2021-02-10 Merit Appeals Board Minutes

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Merit Appeals Board February 10, 2021 MAB Quarterly Reports: October -December 2020; and General Departmental Updates MR. BRILHANTE: Good afternoon, Chair, and Merit Appeals Board members. William Brilhante, I'm the Director of Department of Human Research (sic.)County of Hawaii. With that, we just recently met about a month ago during our last get together and I provided a report at that time. I'm just going to give a brief supplement to that report. There really hasn't been significant or substantial changes since that period. We're continuing to work with the new Administration. As you know, Mayor Roth had some medical challenges and in that regard, we were brought into the picture, our department, to help assist with the transition of power from the Mayor to the Managing Director, Mr. Lee Lord. And there were numerous occasions where we provided input and guidance to Mr. Lord as it related to the assumption of his duties as the Acting Mayor. So, that was one of the first times during my career here as the HR director where we were involved in that role. And I thought it was, somewhat, unique and refreshing. But the team came together and I think they did a great job as we saw in the paper the other day. And it's my understanding that Mayor Roth is back at work and we're glad for his speedy and healthy recovery. And we, again, look forward to assisting his Administration going forward. Another matter in which I just want to provide an update since our last hearing where we adjudicated the Shook matter, the Shook family submitted a request to the mayor's office to meet independently of what transpired here. So, I was contacted by the mayor's office and provided a chronology of the events that took place during the MAB meeting. And my understanding is that the Shook's are going to meet with the managing director. The managing director told me he'd provide me with a update following that meeting. I think it's more informational was the way I was perceiving it. There's nothing really pending at this time to be adjudicated. As I mentioned in the last meeting, I appointed a deputy department head, Waylen Leopoldino, so we're continuing to move forward with him. As my deputy, it's refreshing to have a second pair of eyes looking at things as they come forward. And Waylen's strong background and his need to step up his game in order to fill Ms. Cabanas' shoes in the Recruitment Division—has been beneficial and he's been very helpful in that regard to date. I appreciate having him on board. Recruitments are going just as furiously as ever and we're also assisting with the new fire chief recruitment and that's moving forward as well. Our office was requested to proctor the assessment examination for the current applicants and I think that went well. It was a three-hour assessment and now, I think, they're moving to the next phase. So, we were happy to be involved with that. Other than thatoh, and also the reason I'm leaving early today is I continue to serve on the Mayor's Senior Policy Team for COVID-19 Response. My meeting today at 11:15 is with the governor, the various mayors, and members of our Mayor's Senior Policy Team. We're sitting Page 4