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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-12-02 Merit Appeals Board MinutesREGULAR SESSION Merit Appeals Board Hilo Council Chambers Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street, First Floor, Room 1401 Hilo, Hawaii December 2, 2021 (Thursday) 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 Gabriella M. Cabanas, at the Hilo Council Chambers, Hawaii County Building, 25 Aupuni Street, First Floor, Room 1401, Hilo, Hawaii, on Thursday, December 2, 2021. Roll Call — Present Ms. Gabriella M. Cabanas, Chair Mr. Mel Ventura, Vice -Chair (via Zoom) Ms. Kate De Soto, Member Mr. Charles Kunz, Member Ms. Gay Mathews, Member Also Present Mr. J Yoshimoto, Assistant Corporation Counsel, Office of the Corporation Counsel Ms. Amanda Furman, Deputy Attorney General, State Department of the Attorney General (via Zoom) Mr. Ryan Thomas, Deputy Corporation Counsel, Office of the Corporation Counsel Ms. Elyse Stevens, Land Use Plans Checker II, Planning Department Ms. Glynis Yamada, Secretary -Reporter, Human Resources Department Mr. Relley Araceley, Council Services Coordinator, Office of the County Clerk Note: As part of the response to the threat of COVID-19, Governor David Ige issued an Emergency Proclamation Related to the COVID-19 Response dated August 5, 2021, suspending Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 92, Public Agency Meetings and Records, to the extent necessary to enable boards as defined in Section 92-2, to conduct meetings without any board members or members of the public physically present in the same location. This meeting will be held through a combination of some board members being physically present at the meeting location and some members participating by interactive video conference through ZOOM. Only persons that are present for the particular item on the agenda will be allowed in the meeting room. Each person will be required to wear a face mask and maintain six feet physical distance from any other person as required by law. Merit Appeals Board Call to Order (Item 1) December 2, 2021 CHR. CABANAS: Good morning, everyone, the Merit Appeals Board meeting is called to order on this day, December 2nd, 2021, at 10 a.m. We have quorum today. All five Board members are present. I'm Gabriella Cabanas, Chair of the Merit Appeals Board. Joining me is Mel Ventura, our Vice -Chair from Kailua-Kona sitting in on the meeting via Zoom. Good morning, Mel. MR. VENTURA: Good morning and Happy Holidays. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you. Happy Holidays to you as well. Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. MR. VENTURA: Thank you. CHR. CABANAS: Also joining me in the Council Chambers at the Hawaii County Building in Hilo, Hawaii, are Ms. Gay Mathews. MS. MATHEWS: Good morning. CHR. CABANAS: Good morning. And Mr. Charlie Kunz. MR. KUNZ: Good morning. CHR. CABANAS: Good morning. And Ms. Kate De Soto. MS. DE SOTO: Good morning. CHR. CABANAS: Good morning. We also have our Assistant Corporation Counsel, J Yoshimoto. MR. YOSHIMOTO: Good morning, Board members. CHR. CABANAS: Good morning. Also, our Secretary -Reporter, Glynis Yamada. Good morning, Glynis. MS. YAMADA: Good morning. CHR. CABANAS: Also, we have our staff member from the Office of the County Clerk, Mr. Relley Araceley, who staffs the computer equipment to ensure we have our Zoom capability. Thank you, Relley, for all that you do to help us. Page 2 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 Also, present in the Council Chambers is Mr. Ryan Thomas, Deputy Corporation Counsel, from the Office of the Corporation Counsel. MR. THOMAS: Good morning. CHR. CABANAS: Good morning. We also have Ms. Elyse Stevens present. MS. STEVENS: Good morning. CHR. CABANAS: Good morning. Appearing from Honolulu via Zoom is our Deputy Attorney General, Ms. Amanda Furman. Good morning, Amanda. MS. FURMAN: Good morning. CHR. CABANAS: So, let usI don't think there's anyone else to introduce. Let us move forward with the agenda. Addendum to Agenda (Item 2) CHR. CABANAS: There is no addendum to the agenda. Statements from the Public (Item 3) CHR. CABANAS: And no "Statements from the Public" according to our secretary -reporter. Approval of Minutes (Item 4): CHR. CABANAS: We do not have any "Approval of Minutes" to discuss. Moving forward, we have a 10 a.m. continuation of hearing regarding Communication number 21-04. The Chair has recused herself from this appeal hearing and my reasons were set forth on record at previous meetings. NOTE: On October 29, 2021, the Merit Appeals Board convened a hearing on this matter, which was continued to the Board's next meeting scheduled on November 19, 2021. On November 19, the hearing concluded with both parties presenting their closing arguments and the Board entered into its deliberations; however, they were unable to conclude its deliberations. Therefore, deliberations will be continued at its next meeting scheduled on December 2, 2021. (Discussion will be limited to the Board and its Counsel only and will not include further statements by both parties.) Page 3 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 Communication No. 21-04, Received On August 19, 2021, Appealing A Recruitment And Examination Action (Application For A Planner I Position Rejected Due To The Lack Of The Minimum Required Education And Experience) By County Of Hawaii Human Resources Department; And Communication No. 21-04.01, Received September 27, 2021, Regarding Appellant's Witness And Exhibit Lists; And Communication No. 21-04.02, Received September 27, 2021, Regarding County's (Hereinafter Referred To As "Appellee") Witness And Exhibit List; Certificate Of Service; And Communication No. 21-04.03, Received October 15, 2021, Regarding Appellant's Exhibit No. 11; And Communication No. 21-04.04, Received October 15, 2021, Regarding Appellant's Exhibit No. 12; And (Note: The Aforementioned Communications Were Listed On The Merit Appeals Board Agenda Dated October 29, 2021.) Communication No. 21-04.05, Received October 25, 2021, Regarding Appellant's Amended Witness List; And Communication No. 21-04.06, Received October 29, 2021, Regarding Appellant's Exhibit 13; And (Note: The Aforementioned Communications Were Presented/Circulated At The Meeting On October 29, 2021.) Communication No. 21-04.07, Received November 9, 2021, Regarding Appellee's Supplemental Witness List; Certificate Of Service; And (Note: The Aforementioned Communication Was Listed On The Merit Appeals Board Agenda Dated November 19, 2021.) Communication No. 21-04.08, Received November 18, 2021, Regarding Appellant's Exhibit No. 14; And Communication No. 21-04.09, Received November 18, 2021, Regarding Appellant's Exhibit No. 15; And Communication No. 21-04.10, Received November 18, 2021, Regarding Appellant's Exhibit No. 16 (Note: The Aforementioned Communications Were Presented/Circulated At The Meeting On November 19, 2021.) The Merit Appeals Board Anticipates Convening One Or More Executive Meetings Regarding The Above Matter, Pursuant To HRS Sections 92-4, 92-5(a)(2) And 92-5(a)(4), For The Purpose Evaluating An Officer Or Employee Of The County Of Hawaii, 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. A 2/3 Vote Pursuant To HRS Section 92-4 Is Necessary To Hold An Executive Meeting CHR. CABANAS: I'm going to transition this matter over to our Vice -Chair who will serve as Chair over the appeal hearing process. Mr. Mel Ventura will take over. J Yoshimoto and I will depart the Council Chambers now at 10:02 a.m. Let's take a short recess just to allow for the transition over to Mr. Ventura and our fellow Board members. Thank you very much. (At this time, Chair Gabriella Cabanas and Counsel J Yoshimoto, left the meeting room.) Page 4 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 RECESS: The Chair called for a recess at 10:02 a.m. MS. YAMADA: Hi, Chair Ventura, both J and Gabe have left the meeting room—okay to proceed. ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Okay, thank you. At this time, I would like to call for a motion for the Board to enter executive session to conclude our deliberations. MS. MATHEWS: So moved. MR. KUNZ: Second. ACTING CHR. VENTURA: So, it has been moved and seconded that the Board enter executive session. Is there any further discussion? If not, then I will take a vote, starting with Ms. De Soto. MS. DE SOTO: Aye. ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Ms. Mathews. MS. MATHEWS: Aye. ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Mr. Kunz. MR. KUNZ: Aye. ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Aye—motion is carried. MS. YAMADA: Excuse me, Chair Ventura, both Mr. Ryan Thomas and Ms. Elyse Stevens are in the room. Would you like them to leave at this time? ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Yes. MS. YAMADA: Okay. Thank you. (At this time, Mr. Thomas and Ms. Stevens left the meeting room.) RECONVENE: The meeting reconvened at 11:09 a.m. in open session. CHR. CABANAS: We are about to begin. Mel, are you there? MR. VENTURA: Yes, I am here. MS. CABANAS: Okay. Page 5 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 ACTING CHR. VENTURA: And I will cede my chair duties to you, Ms. Cabanas. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Ventura. Let the record show that we have resumed in open session at 11:09. And so, we will go to our agenda. Presentation By Department Of Human Resources Acting Director Waylen L. K Leopoldino And His Division Managers Providing An Overview Of Their Respective Divisions Within The Department Of Human Resources (Classification & Pay-Jamielyn Martinez; Recruitment & Examination -Lee Botelho; Administrative Services -Dee Ann Sadayasu; EEO/ADA-Waylen Leopoldino (position currently vacant); Health & Safety - Ryan Chong; Workers' Compensation -Sommer Tokihiro; Personnel & Organizational Development -Jennifer Sakamoto; Labor Relations -Diane Noda) CHR. CABANAS: The next item is presentation by the Department of Human Resources. Waylen, good morning, and good morning to all of the managers. Thank you for being here today. Waylen, I'd just like to start by saying on behalf of the Board, thank you for coordinating and having all of your managers here today at the Board's request. Would you like to start off with a few comments before you turn it over to your managers? (At this time, Mr. Waylen Leopoldino, Acting Director, Human Resources Department, came forward.) MR. LEOPOLDINO: Sure. Thank you, Chair Cabanas, and Members of the Merit Appeals Board. Yes, I was fortunate that all of our schedules allowed us to all be here today to do our presentation to you this morning. As I've mentioned before, I'm very fortunate to work with a group of talented individuals. I would not be successful in my position without the support of each and every one of them, and their staff. So, I'm excited for you to get a presentation of a brief overview of each of their divisions this morning. And feel free to ask us any question. We're going to—if I could, I'll just go over the agenda for presentations. We're going to start off with our Classification and Pay Division, followed by because everything starts off with the positions in our HR Department. And then, Recruitment and Examinations, Administrative Services, EEO and ADA that position is currently vacant, so I'll do a short presentation on that division. SPEAKER: (Inaudible.) MR. LEOPOLDINO: That's our Equal Employment Opportunity Division and ADA. Health and Safety, Workers Compensation, Personnel and Organizational Development, and our Labor Relations Division. So, without further ado, I will—we'll start off with Jamielyn Martinez who is our division head for our Classification and Pay. Page 6 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 (At this time, Ms. Jamielyn Martinez, Classification and Pay Division Head, Human Resources Department, came forward.) CHR. CABANAS: Good morning, Jamie. Before you begin, I just want to express a really special thank you to all the managers. The Board requested that all of you be here and we believe this is a good opportunity for both, the managers and the Board, to meet in an environment where there's not an appeal. Okay. So, we want you to feel at ease and, basically, it's a general overview. And the Board members may have questions of each manager at the end of your presentation. And the presentation, we'll say, about 15 -minutes each, approximately. And then, the Board members are free to ask questions of each manager as you come up to the dais. And so, thank you, Jamie, for being here. Nice to see you. MR. KUNZ: Ms. Cabanas. CHR. CABANAS: Yeah. Oh, and I will introduce all of you. MR. KUNZ: Thank you. CHR. CABANAS: Yeah. So, yes—without further ado, let me formally introduce each of the Board members to all of you. Thank you, Mr. Kunz. So, starting with my right, we have Ms. Kate De Soto, she's our newest Board member. And to my left, Ms. Gay Mathews and Mr. Charlie Kunz. Coming in via Zoom from Kailua-Kona is Mr. Melvin Ventura, he is our Vice -Chair. So, we have a quorum—all five Board members are here. MS. MATHEWS: (Inaudible—microphone not turned on.) CHR. CABANAS: Yes, thank you. And, of course, you all must know J Yoshimoto. J is our Assistant Corporation Counsel. He is the Counsel for the Board. When we have an appeal hearing, then J is not our counsel. The counsel is our Deputy Attorney General Amanda Furman from Oahu. She provides legal counsel to the Board in an appeal hearing. And, of course, well, being—forgetting Glynis. We all know Glynis. Glynis serves as our Secretary -Reporter to the Board and she is here to help the Board members, keeping us all organized with our binders. She provides our exhibits when there's appeal hearing. She, pretty much, keeps us on target with everything that we need to do as Board members. Because we, as Board members, are basically volunteers and we come from different professions—some are finance, Workforce Development, Hawaii Community College, and for mea retiree. And so, I think—would any of the Board members like to say anything before Jamie starts? Ms. Mathews. Page 7 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 MS. MATHEWS: Yes, you might want to introduce Mel Ventura, who's hiding in the back. CHR. CABANAS: Oh, I did—I thought I did. Yeah. But, yeah, we have Mr. Mel Ventura, our Vice -Chair, appearing via Zoom. We can't visibly see him but his name is listed on the screen there. Yeah. Okay. Anything else, Board members, would you like to say anything? No. Okay, Jamie, it's all yours. MS. MARTINEZ: Hi, I'm going to be giving a brief overview of the Classification and Pay Division, which consist of myself. We have an HR Program Specialist, Michele Lamkin, and an HR Assistant, Kim Kailipaka, who assist with our division. So, in Classification and Pay, we're charged with the responsibility of maintaining the County's Compensation Plan, which is basically a listing of our civil service classes the classes of work for the County. In that process, we work with our various departments to help them create new classes based on their operational needs, we work closely during that process with seven other government jurisdictions in the State. So, we work with our counterparts in the City and County of Honolulu, the County of Maui, County of Kauai, State Department of Human Resources and Development, the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation—which is the hospitals the Department of Education, and the Judiciary. We work with them to ensure the classes that we create and the pricing of those classes are consistent among the jurisdictions and that we're complying with equal pay law. We also help departments with amending existing classes of work when there are changes, whether it's to the MQ's, minor changes to the duties—we work with them if they identify needs to make those changes. We help facilitate that process. And then, we also route those changes to the other jurisdictions as well. And then, we also, if needed, abolish obsolete classes of work just as part of our maintenance of the Classification Plan. We are also responsible for assisting departments with po various position actions. So, we have processes like allocations, which are helping departments create new positions based on their needs. We assist with reallocations of existing positions, which is basically changing a positions class of work. Based on their needs, we have various types of reallocations— permanent—we eallocationspermanent we assist with temporary reallocations of positions to facilitate the recruitment process. And then, we also have reallocations for specialized assignments. So, we work with them on those position actions. We also assist them with other position actions, such as transferring positions within their department, reorgs. which could be a little complex—like, if a department were to request, Page 8 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 maybe, to create new sectionswe, kind of, help them with that process with the positions if that involves creating new classes of work. We, kind of, facilitate—we help them with that process. We also do maintenance reviews. So, if we notice—there are concerns that are brought up, we in the Department of Human Resources, it can initiate a maintenance review where we'll go in and review existing classes or series to just try to make sure that we're ensuring that things are just working properly. We also assist with the Salary Ordinance, which is the Pay Plan for our positions in, like, Housing—special positions in County Clerk's office. And, like I mentioned earlier, we're the point of contact for the other jurisdictions so we are responsible for answering questions that they may have of our existing classes, our existing structures. We provide them information upon request. And we answer questions, as needed, if they have questions about our specific departments organizational structures. We can explain certain things and, kind of, be their point -of -contact within the County of Hawaii. And then, we also provide various trainings to departments to assist their supervisors or their HR reps. when it comes to helping them maintain their org. charts, position descriptions, and just other various trainings to assist them. I know that wasn't 15 -minutes, but that's just kind of an overview of what we assist the departments with. