up—but what made it a little bit more difficult was when SHOPO—police went in, they were granted a lump sum payment of 1,800 to 2,000 a year for two years because, specifically, to address recruitment and retention issues. For police, we do a recruitment—we're doing a second recruitment `cause we don't—we can't find enough qualified applicants for a single recruitment. And then, the issue with retention is that they'll be in our department for, like, five years and then they qualify for lateral transfers to mainland jurisdictions and the pay is so much higher in the mainland and cost of living a little bit lower. So, we've had a lot of officers leave and go to other mainland jurisdictions. So, that bonus was specifically to address the recruitment and retention issue for police. So, when we're negotiating with fire, of course, fire said they want exactly what police got. So, fire ended up with a lump sum bonus but it was unfortunate because we don't have those same issues with fire. For example, in City and County of Honolulu, they do their annual fire recruitment. They're only allowed—they only open the portal—the recruitment portal for less than 12 hours because it fills up. In 12 hours they get more applicants than they can process. So, they just open it up for a 12-hour period of time, they notify that—and it's very similar to here, too. And we don't have any of our fire department guys come looking to move to other jurisdictions because we take care of our fire guys. So, once you give one person, one entity a bonus, then everybody wants the bonus. So, that's the biggest issue right now, is everybody wants bonuses—even HGEA. And so, that's what we're, kind of, dealing with. The unfortunate part is, these are all two-year contracts. They all retro back to start of the fiscal year July 1st, 2019. So, starting next year, we're in the next two-year cycle of negotiations, so we're not going to get any break. We're going to be dealing with the negotiations right off the bat from next July as well. And that's—so, as far as that goes, that's my report. Happy to answer any questions or address any concerns. MS. YAMADA: You're going to do the Quarterly Reports? MR. BRILHANTE: Yeah, the quarterly reports were submitted in your packet, right, your binders. And each division—the only division that we weren't able to get the most up-to-date information was the ADA/EOO. And the only reason for that was `cause when the manager retired, she closed her computer access—we shut down her computer access and her information was on the computer. So, as a matter of fact, we just had her in this morning. She came in on Page 24 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 her own, Julie—she came in this morning. And we're trying to get, with her assistance, trying to get the access—the information off the computer. CHR. NAMAHOE: That is so Hilo. MR. BRILHANTE: So, it's there. So, it'll be submitted at the next—for the next hearing. So, any—happy to answer any questions. CHR. NAMAHOE: I think more so than what you've submitted, do you think that there's going to be—what do you foresee—are there areas that are going to be coming up ahead in the next six months that we should be aware of? MR. BRILHANTE: I guess,just kind of moving forward, I think my internal staff seems pretty—as far as I can tell—we seem pretty permanent right now. And the issue with training is something we'll address properly. The only real, like I said, kind of, area where I think there may be some bumps in the road is just implementation of the new recruitment and examination procedures. Any time you roll out something new, especially in the County, it's like, "Wow, who moved my cheese?" And, oftentimes, there's pushback just because it's a new concept that people aren't— it took awhile for them to learn the old procedure and now they're having to learn a new procedure. And for government workers sometimes that's problematic. So—but, like I said, so far, they seem pretty receptive. So, if I would—that would be an area that I am going to be paying special attention to. The second area, again, is with safety. As—when you dealing with peoples'—you're dealing with a departments personnel. You have almost, kind of like, that ownership mentality and if somebody from the outside comes in and says, "Oh, this is how we should be doing it"—again, there's almost like that mother hen protectiveness. So, right now, I've noticed that although we're having discussions with increasing our footprint as it relates to safety, we're getting some pushback—"Oh, why do we have to do it? Are you guys picking on us? Or what's the rationale? What's the reason?" And, I'll tell you my staff is really good. Ryan Chong and Doug McCormick are really good and they're always there when we had the eruption and stuff, so they have a lot of built in credibility with the other divisions and departments. So, but, again, we're talking about change. And any time you try to effectuate change you have to anticipate that there's going to be some pushback somewhere along the way. And so,just keep—be mindful of that. The other thing is probably within the first quarter, I will be naming a deputy, probably, by March—April at the latest. I'll have a deputy on board. And I'll be sure to bring him or her here to meet with you. Page 25 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 CHR. NAMAHOE: Congratulations on that. MR. BRILHANTE: So, any other questions? CHR. NAMAHOE: Thank you, Mr. Brilhante. MR. BRILHANTE: Thank you very much and if I don't get a chance, I wish each of you guys a very safe and happy holiday season. MR. CHILLINGWORTH: You, too. CHR. NAMAHOE: Thank you. MR. TAM: Thank you. MR. BRILHANTE: The weather is conducive to Christmas already. CHR. NAMAHOE: Yeah, all good. Thank you very much. MS. YAMADA: So, we'll formally vote on the meets expectations? FY 2018-2019 Annual Performance Evaluation of the Director of Human Resources (HR): Presentation By The Director Of HR Regarding Department's Goals And Objectives For FY 2018-2019; Survey Results For FY 2018-2019; Presentation By The Director Of HR Regarding Department's Goals And Objectives For FY 2019-2020; Merit Appeals Board's Evaluation Tool For The Director Of HR For FY 2019-2020; SurveyMonkey Questions For FY 2019-2020 CHR. NAMAHOE: So, we're going to now—yes. Thank you, Glynis. One of our last orders of business, since we're already determined our next meeting. So, our last order of business is to entertain a motion that the Human Resource Director, Mr. Bill Brilhante, William Brilhante— met expectations for fiscal year 2018-2019. MR. CHILLINGWORTH: So, moved. CHR. NAMAHOE: Thank you, Mr. Chillingworth. MR. TAM: Second. CHR. NAMAHOE: Thank you, Mr. Tam. All in favor? AYES: Board Members Chillingworth, Tam, Ventura, and Chair Namahoe–4. NOES: None. ABSENT: Board Member Hughes– 1. EXCUSED: None. Page 26 Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019 CHR. NAMAHOE: Carried unopposed. MR. BRILHANTE: Thank you very much. CHR. NAMAHOE: Thank you. MR. BRILHANTE: That's it? CHR. NAMAHOE: That's it. Schedule Next Meeting Date (Item 9) The Merit Appeals Board will convene its next meeting on Wednesday, February 5, 2020, at 10:00 a.m. at the Department of Human Resources Conference Room at 101 Pauahi, Suite 102, Hilo, Hawai`i. Adjournment(Item 10) The Chair declared the meeting adjourned at 12:58 p.m. Res•ectfully submitted, anaditi Glyn I Yam a, Secretary-Reporter APPROVED: dll ifib Luahiwa Namahoe, Chair Merit Appeals Board Page 27