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Jamie. On the appeal form that a person would complete MS. MARTINEZ: Yes. CHR. CABANAS: There's the Merit Appeals Board has different—well, on the appeal form itself, we have a section what governs the jurisdiction for the Merit Appeals Board. We have recruitment and exam., we have classification action, and there's one box, I think, for initial pricing. So, because that term is listed there, I just kind of feel like—could you explain to the Board what that term "initial pricing" means— MS. MARTINEZ: So CHR. CABANAS: —and the difference between initial pricing and repricing, so the Board will have that knowledge base. MS. MARTINEZ: Sure. So, in the process of creating a new class of work, right, so something that currently doesn't exist in our Compensation Plan. Part of the process in working with the other the jurisdictions is that we—in Classification and Pay—determine the pricing of a class. Page 9 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 So, for example, a Clerk III is priced at SR -10. We work with—we do internal alignment among existing classes, work with the jurisdictions to determine that pricing or it's often called the "pay grade." So, if there is an appeal, the appeal would be for the initial pricing of the class. There is a process to reprice, which would be if there was a concern raised that the initial pricing, what Classification and Pay determined at that initial pay grade, is inaccurate. So, if there was a concern that something should have been priced at a higher rate, then a repricing request could be submitted. So, that would be, basically, essentially, changing the determination that was made when that class, that pay grade, was assigned to that class. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Jamie. I'd like to ask—Mr. Ventura, do you have any questions for Jamie? MR. VENTURA: No questions but thank you that was very informative. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Mr. Ventura. Mr. Kunz, any questions? MR. KUNZ: Yeah, I have one question. Do you—does the County have the jurisdiction to afford differential pay for travel from, let's say you hire somebody to work in Hilo and they live in Pahala? MS. MARTINEZ: I don't I believeI don't know if that would come under ClassificationI don't know. MR. LEOPOLDINO: Usually, differential pay is negotiated. So, it wouldn't come under Classification per se. I think, maybe when we get to Labor, we can try and address the differentials. MR. KUNZ: Thank you. CHR. CABANAS: Ms. Mathews, any questions? MS. MATHEWS: I'm just trying to that was a lot of information. Thank you very much. So, do you actually help with the job descriptions? MS. MARTINEZ: Yes. So, job descriptions, we there's kind of two parts. We have a class spec., which is what Classification and Pay, we create with the collaboration with the departments. The class spec. is—it's not specific of one position. It's a general outline, it's a general description of what positions in that class perform. The work they perform, the minimum qualification requirements. From that class spec., each position has a position description, which kind of zones in and really defines the duties specific to that position. Page 10 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 Your Clerk III is very general. But your Clerk III in HR would be very specific. It would kind of narrow down those duties. So, in the process of creating the positions ofbasically, what we do, we review the position descriptions that our departments maintain. So, they'll submit those position descriptions to us, we'll review it and make sure that whatever they're putting on the position description is in line with the class. And then, we would submit that for our HR director's approval and then send that position description back to them. So, we do assist in that process—we review them and help departments develop, if they have questions. CHR. CABANAS: Jamie, might want to help the Board—can you give the Board some examples of different classes of work? So, just as an example, like, you mentioned Clerk III MS. MARTINEZ: Sure. CHR. CABANAS: so Clerk III is one class of work. MS. MARTINEZ: Sure. So, class of work is, basically, like, the position title. It'sso Clerk III is a class of work, Civil Engineer I is a class of work, Business Manager. So, the class you could have one, like, Clerk III as a class of work but multiple departments utilize that class and have positions at that class. So, your Clerk IIIwe have a Clerk III in HR. We have them pretty much in every department. So, the class of work is basically the title of the class is what it is. I know it gets a little technical, but— MS. ut MS. MATHEWS: So, then, the specific job description for an individual department—you're assisting with that? MS. MARTINEZ: Yes, we are. MS. MATHEWS: Okay. And how often are those revisited? MS. MARTINEZ: So, initially, when positions are created, a position description is required at that time. Departments will periodically, based on their operation, submit as needed. So, we can process—and I don't have the numbers but we process a large amount of redescriptions. But in addition to periodically, as needed, departments are always encouraged—especially at the time that you're going to recruit to make sure that both the class spec. and position descriptions are updated. But they can come in at any time to submit a redescription. It's just—if they—for example, if a department acquires a new type of equipment, they are encouraged to look at their position description and make sure that, if they want to make changes, that that's incorporated into that position description. And we would then review and then submit for approval to our director. Page 11 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 MR. LEOPOLDINO: Can I add something to that? MS. MATHEWS: Of course. MR. LEOPOLDINO: Just to put into context, at your quart—when you receive our quarterly reports, each of the divisions are required to submit their report. So, the timing of our presentations works well because you're actually going to get to tie into our presentation to the reports that you all get quarterly. So, one of the metrics for the Classification and Pay Division is redescription. So, there's redescriptions and reallocations, I believe—are the two metrics that we include in the quarterly. So, this would give you now, you'll have a better understanding of what Jamie is describing to now what you'll be able to see on paper. And I think that helps a lot going forward when you have the chance to review the quarterly reports. So, I just wanted to throw that in there that the numbers will be available quarterly. MS. MATHEWS: So, as somebody that has never worked for the County, it would be really useful if you guys had a glossary that describes. Because the terminology you're using, you'll periodically use terminology that's familiar to me. And so, I realize you don't need extra work, but that would really be nice. MR. LEOPOLDINO: We, actually, in the Department of Human Resources, we have a general definitions policy in place that we can share with you. MS. MATHEWS: That would be great. Thank you. So, just to clarify here—so you don't actually do a scheduled department review of what the job descriptions are to see if what's going on is, sort of, universal across all levels? MS. MARTINEZ: No, there's no actual schedule. MS. MATHEWS: You're waiting for them to come to you? MS. MARTINEZ: We're waiting for them to—we call it a redescription review, which is what's reported on the quarterly MAB report. So, the redescription review is redescribingchanging the duties, making sure that the changes are not significant to impact the class but recognizing the periodic changes—departments will submit a redescription review, as needed, and then we would process. MS. MATHEWS: Okay. Thank you. MR. LEOPOLDINO: Sorry, one more thing, Jamie—sorry— Page 12 Merit Appeals Board MS. MATHEWS: No December 2, 2021 MR. LEOPOLDINO: But what we do have in place is our maintenance review like Jamie mentioned earlier. If we wanted to go into the department and do a maintenance review, we could do that at any time. MS. MATHEWS: But you're not scheduling that. MR. LEOPOLDINO: No, it's not scheduled. MS. MATHEWS: It's, sort of, probably a hearsay kind of thing, if there might be MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yes. MS. MATHEWS: an issue and so, therefore, you go in and look at it. MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yes. MS. MATHEWS: Okay. CHR. CABANAS: Okay, thank you. Ms. De Soto, any questions for Jamie? MS. DE SOTO: No questions. Thank you. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you. Okay, Jamie, no other questions. I think you're done and I just want to thank you, Jamie, for a good presentation MS. MARTINEZ: Thank you so much. CHR. CABANAS: —and being the first. Okay. So, COVID protocol requires sanitization of the dais where she sat. So, for the next manager coming up will be Lee Botelho, Recruitment and Examination, once she's done sanitizing. And let me just say, Glynis does a real good job in sanitizing the whole area. Okay, Lee, come on up. (At this time, Ms. Lee Botelho, Recruitment and Examination Division Head, Human Resources Department, came forward.) CHR. CABANAS: Good morning. So, we have Lee Botelho, for the record. She is the Recruitment and Examination Manager. And so, we will follow the same protocol, Lee, about a 15 -minute or shorter, if you want, presentation followed by question -and -answer period from each of the manager—each of the Board members, rather. So, okay, you may begin. MS. BOTELHO: Okay. Good morning and thank you for asking us to be here to give a presentation. Page 13 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 The Recruitment and Examination Division's main focus is to assist departments in attracting eligible applicants to fill their vacancies. So with recruitment when there is aI have three staff under me—all Specialists. Temporarily, our newest person in the section is at a Tech. level right now, but we do have three Specialists. And their primary responsibility is to review the request that the department submit to fill their vacancies to make sure that the information is accurate to—and then to—once the approval is given by the—either the managing director or the council chair, our staff will go ahead and establish a recruitment. They will prepare—draft the recruitment announcement, post the recruitment for a ten-day period, and then once the applications are received—their function is to review each application to make sure that the people who apply meet the minimum qualification requirements for that position class. So, as Jamie mentioned, we recruit for a position class even though the Request to Fill is for a particular position. We are recruiting for a class of work. And what that does is the Recruitment establishes an eligible list of qualified applicants that can be used for any department when they have that a vacancy in that class of work. So the example that she used was Clerk III. There are Clerk III's in various departments. When we conduct a recruitment for a Clerk III, it's usually triggered by one department's Request to Fill their Clerk III position. But that list is going to establish a list of eligible applicants that can be used for six months or longer if the HR director approves an extension of the list. And any other department within that six-month eligibility period that comes in and gets approval to fill their Clerk III vacancy, we don't have to conduct a new recruitment every time that request is submitted. We can just draw from that eligible list and refer a list of applicants to the department. The department then will conduct its interview and assessment process and make a selection based on the outcome of the interviews. Once the department makes their selection, they report the hire to our Central HR agency. Our staff reviews and make sure that the department has complied with all of our established procedures. So procedures include contacting each referred applicant to see if they're interested in coming in for an interview. Some people apply for positions but they don't necessarily want to work in a different department, so they could decline an interview for the Department of Environmental Management but accept an interview with the Department of Public Works. So, they—applicants have that option to decline interviews. We make sure that all applicants are contacted so that they're notified—"Your name was referred to our department for a vacancy, are you interested in coming in for the interview?" Page 14 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 Then, another part of what the—our staff verifies is to make sure that the notices go out and that the department, along each step in our electronic recruitment system, report to what they have done. So, the CountyI don't remember the year, Waylen2008—moved to an electronic recruitment system. Pre prior to that, everything was done on paper. So, in our electronic recruitment system we are able to document or keep a historical record of each applicant—what happened, what they applied for, what happened with that recruitment whether or not they met the eligibility requirements for the class or did not, what positions they were referred to, and then what the department has done once they're referred. So, if they were interviewed and not selected, that's documented. If they were contacted and they were not interested in interviewing that's documented. So, these applicants are moved along in the electronic recruitment system until the department reports their hire and you will have one person whose moved to the hired section and the rest will remain in either the interviewed or the referred sectionI guess, that's the easiest way to call it in our electronic recruitment system. When the report—when the hire is reported, the staff make sure—also make sure that the compensation is proper. There are opportunities for departments to recruit for positions at a range above the minimum pay in the pay rate. So, for example—and that opportune that option is only for specialized positions, or positions that we are having difficulty filling, or positions that have a shortage—are in a shortage category, such as civil engineers. It's beenhistorically, it's been hard to recruit for civil engineers to fill government positions because our pay is lower than what they could make on the outside. So, those are examples of positions where the HR director can approve to hire into these positions at above the entry-level. In general, when we recruit for positions all new hires from the outside coming into a County position for the first time, are hired at the entry-level salary for their pay grade. So, our staff, in addition to people just coming in from the outside, we conduct internal recruitments within the County. So, for internal recruitments only either—it could be an internal recruitment within the County or an internal recruitment within a department. That—the option to fill is at the discretion of the department head. When a selection is made from an internal recruitment, the compensation of that County applicant is based on their current paygrade and in accordance with either the collective bargaining agreement or our compensation procedures. So, before staff will authorize that hire, they're going to check and make sure that the compensation that's been offered to this internal applicant, is proper. Similarly, they're going to make sure that if a new person is hired from the outside, if they're not—if the department is not reporting their salary at the minimum, they're going to make sure that there was approval to hire this person at a pay rate within the range that was authorized. Page 15 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 Another part of the recruitment process is a written exams. So, for certain position classes, we have designated that those positions require a written examination. Our staff will schedule the written examination dates for those who meet the minimum qualification requirement and conduct the exams. We have protoCOVID protocols in place now. Our written exams have been scheduled at the tennis stadium for—since 2020, Waylen? Since 2020, we've conducted written exams at the tennis stadium. Those examinations are highly confidential. They are multiple choice exams. We do verify that the person coming into the exam is the person who is on the application and once the applications are the examination is done, they are electronically scored. It's a multiple-choice exam. And those who pass the written exam are then placed on the eligible list. For the position classes that do not require a written exam, it's just a matter of meeting the minimum qualification requirements and then we—the staff will do an education and experience evaluation, which is another type of exam to determine the ranking of those applicants on the list versus the ranking on the list from the written exam score. OkayI kind of got sidetracked. So, they conduct the written exams, establish the list, they refer the list, and authorize the hire. Another part of what the recruitment division does is we go out and—it hasn't happened lately, but we participate in job fairs—career fairs. And I think that is a really important part of attracting people to work for government—to work for public to—for service. Right now, it is hard for us to compete with outside employers because our salaries are set by contract. But if—when we go out and promote, we're also promoting the ability to help people as County employees or government employees to do a service for employees for the public. We're promoting the benefit packages that come with public employment. So, it's a way to attract people to come in and apply for our jobs. And then, a small portion of what the recruitment division does is administer things such as the medical examinations, the physicals—pre-employment physicals. We work with the County physicians and the Administration to establish guidelines—minimum medical requirements that apdesignated class requires. I think that's about it. I'm sorry if I rambled, but I was just trying to think of as much as I could to give you as much information. CHR. CABANAS: So, there's a large area, Lee. Waylen, did you want to say something? MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yeah, I did. Iso just to—I didn't want to interrupt Lee but where we switched to paperless to NeoGov in 2011. And I also want to mention that our current Administration—and because of the times we're in right now with recruitment, we are experiencing a significant shortage in applicants and mostly in, pretty much, every class of work we're trying to recruit for now. Page 16 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 Just to share with you all, we had eight applicants come out for the written exam for a Clerk III position. So, we are in some interesting times and the re—and the information and the research I've been gathering, it's not a local issue, it's a nationwide issue that we're experiencing. So, fortunately, NeoGov, the company we have the software with—has been very helpful in helping us strategize new recruitment methods. So, we're really in a period where we're looking at other opportunities for recruitment and how we recruit. And so, Lee's job is very challenging because it's not only in screening anymore, we have to come up with new ways of recruitment. So, I just wanted to share that as well. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Waylen, Can I open it up for questions, then, starting with Mr. Ventura in Kona. Mel, do you have any questions for Lee? MR. VENTURA: Yeah. Yeah, I do. Hi, Lee, do you find that over time the results you get on these written exams that they relate to job success, like the higher the better someone does on the exam the—down the road, that person ends up being more successful at his or her job? MS. BOTELHO: Mr. Ventura, I'm sorry, but I don't know if we keep those statistics. Once an eligia person is referred to a department and a selection is made, we the Recruitment or the Central HR doesn't track those applicants to see which of those are most successful. The written exam, basically, is to rank them on the list, right. Some people don't take exam don't do well with written exams. But they can, certainly, perform the job if—of—given that opportunity. Once they're referred, everyone who is referred to a department is on a level playing field. The department doesn't know the ranking or the outcome—where they placed from the written exam. So, it is really up to the applicant to sell themselves during that interview and assessment process. So, I don't know that we have statistics. Did you have anything to add, Waylen? MR. LEOPOLDINO: I just wanted to add that we just implemented the written exams in 2020, so one of my things is to establish some metrics with regard to written exams and how that plays out over time. Because that's a very valid question, Mr. Ventura. So, that's definitely on our radar because if it's not effective, we have to look at a more effective way in implementing our written exams. But we just re -implemented the written exams so, at this time, it's difficult to say how it's playing into job performance. MR. VENTURA: Okay. And those that carry the standard weight in an applicant's overall evaluation or is it pretty subjective and considered with all the other things? Page 17 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 CHR. CABANAS: I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you, Mel. Could you repeat the question to Lee, please? MR. VENTURA: Oh, I'm sorry. Does the exam score or how well a person does on the exam, does that carry a standard weight in the applicant's evaluation or is it just considered among a variety of other things? MS. BOTELHO: Okay. The outcome of the exam, basically, establishes where that applicant is going to rank on the list. In our Rules provide for the referral of five the top five applicants for—plus tied scores whenever a department requesubmits a Request to Fill their vacancy. The department head does have the option to request additional names—and we're talking about open -competitive recruitments where the top five scores or applicants plus tie scores are referred. So that the outcome from the written exam is going to establish who gets referred to a department first. So, maybe the first person the top scoring person on the eligible list might get referred to several departments because we're always going to refer the top five eligible applicants and then if there are any people with tied scores. So, it gives them a slight advantage I would say based on their ranking. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Can I just interject a little bit just for clarification. So, when you say referring the top five because I want to just piggyback on Mr. Ventura's question just so that everybody understands this process now. The referral is based on the top five names based on the applicants availability, right, for a particular district. Could you explain to MS. BOTELHO: Correct. CHR. CABANAS: the Board, Lee, please MS. BOTELHO: Okay. CHR. CABANAS: so they understand that. MS. BOTELHO: Okay. Yes, correct. I did leave that piece out. So, again MR. LEOPOLDINO: Can I inter—before we go on to that. I, kind of, want just quickly answer Mr. Ventura's question. So, the departments do not get the rank the score, the written exam score. So, it's not played into the selection of the applicant. It's only used to place the person on the eligible list. And then, now Lee can go into the other factors. Page 18 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 MS. BOTELHO: Okay. So, again, like I explained earlier, when we recruit for a position it's for that position class. I'll use Clerk III as an example. We have Clerk III's islandwide. And depending on what the applicant chooses when they're on their application if they are available for work in Kona, in Hilo, Waimea. So, they can select what district they're interested in taking a job. They can also select if they're interested in temporary employment or permanent employment. For temporary employment, they can list the duration that they would like to be considered for. And then, part-time and permanent employment. So, when we establish that list, the general list is established based on the ranking, the outcome, or the scores from the written exam. When the list is referred, we filter that long list—well, hopefully, long list—lately it hasn't been so long. But that list of applicants, based on where the position is, if it's a full-time or part-time job, if it's temporary what the duration isso we filter it based on the applicant's preferences. And then, from that filtered list, the top five applicants plus tied scores are referred to the department. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Lee. Can you explain to the Board the difference between the referral for an open competitive eligible list versus an internal list because has it changed for an internal list referral? MS. BOTELHO: No. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Can you explain that so they can see—so they hear the difference between the two, please. MS. BOTELHO: Okay. Sure. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you. MS. BOTELHO: So, in open -competitive recruitment is exactly what it sounds like. It is a recruitment where anybody, including current employees, can apply for a vacancy or for that recruitment. An internal recruitment, again, it's either internal within the County or internal within a department—is for civil service employees only. So, that means only persons who are employed by the County and have—who have met all the requirements for membership in the civil service—meaning they have been selected through that—our competitive recruitment process and completed a six-month probationary period are eligible to apply for these positions. When we recruit for an open—an internal recruitment, it is for a specific position only. So, it does—we do not establish a list that is good for six months. We establish a list that is good for that one recruitment only. And all qualified applicants from that internal recruitment are referred to the department for consideration. So, it could be two people, it could be ten people but all Page 19 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 would be referred to the department and all must be considered by the department for that vacancy. So, they need to all be contacted to see if they're interested in interviewing. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Lee. Mr. Ventura, do you have other questions for Lee? MR. VENTURA: No, that's it. Thank you. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Thanks, Mel. What about you, Ms. De Soto, any questions? MS. DE SOTO: No. No questions. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Kate. Ms. Mathews, any questions? MS. MATHEWS: Yes. Back in the written examinationI'm still a little perplexed by this. How much weight does it carry—and I think that's something that Mr. Ventura was trying to establish also. How much weight does that score carry in terms of all the other things that you're looking at with an applicant? And can you describe what this written exam actually covers? MS. BOTELHO: As far as the weight, it—again, it's just used to determine ranking on the list. So, it doesn't—because Applicant A scored 100 percent, it doesn't give them an advantage over Applicant B who scored 98 percent. So, there really is no there' s no weight given to give the applicant, an advantage, other than the their placement or ranking on the eligible list. MS. MATHEWS: So, the person that got a 99 versus the person that got a 98 that 99 because you've already filtered the amount so that their they move forward to the exam, right? MS. BOTELHO: Yes. MS. MATHEWS: So, the person that got a 99 is going to beat out the person that got the 98 by—it's not like you're sending out five names and this all, sort of, the way that this appears part of my concern is—we'll use my husband and I. He sucks at taking a test. I ace them all the time. But you ask both of us a week later about the contact on the exam, he'll have it all down pact and I will have dumped it because all I was doing was passing a test. So, I guess, that's one of my concerns is we've now moved somebody forward based on the fact I could ace the test and he would be the better employee because he retained what you're testing on, which goes back to my question of—what kind of things are on the exam everybody's taking—or is it specific to the kind of job Page 20 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 MS. BOTELHO: Yes. It's specific to the type of job. Clerk III is going to be general clerical, it's going to contain things like office practices and procedures. For higher level positionsso, maybe I need to back up a little. Our written exams are for entry-level positions. So, clerk III, account clerk—it is not for positions such as civil engineer, or planner, or human resources specialist. So, it's just for entry- level. So, it's pretty baseline and tailored to the position that that examination is for. So, things for a water supply—for waterworks helper—it's going to have something—some questions in there that pertain to what a waterworks helper should know or customer service representative— if s epresentativeit's going to have things in there that somebody who is going to be performing customer service type of work should know. And when we develop the written exams, it's either we use a source that does written exams nationwide and they have a bank of questions that are generally used. If we develif we do not pull everything from that source, we always have a subject matter expert come in and review the exam and make sure that the questions asked are applicable to the position that they're recruiting for and, of course, that the answers are correct. MS. MATHEWS: Thank you. That got me where I needed to be. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Lee. Mr. Kunz, any questions for Lee? MR. KUNZ: No. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Last round—questions for Lee. Lee, I know we kind of took long with your area but I do have one question. MS. BOTELHO: Okay. CHR. CABANAS: And I'm not sure if it's still your area or if it's with workers' comp now but what about job placement for medically injured or ill employees who can never return to their usual and customary job. Is—are you folks still doing the job placement? Is it still under Recruitment and Exam? MS. BOTELHO: Yes. CHR. CABANAS: Could you explain, real briefly, to the Board what that entails? MS. BOTLEHO: Sure. The priority placement program is for employees who have a work injury and who can no longer perform their usual job. The example would be a police officer who is injured in the line of duty can no longer perform police work. The County the Count—it is the County's duty to assist this employee or these employees with finding suitable work within our organization. So, the Priority Job Placement Program really Page 21 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 looks at what qualifications these injured employees have and what they can do. And they are given first preference for any opening that they are eligible for. So, we haven't—in the year just about a year that I've been in this position, we haven't had any new employees come into the program. The priority placement program, however, has a six- month limitation where we will do this job search for them. And if we cannot find suitable employment for them, they can be put on the there is another list and I can't remember the name of it. But they can be considered they can request to be considered for other positions. It is another type of list that is given preference when vacancies arise. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Can you just explain, though, the priority that they get with the referral? So, let's say you have a real property appraiser position, you have a police officer who's medically injured or ill, cannot return to his or her usual customary—and now you have a real property appraiser Request to Fill form coming in. Can you explain to the Board what your division does with that Request to Fill form, and you know you have a police officer who meets the minimum qualifications for that job and can do the work in accordance with the doctor's restrictions MS. BOTELHO: Okay. CHR. CABANAS: with his or her report. Can you just explain that so they see the connection? MS. BOTELHO: Sure. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. MS. BOTELHO: So, when departments submit their Request to Fill their positions, they're looking they're not going to know, necessarily know, unless it's a person within their department. So, Police Department is not going to know that we have a person on the priority placement list. So, they're going to submit their Request to Fill—I mean, no, I got to back up. The Department of Finance with this real property appraiser position does not know that we have a police officer who is on the priority placement list. So, the Department of Finance is going to submit their Request to Fill via either an internal recruitment or an open recruitment—that's just for example. When our department gets this, we're going to look—we knowwell, the HR manager will know the staff doesn't necessarily know—if we have people on that priority placement list. If there is, that request will be amended. We are going to refer that priority placement person first. So, we'll contact the department and let them know that we're not going to be conducting a referrala recruitment for you—we have somebody who is on the list for priority placement, Page 22 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 meets the eligibility requirements, can perform the job—and we will refer that name to the department. The department is obligated to interview that injured employee. However, they are not obligated to hire the person. If they do not, they have to provide the HR director with justification as to why they did not select that person because preference should be—we should be helping our injured employees find employment. If a placement is made, they still need to serve a probationary period because it's a new pos—it's a new job class that they're moving to. And those injured employees are actually their pay remains the same as what they were making whein the position that they were injured in. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Lee, for that detailed explanation. Any other questions? If not, thank you, Lee, for such a detailed explanation of your area. MS. BOTELHO: Thank you. CHR. CABANAS: Thanks a lot. Okay. It's 12 noon, do weoh, okay. Okay. We can take a break for lunch or we can continue on for a little bit more and then break for lunch. So, what do you all want to do. You want to continue? Waylen, do you want to continue for a while? Okay. MS. MATHEWS: Show of hands, guys. There we go. CHR. CABANAS: They're nodding, so it looks good. Okay. So, we will Contin—okay, we will continue. Let's roll on with Administrative Services and DeeAnn Sadayasu. Come on down, Dee. Hi, Dee, good morning. (At this time, Ms. DeeAnn Sadayasu, Administrative Services Officer Division Head, Human Resources Department, came forward.) MS. SADAYASU: Hi. I'm DeeAnn Sadayasu, I'm the Administrative Services Officer with Human Resources. So, I oversee and coordinate the administrative and fiscal operations and activities within the Department of Human Resources. In addition to fiscal operations, my division deals with employee benefits and personnel transactions. So, we administer rules, policies—when it comes to benefits we administer rules, policies, and procedures for Leave Sharing, Flexible Spending, Family and Medical Leave, Temporary Disability Insurance, and other legally mandated programs. We also work with agencies who provide employee benefits, such as the Employees Retirement System for retirement, the Hawaii Employer Union Health Benefits Trust Fund for health insurance benefits, and Prudential for deferred compensation. Page 23 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 In our Transactions section, they review and audit all Personnel Action Forms. So, Personnel Action Forms are whenever anybody gets hired—any action they get hired, there's a change in pay, a change in position, a pay increase, they separate from service there's a Personnel Action Form that is prepared by the department. It comes to us. We audit, we review to make sure that it's in compliance with civil service laws, rules, regulations, policies, procedures, and the collective bargaining agreement. So, we make sure that whatever actions are taken and being processed, that there's a proper authority to allow those actions. We also audit departments and agencies for compliance with laws, rules, policies, and procedures—and provide recommendations for improvements. So, we normally audit two departments a quarter. We go in, we look at their bulletin boards, we look to make sure that they have the required federal and state posters. We look at compensation for temporary assignments to ensure that they're properly compensating employees for their temporary assignments. We look at personnel folders to make sure that medical documents are in a separate file, not in the regular personnel file—we review that. And if there is any corrective action needed to comply with either rules, laws, policy, procedures—we work with the departments on that. And we also provide assistance to line departments and agencies as far as, like, interpreting the laws, rules, regulations, and contract provisions. So, because my division deals with fiscal operations as well as personnel transactions that affect the payroll, the pay for employees—we work closely with the Department of Finance regarding HR and payroll matters. In my division, I have six positions. I have—for the administrative and fiscal operations, I have an Administrative Services Program Specialist, Tisha Narimatsu; and an Account Clerk, Kimberly Sakai, who assists me with that. When it comes to employee or the Transactions section, I have a HR Specialist I, Bernie Fujii; and then I have three vacant Human Resource Tech. positions. We recently conducted interviews, so we'll be hiring two Techs. come January 3rd That's all I have. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Dee. How have you been handling the Transactions with three HR Tech. vacancies? MS. SADAYASU: Just trying our best. I mean, between—Bernie's been—our HR Specialist has been doing majority of the transactions. Tisha's helping out in the interim. But it—luckily, I mean, we've come passed pay increases so it's been, kind of, like, just day-to-day stuff. And so, it hasn't—we just, kind of, I guess, put aside what we can do later and just, basically, it's auditing the forms to ensure that—because what happens is when it comes to, like, pay changes or position changes—employees cannot get paid until we audit and approve their personnel forms `cause we want to be sure that it's in compliance, the compensation is properso, that's our main focus inwe've, kind of, put everything else aside and to catch up later. Page 24 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Thank you. We'll start with Mr. Ventura. Mel, any questions for DeeAnn? MR. VENTURA: No questions. Thank you. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Mel. Ms. De Soto, any questions? MS. DE SOTO: I'm actually just curious, if you have any thoughts as to why there were so many vacancies at once, and if you're hopeful about the ability to continue to fill that one remaining position. MS. SADAYASU: So, it was a HR Technician class of work and that was on a continuous recruitment. So, we were just waiting for names. As far as the temporary position, we're kind of waiting to see because it's kind of like in line withWaylen MR. LEOPOLDINO: Is it okay if I MS. SADAYASU: Yeah. MR. LEOPOLDINO: Any time we have vacancies in the office, we want to make—many of our positions have been filled for years and years and years. And so, one of the steps we go through is we ensure that—like what Jamie mentioned—we go through the class spec. and the position description to be sure that the duties that are outlined there are still current and applicable to our current operational needs. So, when Dee's positions became vacant I asked her to review her operations and her process to see where we can streamline and become more efficient. And I told her it'swe can also consider different classes if we need to. If we need to reallocate that position to another class that might work best for her. So, I think we've decided to look at that position and consider something that might work best. So but, overall, going back to the vacancies—'cause I know it's a concern. It wouldn't take too much for you to look and dig and do some research that a lot of people are not wanting to physically come back to the office. They're looking for remote work. Our County doesn't offer that at this time. And so, childcare becomes an issue, people are changing professionsso, you can google it and you'll easily find that these are the main reasons. It's not necessarily pay and the type of work. People are just—don't want to come back to the office physically. So thank you. MS. DE SOTO: Thank you for that clarification. That's exactly what I was asking for. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Kate. Ms. Mathews, any questions for DeeAnn? Page 25 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 MS. MATHEWS: Yes. And I'm not actually sure if it's for you or somebody out there. So, what's the timeframe between when you say, "I have vacancy" and you actually get to hire somebody. What's the that average timeframe that you're you don't have somebody? MR. LEOPOLDINO: It's hard to say now, but I think if we had a robust applicant pool—let's say we had enough people to fill—I think we could fill a position in two to three months, I would think but now we're looking at six/nine months before we even find qualified applicants. I don't know, Lee, is that about right—normally, it's maybe two to three but MS. BOTELHO: (Inaudible—speaking from the audience.) CHR. CABANAS: Lee, excuse me, but our secretary has reminded me that you need to come speak on the mic. because it's not going to be recorded. Yeah—if you just come up real quick it's okay. `Cause it doesn't get recorded on our equipment, if you don't speak into the mic. Thank you. MS. BOTELHO: In general, it maybe takes two to three months to fill a vacancy if we have to conduct a recruitment. If there is an established list, then we can just go ahead and refer the names and itdependent on the department on how fast they conduct their interviews. A referred list is actually good for a 90 -day period. So, departments have three months in which to conduct their interviews and make that selection. If for whatever reason they cannot make a selection within the three months, then they there is the option for them to request an extension. And, of course, give an explanation of why they need more time before they make a selection. But now, with the HR Tech. positions, several departments have had vacancies and it's been tough to recruit and find qualified applicants. We have that recruitment on continuous, which means people can apply at any time. It doesn't—it—normally, our recruitments are a ten-day period but it is on continuous recruitment. And so, it—it's hard. It will take several months before they can get a good list of people to consider to fill their vacancies. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Lee. MR. LEOPOLDINO: I do want to add that we didn't really touch upon open-competitiveI mean, continuous recruitments. So, the qualification for a vacancy to meet the opecontinuous recruitment—open continuous recruitment, is it has to be a difficult to fill position or class of work and we have seen that list grow recently. So, even though we're having difficulty filling these vacancies, well, we could go six to nine maybe even 12 months—we could have positions that we just can't fill. And, so far, HR has been lucky. Up until now we've been seeing accountants, engineers, IT professionals those are the classes that we had difficulty filling. But now now, we're part of that pool where we are scrambling trying to find HR professionals. Page 26 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 So, if any of you would like to come back to the workforce, please see Lee. MS. MATHEWS: So, that actually takes me to my other question. And, again, I'm not sure if it belongs to you and it may belong to you—is the issue of mental health. Who's responsible in HR to deal with mental health issues across the County and what's being done? Because you're missing three people out of six—those kinds of people are going to be stressed and they're going to say, "Bye, I'll go find something that's not so insane." So, how is that being addressed? The mental health—what happens if somebody has a mental health issue in a department and then the larger thing is at HR MR. LEOPOLDINO: Well, that's a great point because the mental health issue is actually tied to this whole COVID-19 and people not wanting to come to work and people that are actually at work having considerable issues with the situation. So, in the HR world, we're seeing more and more information going out about developing a mental health program. So, one of the things that we have on our list is to—we're partnering with Blue Zones to actually come up with a programa health and wellness program where we havea part of that would be to focus on mental health. We don't have anything in place right now, however, if we do have issues that arise, it actually overlaps with numerous divisions. It could include Safety, our Administrative Services, my divisionso, we address it as it comes up. We, kind of, huddle and we address it together if we need to. Yes, on a case-by-case. MS. MATHEWS: On a case-by-case. MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yes. MS. SADAYASU: So, can I add one more thing, too? Our Health and Safety Division has a contract for an Employee Assistance Program, too. So, we do—Ryan can go over that in his part. But we do have that where we can refer employees to counselors for issues. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Dee. Any more questions, Gay? MS. MATHEWS: No. CHR. CABANAS: No? Okay. Charlie, anymore ques—any questions? MR. KUNZ: No. Thank you. Page 27 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Moving along. We are now with EEO/ADAWaylen, you're going to cover that? MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yes, I will cover that briefly. So, we were notified in—at the end of September that our Equal Employment Officer/ADA Coordinator had resigned unexpectedly. And so, I had to add that hat to my duties. And I can honestly say I'm not super familiar or well - versed in the area but I didI have been learning a lot while performing the role. But just to go over a brief overview. The EO Division that's what we commonly refer to it as—handles Title VII and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII deals with employment discrimination regarding employment. And Title VI is focused on discrimination on anybody that might be seeking any services or participate in any activities that are federally funded or receiving any kind of federal aid. And then, of course, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. We focus on Titles I, II, and III. Again, Title I is related to employment and any persons with disabilities including reasonable accommodations and things like that. So, we have a program in place for Title I. We also this position is unique in that it also serves the public. So, if the public comes in with requests that are related to disability and access—in fact, those are theI got two requests since our EO Officer left. One just to give you some context—one was an individual at Mauna Lani. She owns a condo. and she noticed one of the other residents trying to get out of the facility and was having difficulty getting from the their facility onto the sidewalk to get to the grocery store. So, she called and said she observed this person in the wheelchair having difficulty. So, of course, I don't know what to do. Fortunately, our previous EO managers that were in place over the years, have left great resources and instructions on what to do. So, I was able to work with the State's DCAB office. I don't remember what the acronym is, I need a definitions guide for that. But it's basically the access board for the State and they handle requests like that. So, that's an example that's one of the examples that this position, kind of, oversees public request for access. And Title III is public accommodation, which is also tied—any kind of services provided in the public—for the public—like your transit agency or your bus hubs, libraries, things like that open to the public—Title III covers access for those who may have disabilities. So, Titles I, II, and III fall under this division. HRS 378 employment practices covers providing accommodations for persons with disabilities and employment. HRS 321(c), which is Office of Language Accessso, our County is tasked with having a language access plan in place, which I reviewed recently to make sure it was current and comprehensive and met all the requirements of HRS 321(c). Page 28 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 Basically, that HRS 321(c) requires the County to provide those with Limited English Proficiency—LEP—the ability to access either a translator or some written documentation to translate written communication. Basically, that's kind of what the fang that's the fang that's the requirement that we have to have in place for the County. So, this position oversees to make sure that all that information is current and up-to-date and we meet the requirements. And then, finally, our County policies and procedures, of course, have to meet all federal and state requirements as it relates to equal employment opportunity and persons with disabilities. In addition to those programs, this position is required to provide regular training—conduct mandatory training in the County. So, there's two mandatory trainings that are that fall under this division. It's the Antidiscrimination and Harassment training for employees—one; and for supervisors, two. Each employee of the County is required to have that training recorded. Also, this division is also required to prepare regular compliance reports to show that we're the County's in compliance with Title VII and Title VI—and all the ADA Titles I,11, and III. And, also, the final thing that this position is required to, kind of, administer any modifications to any kind of accessibility equipment in the County. So, recently I received a request to fix the pool lift at one of the pools in Kona. And so, they would come to our office, put in that request. I would review the request and check with Dee in our Administrative Services Division to see if we can—we have that money and then we would—we normally do—we have a budgeted amount for modifications that gets approved and the modification is provided. So, that's kind of this position in a nutshell. So, fortunately, we recruited. I was concerned when I opened this recruitment, but we did make a selection. I'm happy very, very happy to say. The person will be starting with us on December 16. And because I haven't made an announcement to the County, I would prefer not to mention this person's name at this time. But that's all I have. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Waylen. Mr. Ventura, any questions for Waylen? MR. VENTURA: None at this time. Thanks. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Thank you. Ms. De Soto, any questions. MS. DE SOTO: Not as this time. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Thank you. Ms. Mathews. MS. MATHEWS: No. Just congratulations on hiring somebody. MR. LEOPOLDINO: Thank you. Page 29 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 CHR. CABANAS: And, Mr. Kunz, any question? MR. KUNZ: No questions. Thank you. CHR. CABANAS: And I don't have any questions either. So, thank you, Waylen. MR. LEOPOLDINO: Thank you. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. So, continuing on, we now have Ryan Chong, Health and Safety. Hi, Ryan, good afternoon. (At this time, Mr. Ryan Chong, Health and Safety Division Head, Human Resources Department, came forward.) MR. CHONG: Good afternoon. Ryan Chong, Health and Safety Division Manager. I manage a division of myself, I have a Safety Specialist II, I also have a Clerk III. My apologies, I tend to talk very, very quickly. Let me know if I need to slow down at all. Everybody's usually familiar with what we do. We are tasked with employee health and safety because of the OSHA Act of 1970. OHSA Act of 1970, basically, general duty clause says employers have a requirement to provide employment and a place of employment free from recognized hazards that will cause death or serious injury. And so, the oddball thing about my division is that we're actually tasked with meeting OSHA requirements where, as a government entity, we are not actually covered by OSHA. OSHA allows States—and so, there are 26-28 different state programs. And so, HIOSH is actually who we need to be following. HIOSH, for the most part, adopts in its entirety all of the OSHA standards. And so, it's a little bit, again, odd—where we have standards for general industry, which we usually follow because of the type of work we do. But even though we're general industry, we could fall under a construction standard, which is 1926—depending on what we do. For example, if I'm going to put an air conditioning system on this building, the initial "put on the building" would be considered a construction industry where we have to follow the 1926 rules. If we're going to maintain it and maybe even just taking the whole thing off and putting a new one on that would fall under 1910 because it's maintenance. It's not construction. So, it's a little bit odd on how that all works. Again, going specific—something like fall protection. Fall protection in general industry is required at four -feet. Fall protection at construction industry is required at six -feet. So, it's a little bit odd. Page 30 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 But my—OSHA also refers to ANSIAmerican National Standards Institute. It also refers to NIOSH National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. So all of these broad categories that OSHA says, "Hey, we may not have something for this but these guys already created it. So look at that. Follow their rules. Look at this, follow their rules." But if they don't have a specific regulation for it then it falls under general duty clause -5(a). So, as far as that goes, my division we are—we do safety inspections. So, we do facility inspections, we do operational inspections, we'll do job inspections as well. Usually, somebody will invite us in and we'll come through their facility just looking at things that most people aren't concerned about. If you look at something, like, an extension cord. An extension cord is not allowed per se in place of permanent wiring. That's a regulation. Most people don't consider that when they're working but there're some ways that—in compliance unplug it every day then that's not permanent wiring. If I use the two key holes on the back and I mount it there, then that's okay. But if I go and I put zip ties around it—that's permanent wiring. It's not okay. So, it's a little bit odd as far as that goes. We conduct mock HIOSH inspections where we come in with an inspectora compliance inspector's eye, and we let the department know, "You know what, this is what we've identified. These are the ways that you can fix that." And we also provide HIOSH compliance inspection. We walk around with everybody. If an inspector shows up on your door, then we tell them, "You know what, call us. Even if it's across the island, we'll drive over" just because we know the system. We know the processes a little bit more than the people in the departments. And so, we're there to, basically, defend their honor. If we do get a citation, then we are also there for citation response and compliance guidance for the departments. We conduct safety training and that's where the majority of our training happens. Just as an example probably in the last 12 months even with the COVID, we've done about 150 or so first-aid/CPR/AED guys certified. Every other year that's a requirement for American Heart Association. Next year, I think, we're planning on something like 220 or so and that's just one program. We do personal protective equipment, blood borne pathogens, hearing conservation, hazard communications, we do lock out/tag out, fall protection, respiratory protection, asbestos alert awareness, first aid/CPR/AED's, fire safety awareness, we do power industrial trucks, we do mobile elevated work platforms, we do a defensive driving course, we do ergonomics, we do flagger safety, we do back injury prevention. So, all different types of training. Basically, again, it's for employee safety and well-being. We provide regulation interpretation and guidance, again, through HIOSH and OSHA. We also do that—because, historically, we had a safety and driver improvement coordinator in our division. Page 31 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 My Safety Specialist and myself, we still carry CDL A credentials, which is going to come in handy because of a new federal motor carrier safety administration rule come February 7' of next year where commercial motor vehicle operations will be a driver's ed. type program. You need somebody that has a license in that class to do so much classroom work and then so much on -road work before somebody's eligible to go and licensure. So, Federal Motor Vehicle Carrier Safety Administration, Federal Motor Carrier Safety regulations, and Department of Transportation regulations for regulatory interpretation and guidance as well. We do vehicle and equipment training, basically, if we know how to drive it and we've got the license for it, then we'll teach you how. Mobile elevated work platforms—stick lifts, boom lifts, articulated liftsdifferent type various types of forklifts. Powered industrial trucks—we also do Type 3 licenses, Type 4 licenses—and, again, historically, we did CDL licensing as well. We maintain the safety policies. A lot of the bloodborne pathogens, a lot of personal protective equipment—there's a policy associated with that. And so, we maintain those. We update those. Those are also on our Intranet in the County system. By contract, I am the UPW Safety Committee and I usually Chair that Committee. I also sit on the various departmental safety committees. Right now, the one that is active is the Department of Parks and Recreation. And then, we also control contracts for audiometric exams because of hearing conservation we need an annual audiometric exam if you go over 85 decibels over an eight-hour period. Our safety shoes because of the different environments that we work in with steel toe, anti -puncture, slip and oil resistant, hepatitis B vaccination contract is what we control that has to do with the bloodborne pathogens. Fire extinguishers, range hoods, alarm/sprinkler system contract we control. And then, the Employee Assistance Program that was mentioned a little bit earlier, is under the Health and Safety Division. And we also are the point of contact for Civil Defense. In case of any type of natural disaster or emergency, then they would call us. We interface with Waylen and figure out what needs to happen. We also control the call center for Civil Defense. During a natural disaster emergency, if you call in, those are people that we would typically schedule and orient to whatever they're doing for the situation at -hand. And then, the other big thing that may be visible if you're paying attention to it—but, if not, it's invisible—we have a AED program Public Access AED Program here at the County. We control about 70 AED's placed across the island. And with that, we have a app. that fire actually paid for—it's called a Pulse Point App.—Pulse Point AED—and that actually has the location of all of the AED's in the community. American Heart Association's recommendation is an AED within 90 -seconds walking distance of everywhere. And so, we got one. There's one here, Page 32 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 there's one in the Aupuni Center. Most of the gyms on the island have one and Hilo Muni—all of that. A lot of high use areas would have one—so about 70 that we control. Sorry, go ahead. CHR. CABANAS: It's a lot. You control a lot. Thank you, Ryan. Mr. Ventura, any questions for Ryan? MR. VENTURA: Yeah, Ryan, I'm just curious. What kind of continuing education requirements or certification requirements are you required to maintain throughout any given year? MR. CHONG: Right—for the most part, the standards call for a competent person or a certified person. And, basically, OSHA and HIOSH adopts the employer gets to say who's the competent person. And you just need some criteria about how you deem them competent. So, for the most part, none of the standards require somebody to actually go out and get certified by an entity. Mainly because there is no central entity that will certify you for all of these different things because it runs the gamut of everything that might happen in the workplace. The one thing that we do pay subscriptions for are defensive driving course, which we offer to all County employees, mainly, if you're going to operate a vehicle that has a County logo on it. We just want you operating legally, politely, courteously. So, we pay for that through National Safety Council. We also send my Safety Specialist to the IVES Group for his mobile elevated work platforms and his powered industrial truck certifications. And, again, it's not a requirement but it's that we have something to fall back on should somebody ask us, "When you put your program together, how do you know your program is any good?" Well, because we're certified through these guys who are industry standard, industry experts in doing that type of training. And so, to answer your question in a nutshell there really is no certifications required. MR. VENTURA: Okay. Thanks. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Ryan. MR. CHONG: You're welcome. CHR. CABANAS: Any other question, Mr. Ventura? MR. VENTURA: No, that's it. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Thanks. Ms. De Soto? Page 33 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 MS. DE SOTO: Yes. So, piggy -backing on Ms. Mathews question earlier around mental health and the County—in your role with safety, have you all considered looking into something like a mental health first aid training program or something that can train lay people on how to identify mental health symptoms and support colleagues and peers—given the caveat that I'm a mental health provider—if you can tell. So MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yeah. We, actually, just recently—well, I think we're moving in that direction. But one of—an outside agency approached us to do some—it was mental health CPR. So, we're actually going to be prov—Ryan and myself will be sitting in on one of the trainings to just get an idea as to what they're offering in January, I believe. But I think we're headed in that direction to adopt some of these really important pieces that we should incorporate into our health and safety programs. So, like I said, there's more and more information out there and opportunities for us to take advantage of. So, I think we are definitely moving in that direction. MS. DE SOTO: That's great to hear. I think given COVID-19 and our County's history with natural disasters will only make sense to train across-the-board. I encourage you to look into our community on what courses are already available `cause I believe we have a lot of trained instructors in our community—as a result of some recent COVID-19 grants. MR. CHONG: I know the Department of Parks and Recreation recently partnered with Fire Department and some grant—and they did a whole bunch of the mental health CPR. MS. DE SOTO: It was that one was Mental Health First Aid MR. CHONG: That's the one. MS. DE SOTO: in partnership with a grant under Vibrant Hawaii. MR. CHONG: Yes. MS. DE SOTO: Yeah. MR. CHONG: Yes, that's the one. And so, I believe we're going to be taking that in January. MS. DE SOTO: Oh, great. MR. CHONG: With (inaudible) out of R&D. MS. DE SOTO: Okay. MR. CHONG: Research and Development was coordinating. MS. DE SOTO: Great to hear that. Page 34 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 CHR. CABANAS: Thanks, Kate. Thanks, Ryan. Ms. Mathews, any questions for Ryan? MS. MATHEWS: One trivial one. So, when people are complaining about a County vehicle that is driving inappropriately, is that a call to you? MR. CHONG: Sometimes we get those calls. A lot of the time, the Mayor's office may get them. If we get them, then we'll track it down to the department and we'll let—we'll hand it off, "You know what, this is what the complaint came in. This is your driver, at this time, in this area." And so, for us, we do offer to go out on a driver audit with that person or department's will typically send them back to the defensive driver course that we have. MS. MATHEWS: So, it sounds to me like the smarter call is to you—even though you're busy then it would be, not discounting the Mayor's officeI'm just saying that it sounds like that's where calls should go? MR. CHONG: It'd be quicker and easier. MS. MATHEWS: Got it. MR. CHONG: Yes. MS. MATHEWS: Thank you. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you. Mr. Kunz. MR. KUNZ: Yeah, one question. Mr. Chong, is your division responsible for creating and training for, like a crisis action process for active shooter or unidentified package or MR. CHONG: We've not been in that realm. We do have a couple of programs on my Intranet—the Department of Homeland Security's run/hide/fight video is on there. Whenever we get a request for that type of thing, we refer it over to SRT at Police Department because when that became a big issue probably in 2014-2015—the SRT Team actually did a bunch of trainings here at the County for that. And so, because it's not necessarily our realm of expertise, then we throw it to the guys who are more used to having bullets and stuff flying around them. MR. KUNZ: So, when there's a change in Administration, has the new Administration been trained? MR. LEOPOLDINO: I'm not sure if this Administration has been trained but from time to time we will ask SRT to come in and do a training. I believe they did one for us last year, I believe. Page 35 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 So, I think we do it at least once annually. But, yeah, we do partner with Police, too, because they have that focus. I've attended a couple I believe. But I don't know if the current Administration has been trained. MR. CHONG: And, again, at this point, if a request comes into my office, then I'll refer them to Department of Homeland Security's run/hide/fight, which we have on our Intranet. And if they want in-person training or interactive training, then we refer to SRT. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you. Any more questions, Mr. Kunz? Ryan, I have a couple of questions but—so with COVID-19, is there any plan for more COVID vaccinations for County employees? And what's the percentage—about how many are vaccinated versus unvaccinated? MR. CHONG: Okay. So, if any of you have seen it on the news, OHSA actually came out with a temporary emergency standard—or emergency temporary standard -1910.501. And that one has to do with vaccinations, testing, and face coverings. November 5h it came out, November 6�' about half of the circuits—more than 30 lawsuits actually came out challenging. And so, on November 6h the Fifth Circuit Court put a stay on OSHA saying OSHA you cannot implement, you cannot enforce, you cannot do anything to this rule. And so, that's where it sits right now. So far, it has gotten assigned through a lottery system to the Sixth Circuit Court—Sixth Circuit Court is going through the litigation right now to figure out are we going to enforce the stay or are we going to lift the stay. Basically, that was two different compliance dates December 5h and January 6h. December 5h for every employer over 100 employees to know what the vaccination status is of all of their employees. January 6h was for the weekly testing requirement, if you don't have a mandatory vaccination program. And so, sorry, Ms. CabanasI didn't I don't remember the rest of your question. CHR. CABANAS: I guess my concern was—okay, so, it might be a multiple. Maybe I wasn't clear. Let me try to organize my thought. Okay, so—we have individuals who are vaccinated and we have those that are not. And for those that are not in the County, they have to have weekly tests? Okay. Is there an effort for the County to encourage more vaccinations for those that are not vaccinated? And the reason why I ask is I saw a CNN special last night. And Dr. Fauci says people who are not vaccinated, we should encourage them to get vaccinated. That's why I'm, kind of, thinking. And then, about the boosters, like, for my family, we all have vaccines, we all had the booster. Okay. So, is there an effort to have employees receive their booster in the County or is that going to be go on your own and go get it done. Page 36 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 MR. CHONG: No. So, to support that, as a County, we've actually provided for COVID/flu vaccinations, which wasn't well received. We had a total of two in Hilo, two in Kona, four hours eachso, 16 total hours and I think we may have gotten 14 doses given. So, it was really, really poor showing but part of that may have been because everybody that wanted one, had one already. So, the convenience factor. We also have Mayor's authorization for up to two hour of Administration Leave per dose, including the booster where the OSHA emergency temporary standard requires up to four hours per primary dose—nothing for the booster. And so, we do have—we've been encouraging County employees, through the administrative leave process, to get vaccinated. MR. LEOPOLDINO: And we do have vaccinationI mean, we do have testing sites set up through the County sponsors. Week—it's weekly. So, every day, there's a site somewhere around the island for our employees to get test—for the ones that are not tested. And then, we—like Ryan said, we offer the admin. leave to go get vaccinated as well as get your boosters. CHR. CABANAS: And their weekly test are—do they have to pay for their weekly test? MR. LEOPOLDINO: No. CHR. CABANAS: Or is it free? MR. LEOPOLDINO: Noso, as long as they go to one of the County sponsored sites. CHR. CABANAS: Oh, okay. MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yeah, so just briefly—the—under the Governor's Emergency Proclamation, employees are—have to attest whether they're vaccinated or unvaccinated. And the ones that are vaccinated, they're exempt from weekly testing. Those that are not vaccinated are required to sub test once very seven days and provide a test result no longer than seven days from taking that test. I do wanI can't give specific numbers but I do want to say that I'm pretty pleased with the amount of our employees that are vaccinated. We didn't expect it to be that high, but we're pleased with the response. CHR. CABANAS: I have one more question. So, for those that are not vaccinated and they're getting their weekly test—does someone monitoring all of that? Is that the HR in each department then? Page 37 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yes. All the HR representatives in the department are required to monitor that. And DeeAnn is our central point of contact to collect all of their reports weekly. CHR. CABANAS: Are those manual reports? MR. LEOPOLDINO: Through Excel—yes. CHR. CABANAS: Oh, through Excel MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yes. CHR. CABANAS: And what happens—what's the consequence, if they don't have a weekly test submitted on a timely basis. MR. LEOPOLDINO: We have a discipline schedule in place. And we have implemented discipline on CHR. CABANAS: To certain individuals? MR. LEOPOLDINO: Correct. Yes. CHR. CABANAS: So, is it a progressive discipline? MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yes. CHR. CABANAS: Oh, okay. MR. LEOPOLDINO: Because under the Governor's EP, Section 89 of the contract they suspended that gave us the flexibility to develop something that made sense to ensure compliance with the Governor's EP. So, we worked closely with—within the scope of the EP to develop something that made sense and also was fair to our employees. But, the bottom line, we communicated to all of our County employees is our responsibility is to maintain a healthy and safe work environment for all. And so, that was why we implemented these stringent things related to COVID. MR. CHONG: What makes—what's a little bit scary is if the emergency temporary standard gets upheld and it gets put into place, if we don't have an attestation form on an employee, that's a potential $13,635.00 fine per employee because it's an OSHA temporary standard. So, if they're not providing their test results, if they don't put in an attestation now it becomes monetary penalties should we get cited for it not just disciplinary action from the employer. Page 38 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Good to know. Thank you for that very detailed explanation. And thank you, Waylen. AnyI guess, there were no other questions for Ryan. So, thank you, Ryan. Okay, so next—Workers' Compensation, Sommer Tokihiro. Hi, Sommer. (At this time, Ms. Sommer Tokihiro, Workers' Compensation Division Head, Human Resources Department, came forward.) MS. TOKIHIRO: Hi. Good afternoon. CHR. CABANAS: Good afternoon. MS. TOKIHIRO: I'm Sommer Tokihiro, Division Head for Workers' Compensation. So, the role of my division is to administer the employee workers' compensation benefits for all County employees. And so, the County administers the benefit in partnership with a third parry. So, we contract with Acclamation Insurance Management Services in Honolulu. They handle all the claims that are filed in the Police Department and the Department of Parks and Recreation—all other departments and all of the injury claims are internally adjusted in the County by myself and my staff. So, there's myself and then I have another Claims Adjustor, Allyson Cortez; we have an HR Technician, Sandy; and HR Assistant, Tiffany Wallace—so Sandy Aguiar, Tiffany Wallace and then, an Account Clerk, Ka`o Kahele who enters all of the bills and we pay all the bills. So, the role of my division is unique in that we're all civil servants and co-workers with people who are filing injury claims and we're responsible for administering that benefit directly. So, just for a little insightcurrently, we have 297 open workers' compensation claims for the entire County. So, I think that would be about ten percent or at about 2,900 employees—so that's about ten percent. The County averages between 10 and 15 new injury claim filings per month. And we're regulated by HRS, Chapter 386, which is the Hawaii Workers' Compensation Law, which requires that within seven working days after the Employer has knowledge of an injury or illness for one of our employees—and also includes volunteers that causes an absence from work for greater than one day or requires first—treatment beyond basic first aid—we're required to file a report of injury with the State. And that starts the workers' compensation claim process. So, with an average of 1510 to 15 new claims per month the goal is to resolve things as quickly as possible. And I'd like to say that that would be within 12 months or less. So, current distribution of claims, adjusted internally in my office, there are 159; and then AIMS as our Third Parry is currently handling 138. All claim filings, regardless of whether or not they're Page 39 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 being administered by AIMS or internally by my office—all claim filings are sent to me and I work with AIMS closely to oversee how they're handling County of Hawaii claims to make sure that the claims handling is consistent with the way that the claim would be handled in my office as well. So, I'm copied on all of the correspondence between the department and AIMS and then I have access to their software, so I can monitor medical treatment reports and evaluate work capabilities to help facilitate return to light duty work as soon as possible. So, that's one of the other big focus is and one of the ways that we're most effective in containing costs is to look for opportunities to facilitate light duty work, while people continue their recovery process from their injury. And so, we're able to—on a temporary light duty basis, we're able to facilitate light duty across departments. So, it could be that a police officer who was injured who is not currently capable of performing their full role, may be placed in the mayor's office to assist. And I've that has occurred in West Hawaii. We had a police officer who was assisting in the mayor's office or we have a Public Works employee who's working in the Vehicle Registration and Licensing division things of that nature. So, in all of the trainings that I provide to the HR personnel in each department, to department heads isincludes the request that they reach out to me if there's the possibility of light duty work that needs to be completed in their department, so that I have a pool of departments and different job duties that I can help facilitate placements, if a department is not able to accommodate their own employee in a light duty capacity. So, that's really the focus is keeping our employees engaged and keeping them mindful of the goal to return to work. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Sommer. Mr. Ventura, any questions for Sommer? MR. VENTURA: Yeah. Hi, Sommer. Of the 10 to 15 claims that need to be filed a month—are you able to comment on, like, what the percentage of first-time filers are versus repeat filers? MS. TOKIHIRO: We do have individuals that would be repeat filers and it could be for a variety of reasons. People in higher risk positions and departments such as the Police Department, Parks and Recreation, Public Works where just the nature of the work itself, may lend itself more to injuries then, say, someone who works in an office. And so, it could be that we do have police officers just in the process of doing their work arresting a combative suspect—it may not be a long-term injury but because of the hazards that they're exposed to, they may have repeat filings. Page 40 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 I would say, for the most part, the larger majority—and I couldn't give you an actual statistical number—but for the majority there're new injuries and not necessarily clustered by an individual who's a repeat filer. Injuries happen across all departments. So, right now, the large majority of the claims is in the Police department. They currently have 81; Parks and Recreation has 57; Highways has 37 but we have injuries through—in the Housing office, we have injuries in the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney. So, it's a broad range of injury types and it's spread across all departments. MR. VENTURA: Thanks. CHR. CABANAS: Sommer, since you're talking about injuries are—can you just, categorically, just—if you can state—are these stress claims, are these just physically getting hurt type of injuries, are they illnesses. Just, like—what are they. Can you just do that, just generally? MS. TOKIHIRO: Sure. So, it's actually a very broad range. COVID-19workplace exposure to COVID-19 is a reportable illness. A lot of illnesses, like the common flu that you would get in the course of work is not considered a workers' compensation reportable illness. COVID-19 is. We did—we have had COVID-19 claims. Fortunately, there were only, I believe, there were 12 of those to date. There are people do file stress claims. We've had claims for cardiac conditions. The large majority would be the more common sprains, strains, contusions, lacerations things of that type. But, again, that also covers the gamut as well, unfortunately, there's things—we have had deaths and that's very rare. But it's a broad range of injury types. The large the vast majority is sprains, strains, lacerations, contusions. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Sommer. I'm sorry, Mel, I didn't mean to cut you off. Do you have more questions for Sommer? MR. VENTURA: No, I had just the one question. Thanks. CHR. CABANAS: Okay, thanks. Ms. De Soto, any questions? MS. DE SOTO: No questions. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Ms. Mathews. MS. MATHEWS: No questions. CHR. CABANAS: Mr. Kunz. MR. KUNZ: No questions. Thank you. Page 41 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 CHR. CABANAS: Okay, Sommer, I think that's it. MS. TOKIHIRO: Okay. Thank you. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you very much. And next we have Jennifer Sakamoto, Personnel and Organizational Development. Good afternoon, Jenny. (At this time, Ms. Jenny Sakamoto, Personnel and Organization Development Division Head, Human Resources Department, came forward.) MS. SAKAMOTO: Hi, good afternoon. My name is Jenny Sakamoto. I am the HR Manager in charge of Personnel and Organizational Development, which is basically the training function for the County. So, today I'm going to just tell you a little bit about what my division does. I'm a division of one—it's just me, but I do get support from Ryan's Clerk III—she helps me do the reservation — I mean, RSVP's for enrollment and so forth but other than that, you're looking at my division. So, what our division—well, my division does is we provide various training opportunities for all County employees. Some of our trainings that we offer are considered to be mandatory. So, that means all employees need to take it. So, that includes our New Hire Orientation that's conducted every month. We travel to Kona and Hilo and we alternate and we provide this training to, basically, give the new employee just basic information about the County. So, I cover what it means to be a public servant, we talk about County government overview so that they know what every department in the County does, like, what their functional responsibilities are. We also cover various polices that are applicable to a new hire such as going through the initial probationary period and performance appraisals and some just general safety policies. The orientation also covers employee benefits. We do a small section on customer service and also on employee conduct. So, that's, again, covered every month and we alternate. The other ones are not conducted by me, but they're also considered to be mandatory. And Waylen mentioned one of them is mandatory Anti -Discrimination and Harassment training and that's conducted by our Equal Opportunity and ADA Officer. And then, the other one would be the Workplace Violence Prevention training. And we actually bring in a guest speaker through our EAP counseling services. So the other mandatory trainings would be more by depenI guess it depends on what type of position you hold here in the County. So, if you're a manager or a supervisor, there's probably a lot more required trainings that you would need to attend. Page 42 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 One of them is Conducting an Effective Job Interview and that's more geared towards those wo would be required to serve on an interview panel. So, that's actually conducted by our Recruitment and Examination Division and everybody who serves on a panel has to attend that training in order to be able to sit there. We also have—in addition to the mandatory anti -discrimination and harassment training for employees, there's a supervisor component so that the supervisors will know what to do once they receive complaints and what the process will be. And then, in addition to that we have Reasonable Suspicion training for managers and supervisors. That's mostly for—so that a manager/supervisor can do an assessment if they believe that an employee may be under the influence. So, like, for drugs or alcohol—it's mandatory that they go through a four-hour training. And that's actually conducted by one of the counselors through EAP. So, they come in and then they conduct this training. And then, once those managers and supervisors are certified, then they're able to perform those types of assessments. Another one that we're just going to be starting up—and you might be familiar with it, `cause I think you've asked us to work on this project, which is the Performance Evaluation Form. So, we're still in the process of completing that consultation with the unions, but we're gearing up to do training for all of the supervisors that are required to do performance appraisals for their employees. So, that'll be a huge project that will—we're hoping to get that done within a year. I've blocked off my schedule for the next couple months to start getting the bulk of our supervisors trained. Other programs that are available that are not mandatory but we highly encourage employees to sign up for it is the first one is our Supervisory Training Program and that's something that we just started when I first started hereoh, gosh back 20I think 19, was our first class. Since then, we've had—we're finishing up our fourth class. And it's open to anybody but we, kind of, focus on those who are new supervisors within the County to kind of help walk them through the process. And we design the classes so that it's taking the supervisor from pre -vacancy all the way—or pre -recruitment, I guess, vacancy—all the way through termination of a new employee. So, that they kind of know what to expect and understand why our office gives the guidance that we give. So, it's to help them understand, like, the recruitment process, the classification process—all of the things in between up until, hopefully, they don't have any labor issues and it helps them to be better prepared and deal with all of that. So, it is quite a lengthy program. They have to—our program, I think, is down to 15 classes. They have to commit to going through the whole program. If they complete at least 11 of the 15 sessions, then they will receive a certificate. So, we'veourI think we have from the four Page 43 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 classes about 56 participants that have completed the program. And I have another 10 that will probably complete it in a couple weeks. So, so far, the feedback that we have has been really good on the program. A lot of people now that it's been in process for a few years, there's more people who are interested in taking the class. And so, we have a waitlist usually, when we open up—open it up for enrollment. And then, what happened was during that process of doing supervisory training, we then developed a Unit 2 program where it, kind of, focused for more of the blue-collar supervisors. So, it didn't include everything that the regular program included because they don't necessarily deal with things like classification and so forth. But we really structured it so that it focused on their ability to manage blue-collar supervisorsI mean, blue-collar employees. So, we've done that program for the last two years and 35 participants have graduated from that program. So we plan on continuing on that every year to offer one regular supervisory training and one Unit 2 class. In addition to that, I've also developed a customer service training classes for all County employees who are interested and thisI specifically developed it for government employees. Government employees they see things differently from, like, a retail establishment or hospitality industry. And so, the classes readily developed from our perspective as public servants. And, in addition to that, the classes include like tips for handling irate customers and just so that they understand what it is like to deal with the public, right. And then, in addition to supervis customer service—sorry—health and safety, which Ryan already went through is also offered by our department. And every year we do a pre -retirement workshop which we provide employees who are closer to retirement the ability to help plan for that. So, we bring in speakers from social security, and ERS which is our retirement systemEUTF, which is the health and medical benefits, and deferred comp.—and then, they can help those employees better understand what is needed in order to prepare for their retirement. And then, finally, I help coordinate the County Tuition Reimbursement Program. This program is funded by forfeited funds from our flexible spending accounts and that money actually goes to help our employees who qualify to be able to request reimbursement for training programs or if they want to pursue their degree and so forth that's not normally paid for by County. So, there's a committee that meets and they review the applications, and then they can determine how much money they're going to a lot to each applicant. So, that's done on an annual basis. The other thing I'm responsible for is publishing the Training Catalog that comes out twice a year. So, we're gearing up to do that at the end of December for the Spring Semester and then we do another one at the end of the fiscal year for the Fall Semester. Page 44 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 And then, that's just a catalog listing—with descriptions, of all the different courses that we offer or those that are scheduled or they can do it by requests. In that catalog, we also include some online training classes that's available through our IT Department. They have online training that departments or employees can request a library card and then they can access all of the online training classes through them. And then, if there's something that we can't—we don't normally have scheduled in our training catalog but a department has a specific request, then they can always call me. And then, I'm willing to work with them to see what we can do to provide them with whatever training request they have. I think that covers it. I can't remember if I left anything out but that'sI think that's it. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Thanks, Jenny. Mr. Ventura, any questions for Jenny? Mel, are you there? Okay, we'll come back to Mel. Ms. De Soto, any questions? MS. DE SOTO: No questions. CHR. CABANAS: Ms. Mathews. MS. MATHEWS: Couple of quick ones. On the supervisory training program that has 15 courses, but you said they could graduate with 11. MS. SAKAMOTO: Mm-hmm. MS. MATHEWS: Is there anything to encourage them to take the other four and can they slip in just to take those courses? MS. SAKAMOTO: Yes. The goal is to get them to get everything that they need to be successful at being a supervisor. So, although—`cause sometimes for supervisors, they're very busy right—so they can't always make the scheduled classes. So, I always tell them in the next time we offer the program, if they can tell me which classes they want to sit in on—then, if they meet the rest of the requirements then we'll issue the certificate. It's a little easier with Zoom because I can allow anybody to come in. But if we trans—we're going to try to transition back to in-person classes again. And, if that's the case, I might have to limit how many people can—who are not already enrolled in that class. But yeah—we always offer them the ability to come back. MS. MATHEWS: And on the online training that you said was available, would people be taking that during working hours or can they actually take it on their own at home? Page 45 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 MS. SAKAMOTO: It's normally during working hours. MS. MATHEWS: During working hours. MS. SAKAMOTO: Yeah. So, it has to be approved by their supervisor. So, they're getting paid to attend those types of trainings. Yeah. CHR. CABANAS: Mr. Kunz. MR. KUNZ: No questions. Thank you. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Jenny, I just have, I guess, one question. And it goes back to the customer service. So, for the New Hire Orientation you do touch upon customer service. But is there any reason why it's not just dedicated for all those who are frontline with the public? Is there any reason for that or (inaudible) MS. SAKAMOTO: What do you mean by that? CHR. CABANAS: Like because you mentioned that you do have non -mandatory customer service training. MS. SAKAMOTO: Mm-hmm. CHR. CABANAS: But it's optional. It's not mandated. So, has there ever been anyI guess because sometimes we hear horror stories if the public might be treated a certain way, and the person could have handled it better. So, I'm just wondering, do the departments provide input or any discussion there for MS. SAKAMOTO: It's up to the department, if they want to mandate it for their employees. So, like, even the supervisory training is not a required class to take. However, some departments have made it mandatory for their supervisors to take the class. And I think some now that they've taken the customer service class, they're considering making it mandatory for their employees. CHR. CABANAS: I guess my concern is should it be mandated come to rise—has there ever been that discussion at the Cabinet level orbecause, to me, it makes sense that—yes, it's great that one department does it for their employees. But what about other departments? And some of these individuals go from one department to another department no matter what it—what the matter isthey're going all over. And shouldn't there be some consistency with public service to customer service to the public? I mean, we have wonderful employees, don't get me wrong. But there are times that I think certain people can handle things better with the public. I mean, we've all seen it in different ways. Page 46 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 So, I just want to put that out there for—it's not really for you, but for future consideration that maybe that's something you might want to just I don't know—kind of, bring it up? I don't know. MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yeah, we could definitely consider that maybe at a Cabinet discussion. Sure. Thank you. CHR. CABANAS: No other questions, Jenny—thank—oh, yeah, that's right. Mel, are you back. MR. VENTURA: Yeah, I'm back. Sorry about that. My audio got cut off. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. No, no problem. So, we have Jenny, yeah, Sakamoto still here. Do you have any questions for her? MR. VENTURA: No questions. Thanks. CHR. CABANAS: Oh, okay. Thanks, Mel. Okay, Jenny, thank you. And last we have Diane Noda our Labor Relations Manager. Diane, thanks for waiting patiently. Hello, Diane. (At this time, Ms. Diane Noda, Labor Relations Division Head, Human Resources Department, came forward.) MS. NODA: Hi. Good afternoon, everyone. Is everyone "hangry?" Okay CHR. CABANAS: Our stomachs are not growling MS. NODA: Okay, I'll try to talk fast CHR. CABANAS: not, yet. MS. NODA: I'll try to condense it, if not, Waylen brought his hook. CHR. CABANAS: But thank you, everybody, for being so patient. MS. NODA: Okay. So, hi, good afternoon. I'm Diane Noda, I'm the Labor Relations Division Manager. Like Jenny, I am a division of one, but very recently in the last monthI have a temporary, part-time HR Assistant—Paulette Wilson, who came back from retirement to help me and she's working with doing all the work on the Countywide drug testing program for which my division is responsible for. And Waylen has been supportive because I keep saying, "Need more help, need more help"—like everyone else. Page 47 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 Okay. So, the goal, I guess, role of—on the Labor Relations Division is to promote a positive and effective labor relations program which enhances the workplace environment. So, our major areas are contract negotiations for the public sector collective bargaining agreements, contract administration and interpretations for these contracts, which collective bargaining agreements acronym CBA's. And then, also—which also includes the appeal process. So, baseline information, I know some of you have been with government for a long time and some not at all. So, for the public employer in the State of Hawaii our Hawaii County is one of the four counties. Then it also includes the State, which includes the State of Hawaii, the Department of Education, University of Hawaii, the Judiciary, and the Hawaii Healthcare System. So, that—all those entities, including us, comprises the Employer group. So, depending on what the bargaining unit is for our civil service employees, HRS—state law Hawai`i Revised Statutes—acronyms HRS—sets forth how many votes each entity has. But a lot of times—and I'm, kind of, egressing but when you say, like, "Oh, County why did Hawaii County agree to that and why is there that provision?" We got one vote. And so, depending on it, so a lot of times Hawaii County—our one vote doesn't count for much, right. Okay. So, for the public sector unions, Hawaii County, we have eight—and the first we have Bargaining Unit 1, that's UPW, blue collar workers; then there's a bunch of HGEA units Bargaining Unit 2, that's blue collar supervisors; Bargaining Unit 3, that's our white collar employees; Bargaining Unit 4, HGEA, white collar supervisors, Bargaining Unit—let me just stay with HGEA13, that's professional and scientific employees, like our engineers; and then Bargaining Unit 15, which is relatively new, that's our ocean safety officers. We also have Bargaining Unit 11 and that's the firefighters union, Hawaii Fire Fighters Association; and Bargaining Unit 12, SHOPO, police. So, the foundation for our labor relations is really in the state law—HRS, Chapter 76, which is the civil service law. And our approximately 2,500 County employees, the vast majority are civil service employees. And part of the that, the Merit Principle for which the civil service law embeds is really to address con—both conduct and performance. I guess, conduct or mis- conduct and performance. And the goals are for, under the Merit Principle, selection of people, right—our Recruitment and Examination, and retention of our employees. The retaining them so that they can be trained, promoted, and then thus, hopefully, stay and have a career in government service. So, that really is part of our obligation as a County employer to have a well-developed, well trained, effective, efficient workforce serving our public. Okay. For collective bargaining, the public policy in the state law is to promote harmonious and cooperative relations between government and its employees, and to also protect our public by assuring that we have effective and orderly operations of government. Page 48 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 So, these collective bargaining agreements these CBA's—are contracts between our statewide employer group and each bargaining unit. And it sets forth all the working conditions—hours of work and overtime, callback, and whatnot. And so, they're generally for a two-year periods. The two-year period expired this past June 30'', 2021. And so, negotiations are still ongoing for this next period 2021 to 2023. So, Waylen and I are involved with that. And then, with COVID there's a lot more challenges, but most of it has been via Zoom. So, on part of—my division is that there're lot of vague, ambiguous language in these CBA's. And so, a lot of times the departments will be asking, too, for help on how do you interpret a section. How do you apply it? The union will come in and say your department or you're applying that provision incorrectly. You're wrong. So, there's a lot of that from my division. Part of all of these collective bargaining agreements includes a provision for grievances—how to appeal when a department or the County applies a provision in this contract incorrectly. Mis-interpretation, mis-application, erroneous—and that's when the union, who's the exclusive representative of these unit members, will file a grievance on their behalf. And a grievance is just an appeal process. So, for our civil service employees, the grievance process begins withhopefully, they would be able to do the informal step, having a one-on-one discussion to try to informally resolve it. Right? It's just a resolution process. If not, they file the union, on behalf of the employee, files a Step I grievance with the department. Then the union and usually the employee, meets with the department head to see if they can resolve it. And, really, it's a step process progressively, to see if there can be mutual resolution. A compromise that both sides can live with. If the department determines that, no whatever our decision wasstands, then the union can file a Step 11 at the employer level. So, the employer for the County is the mayor. The mayor delegates this task to the Human Resources Department. And so, at Step II, yet again, it's the union and the employee—if they wish to attend—come in, present their case, and to see whether there can be any resolution at this Step II. If not, the union could file a Notice of Intent to Arbitrate and ask that there be an arbitration hearing. And that, then the file the case would go over to Corporation Counsel to represent that specific department. So, arbitration process is just a quasi judicial—more informal that through this contract we're saying, "You know what, we don't want to file every single labor dispute with the courts." So, it's quicker, faster, cheaper, more informal—we get quicker resolution. And so, we've agreed through this contract that we're going to have the arbitration process. Page 49 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 So, for the civil service employees for this grievance process, the arbitrator's decision is the last step in this—what—provided for contractually—there are a few provisions in HRS that the arbitrator's decision could be appealed to Circuit Court. For the Merit Appeals Board, your role actually is, you are the final decision makers on another procappeal process that would come to you via the County's Internal Complaint Procedures. And that would be for non -civil service. So, there's not a grievance procedure that's being provided for exempt or excluded employees, and employees—new hires on initial probation who are not yet civil service employees But if they have what we call the—an "adverse employment action" that's the starting gun for to start an appeal process. So, like, for a person on—in probation, it would be failure to pass initial probation. Or it could be—okay—trying to think if there's another group. Oh, also, open -competitive recruitments because if it's open -competitive recruitment open to any applicant in the world, the one fair standardized process would be our County's Internal Complaint Procedure because when—if it's an open -competitive recruitment, even if there's an applicant from County Parks and Rec. Department and another applicant from County Public Works Department—there could also be applicants from Texas and Florida. And so, anyone who wishes to appeal and say, "Hey, hey, I wasn't selected and I should have been selected." They have that one process, standardized procedure that would bring any or all of their appeals before this Board. Okay. I think that's the main thingsI was rushing along. Okay. So, I'll just end there unless there's other there's questions or topics that I didn't touch upon. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Thanks, Diane. Mr. Ventura, any questions for Diane? MR. VENTURA: I have no questions. Thank you. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Mel. Ms. De Soto? MS. DE SOTO: No questions. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you. Ms. Mathews. MS. MATHEWS: No questions. Thank you. CHR. CABANAS: Mr. Kunz. MR. KUNZ: No questions. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Diane, you have something—go ahead. Page 50 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 MS. NODA: Yeah, sorry. I just wanted to go back to Mr. Kunz initial question earlier today about a differential for, say, a person who has to drive daily to work from Hilo to, like, Kapaau or North Kohala and report back. So, in general, if it was a civil service employee—in generalI'm just making general statements—this—the provisions in this collective bargaining agreement, this is the contract that would govern and dictate what is allowed or not. If you were a department requesting that we assist you with looking into it or, perhaps, developing something there are side agreements that could be entered into, with a particular union that says that would say, "The County of Hawaii "or even just a specific department and that specific union—"we're not going to follow a certain provision in here." So, it could be a supplemental agreement or a memorandum of agreement, memorandum of (inaudible). "The provision in this contract doesn't really apply or doesn't fit or doesn't suit our needs and, therefore, we are agreeing to this other provision." And both sides—union and County—would have to sign off. But, I guess, the foundational questions we would ask is—all employees wherever you work, or even within your personal families you just want fair treatment, right. Fair treatment. So, if we always are encouraging the departments to consider—if you're considering deviating or entering into any type of agreement, it should not be for a specific person. It should be for the position or that class of positions. Okay. Because if you're going to do it for this one employee, there's always going to be that ripple effect, right—because this would be an exception. And I always say, "Beware when you make exceptions" right. Because the ripple effect is, then it's going to become known to other people in that division, in that department, in the County, and they're all going to start saying, "Hey, that person got it. What about me? What about him?" and whatnot. So, there's many layers of consideration. I don't know if I'm really answering your question but MR. KUNZ: No, you are. MS. NODA: Yeah. MR. KUNZ: In fact, would a provision be considered if a particular position was hard to fill and someone who is coming from another district, if it's open for anybody who's applying from that particular district that might get the job. In other words, it would be a blanket—it would be done before the hire that the individual—you would negotiate for people coming from so far would automatically get that provision? MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yeah. And kind of knew that Mr. Kunz's question was related to recruitment because I tie it back to recruiting for our radio dispatchers. We've been having difficulty filling especially that class of work. Page 51 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 And so, there was talk of some kind of retention bonus or something. So, we would have to enter through the labor side—enter into an MOU or something so that before we even open up the recruitment, this is an added opportunity or bonus, if you will, to attract more candidates to apply. Is that kind of, where you were going? MR. KUNZ: Correct. Thank you. MS. NODA: Okay. I'm done. CHR. CABANAS: I have one question, just point of clarification, so I want to make sure the Board understands it. So, you mentioned that open -competitive recruitment applicants would file an appeal to the Merit Appeals Board. Correct? MS. NODA: Yes. CHR. CABANAS: Yeah. But then, what about the internal recruitment applicants because on the appeal form it—the Cate the first category that's listed is recruitment and examination. There are other categories—classification and pay, and then there's initial pricing, and there's one more other category for, I think, exempt employees, those on IP. MS. NODA: Yeah, and I don't know if Lee or Waylen want to chime in but in my experience, internal promotion—internal— CHR. CABANAS: Recruitments. MS. NODA: recruitment are generally for promotional opportunities CHR. CABANAS: Correct. MS. NODA: And so, the non -selectee has grieved it through the collective bargaining agreement grievance procedure. CHR. CABANAS: Correct. MS. NODA: Yeah. CHR. CABANAS: There's a differentiation, though, because you can have applicants for an internal recruitment that will come under this qualifyingI don't want to say qualifying category that would meet the jurisdictional, the eligibility for MAB to hear that appeal. Page 52 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 So, I just kind of want to make it really clear because those internal recruitment applicants exhaust a informal complaint process with the department. And that's why they're filing an appeal to the Merit Appeals Board. So, it's a little separate from a non -selection issue. I just, kind of, want to make that— MS. hat MS. NODA: Okay. CHR. CABANAS: differentiation for just for the Board, `cause they might be thinking, "Oh, recruitment and examination appeals are only for open competitive" when that's not necessarily so. MS. NODA: Correct. CHR. CABANAS: It can be for a open competitive recruitment, it can also be for an internal recruitment. MS. NODA: Correct. CHR. CABANAS: Yeah. MS. NODA: So CHR. CABANAS: That's not— MS. ot MS. NODA: Yeah. CHR. CABANAS: That's not a non -selection. Yeah. MS. NODA: Correct. CHR. CABANAS: Yeah, okay. MS. NODA: And I've also seen, like, (inaudible) where they file a grievance and an internal complaint. But that would be for your corporation counsel to assist with—motion to dismiss or whatnot. Yeah. CHR. CABANAS: And I'm glad you brought that up because that has happened in the past. And so, then, our counsel will advise the Merit Appeals Board as to who—which body has the jurisdiction. Is it the Merit Appeals Board or does it go back to another process. MS. NODA: Correct. CHR. CABANAS: So, thank you for bringing that up, too. Thank you. MS. NODA: Okay. Page 53 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 CHR. CABANAS: I just wanted to clarify. MS. NODA: Yeah. CHR. CABANAS: Thanks a lot, Diane. And I think with that, I think we conclude the presentations by the managers. I really want to thank all of you, `cause I know you've sat here very patiently and it's past your lunch hour and I know you have a lot of stuff back at your desk. So, thank you very much on behalf of the Board. I do want to ask the Board Members if they have any comments. Do you have any comments that you would like to make? Mr. Kunz. MR. KUNZ: No, I appreciate Mr. Leopoldino responding to our request expeditiously. `Cause we, I think this is something that we needed, maybe, as soon as we all got on board. I'm not sure if it was something that was done to all new Board members in the past, but for you to respond and get everybody here on a timely manner, was really important for us. So, thank you. CHR. CABANAS: Ms. Mathews. MS. MATHEWS: Ditto. CHR. CABANAS: Mr. Ventura, any comments? MR. VENTURA: Yeah, same for me. That was very informative. I was never given this type of orientation when I first became a Board member. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Mel. And the reason why we did it is because we feel that, as the Board, we should have some basic knowledge and now we have a full Board, and this was a very timely situation for the Board to meet the managers. We see Waylen all the time at our monthly meetings, but we don't get a chance to see you—and you don't get a chance to see us. And so, the Board feels that this was a really good session today. It's something that will help the Board as the Board moves further on other matters that will be coming up before the Board next year. And so, I want to thank all of you, on behalf of the Board. Have a very Happy Holiday Season and take care of yourselves and be well. So, thank you so much. Waylen, do you want to conclude with some comments? MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yes. I want to—first of all, I want to thank my staff for taking the time out. I know you're all very busy so I appreciate you presenting and hanging out through your lunch hour. So, thank you, again. Page 54 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 And thanks to Chair Cabanas and the rest of the Merit Appeals Board—we appreciate you wanting to hear us out and seeing where we all come from, from our own divisions. So, I think that's very helpful. So, again, thank you. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you. Have a great day and the rest of the week. Take care. And with that, Board Members, do you want to take a little recess for a few—for what, about 15 minutes? Okay. So, let's recess at 1:37 p.m. MR. VENTURA: Gabriella? CHR. CABANAS: Yes, Mr. Ventura? MR. VENTURA: Yeah. Is Glynis still there, still? CHR. CABANAS: Yes, she is. Do you want to talk to her? MR. VENTURA: No, I'm going to leave the Zoom session and log back in `cause my system's getting, kind of, funny. But I'm just going to leave the Zoom session and log back in, in a couple of minutes. And, if I have problems, I'll call Glynis. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. That's good. Thanks, Mel. MR. VENTURA: Okay, thanks. RECESS: The Chair called for a recess at 1:37 p.m. RECONVENE: The meeting reconvened at 2:15 p.m. in open session. CHR. CABANAS: We'll get settled. Maybe in one -minute we'll start. Thanks a lot, Mel. Communications (Item 5) CHR. CABANAS: Okay. We're back at 2:15 p.m. Following our agenda, Number 5, "Communications" we have none. New Business (Item 6) CHR. CABANAS: There's no "New Business." Page 55 Merit Appeals Board Unfinished Business (Item 7) December 2, 2021 Selection Process For Filling The Position Of New Director Of Human Resources: Assessment And Review Of Selection Process For Filling The Position, Timeline, Advertisements, And Interview And Selection Process. The Merit Appeals Board Anticipates Convening One Or More Executive Meetings Regarding The Above Matters, Pursuant To HRS Sections 92-4, 92-5(a)(2) And 92-5(a)(4), For The Purpose Evaluating An Officer Or Employee Of The County Of Hawaii, 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. A 2/3 Vote Pursuant To HRS Section 92-4 Is Necessary To Hold An Executive Meeting CHR CABANAS: And we're now on Number 7 "Unfinished Business." I'm going to, at this time, turn over the meeting to our Vice -Chair, Mr. Mel Ventura, who will be the Chair for the selection process for filling the position of new director of human resources. Let the record show that the Chair is leaving the Council Chambers at 2:15 p.m. And I will return when the Board members are done with Item number 7. Thank you. (At this time, Chair Gabriella Cabanas, left the meeting room.) MR. YOSHIMOTO: Okay. Mel, hi, this is J Yoshimoto, I just wanted to ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Hi. MR. YOSHIMOTO:—hi—wanted to confirm that, yeah, Ms. Cabanas has left the room. Ms. Stacie Iwasaki is in the chambers. So, to confirm for the record, I'd like to read into the record the agenda Item number 7: Selection process for the filling the position of new director of human resources: Assessment and review of selection process for the filling the position, timeline, advertisements, and interview and selection process. So, Mr. Chairman, at this time, would recommend that there be a motion to go into executive session pursuant to HRS 92-4, 92-5(a)(2) and 92-5(a)(4) for the reasons stated on the agenda. ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Okay. May I get a motion for the Board to enter into executive session. MR. KUNZ: So moved. MS. MATHEWS: Second. ACTING CHR. VENTURA: It's been moved and seconded that we enter executive session. Any further discussion? If not, I will take a vote. Ms. De Soto. Page 56 Merit Appeals Board MS. DE SOTO: Aye. ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Ms. Mathews. MS. MATHEWS: Aye. ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Mr. Kunz. MR. KUNZ: Aye. December 2, 2021 ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Motion is carried and we will enter executive session. RECONVENE: The meeting reconvened at 3:06 p.m. in open session. MS. CABANAS: Okay. It is 3:06 p.m. and the Chair is back in the Council Chambers, and the Board will resume— ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Hi, Gabriella? MS. CABANAS: Oh, hi, Mel. Selection Process For Filling The Position Of New Director Of Human Resources: Assessment And Review Of Selection Process For Filling The Position, Timeline, Advertisements, And Interview And Selection Process. The Merit Appeals Board Anticipates Convening One Or More Executive Meetings Regarding The Above Matters, Pursuant To HRS Sections 92-4, 92-5(a)(2) And 92-5(a)(4), For The Purpose Evaluating An Officer Or Employee Of The County Of Hawaii, 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. A 2/3 Vote Pursuant To HRS Section 92-4 Is Necessary To Hold An Executive Meeting ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Gabriella, hi. Before I give the Chair duties back to you, I'm going to ask the Board members for a motion MS. CABANAS: Oh, okay. ACTNG CHR. VENTURA: —for us to extend agenda Item number 7, which is the selection process for filling the position of new director of human resources to extend that to December 16, 10 a.m., Council Chambers, 25 Aupuni Street, Room 1401, Hilo, Hawaii 96720. Can I get a motion please? Page 57 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 MR. YOSHIMOTO: Oh, Mr. Chair, one more quick addition to that motion. If the motion can also include a motion to concur with the recommendations made by the Board in executive session. MS. DE SOTO: So moved. MS. MATHEWS: Second. ACTING CHR. VENTURA: It's been moved and seconded. Is there any further discussion? If not, then I will call for a vote. Ms. De Soto. MS. DE SOTO: Aye. ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Ms. Mathews. MS. MATHEWS: Aye. ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Mr. Kunz. MR. KUNZ: Aye. ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Mr. Ventura—aye. The motion is carried. And now I will turn the Chair duties over to you, Gabriella. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Thank you, Mel. So, it is 3:07 p.m. and we are now back in a regular meeting in open session. Director's Report (Item 8) CHR. CABANAS: And we are at Number 8—"Director's Report" there are there is none. Schedule Next Meeting Date (Item 9) CHR. CABANAS: Scheduling the next meeting date is December 16, 2021, at 10 a.m. in the Council Chambers, at the Hawaii County Building in Hilo, Hawaii, with Zoom capability. Adiournment (Item 10) CHR. CABANAS: Number 10, "Adjournment" may I have a motion to adjourn today's meeting? MR. KUNZ: So moved. CHR. CABANAS: Is there a second? Page 58 Merit Appeals Board December 2, 2021 MS. DE SOTO: Second. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you. Any discussion? If none, all in favor of adjourning today's meeting say aye. All opposed? None. AYES: Board Members De Soto, Kunz, Mathews, Ventura, and Chair Cabanas—5. NOES: None. ABSENT: None. CHR. CABANAS: Motion caried to adjourn today's meeting at 3:08 p.m. Thank you, everybody, it's been a long day. I appreciate all your help. Thank you. MR. KUNZ: Thank you. MR. VENTURA: Thank you. CHR. CABANAS: Bye, Mel. MR. VENTURA: Bye. Respectfully submitted, Avti, Glynis Yamada, Secretary-Reporter APPROVED: vit cth u. t& . ea 12.4 1444----- Gabriella M. Cabanas, Chair Merit Appeals Board Page 59