HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-04-08 Merit Appeals Board MinutesREGULAR SESSION
Merit Appeals Board
Hilo Council Chambers
Hawaii County Building
25 Aupuni Street, First Floor, Room 1401
Hilo, Hawaii
April 8, 2022 (Friday)
Call to Order (Item 1)
The regular meeting of the Merit Appeals Board, County of Hawaii, was called to order at
10:04 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 Friday, April 8, 2022.
Roll Call — Present
Ms. Gabriella M. Cabanas, Chair
Mr. Mel Ventura, Vice -Chair (via Zoom)
Mr. Charles Kunz, Member
Ms. Gay Mathews, Member
Absent and Excused
Ms. Kate De Soto, Member
Also Present
Mr. J Yoshimoto, Assistant Corporation Counsel, Office of the Corporation Counsel
Mr. Waylen L. K. Leopoldino, Director, Human Resources Department
Mr. Danny B. Patel, Deputy Director, Human Resources Department
Mr. Tyler Benner, County Auditor, Office of the County Auditor
Ms. Amanda Furman, Deputy Attorney General, State Office of the Attorney General
(via Zoom)
Ms. Glynis Yamada, Secretary -Reporter, Human Resources Department
Mr. Relley Araceley, Council Services Coordinator, Office of the County
Clerk
This meeting will be held through a combination of the board members being physically
present at the meeting location and participating via ZOOM. Members of the public may
attend this meeting either in-person at the meeting location or via ZOOM.
Merit Appeals Board
Call to Order (Item 1)
April 8, 2022
CHR. CABANAS: Good morning, everyone. The regular meeting of the Merit Appeals Board
is called to order on April 8, 2022, at 10:04 a.m. We have quorum with four Board members
present. I'm Gabriella Cabanas, Chair, of the Merit Appeals Board. Our other Board members
are Mr. Mel Ventura sitting in via Zoom from Kailua-Kona. Good morning, Mel.
MR. VENTURA: Good morning.
CHR. CABANAS: Good morning. And here with me in the Council Chambers at the Hawaii
County Building, at 25 Aupuni Street, in Hilo, are our Board members Ms. Gay Mathews and
Mr. Charlie Kunz.
MS. MATHEWS: Good morning.
MR. KUNZ: Good morning.
CHR. CABANAS: Good morning, Gay and Charlie. Our other Board member,
Ms. Kate De Soto, is absent today. So, she is excused from today's meeting.
Also present in the Council Chambers with us are our Assistant Corporation Counsel,
Mr. J Yoshimoto.
MR. YOSHIMOTO: Good morning, everyone.
CHR. CABANAS: Good morning, J. Also with us our Secretary -Reporter, Glynis Yamada.
Good morning, Glynis.
MS. YAMADA: Good morning.
CHR. CABANAS: Also with us, Relley Araceley, from the Office of the County Clerk. Good
morning, Relley, thank you for all that you do because he staffs the computer equipment to
ensure we have Zoom capability.
Also with us is Ms. Amanda Furman, our Deputy Attorney General, sitting in via Zoom from
Oahu. Good morning, Ms. Furman.
MS. FURMAN: Good morning.
CHR. CABANAS: And also sitting in the Council Chambers is Mr. Tyler Benner, County
Auditor. Good morning, Tyler, thank you for coming.
And so, without further ado I'd like to move on to the agenda items.
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Merit Appeals Board April 8, 2022
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."
Unfinished Business (Item 7)
Communication No. 22-02, From Amanda Furman, Deputy Attorney General,
Transmitting The Findings Of Fact, Conclusions Of Law (FOF COL) And Decision And
Order Concerning Communication No. 21-04, 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. Based On The Foregoing Findings Of Fact, Conclusions Of Law And Order,
The Merit Appeals Board Remands The Instant Recruitment Back To The Human
Resources Department To Conduct A More Thorough Review Of The Appellant's
Application. Board Action Required: Approval Of FOF COL (Executive Session: 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: At this time, I'd like to address the Board members. Ms. Furman has
informed our secretary that she's available only until 10:30 this morning. And it is 10:06 now.
She there is a matter on the agenda, which is Item number 7 dealing with Communication
21-04.11.
This is a matter that I have recused myself last year and it—so it is on the record. And if the
Board would please entertain the matter so that we can move up this item and take it now. And
if you willing to do so—are you willing to do that Gay and Charlie—if it's okay with both of
you?
MR. KUNZ: Yes.
MS. MATHEWS: Yes.
CHR. CABANAS: And, Mr. Ventura, is it okay with you for us to move it up?
MR. VENTURA: Yes.
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Merit Appeals Board
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. And so
April 8, 2022
MR. YOSHIMOTO: So, Madam Chair, recommend the motion to take Item number 7 out of
order.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay.
MR. YOSHIMOTO: And take a discussion and a vote.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Thank you, Counsel. So, at this time, may I have a motion to take
Item number 7 out of order so that—and that matter will be turned over to Mr. Mel Ventura, our
Vice -Chair, who will serve as Acting Chair because I have recused myself from this matter. So,
may I have a motion to take this—Number 7, out of order.
MS. MATHEWS: So moved.
MR. KUNZ: Second.
CHR. CABANAS: Thank you. Motion made by Gay and seconded by Charlie to take
Number 7 out of order. I'll start with a rollcall vote. Mr. Ventura.
MR. VENTURA: Aye.
CHR. CABANAS: Ms. Mathews.
MS. MATHEWS: Aye.
CHR. CABANAS: Mr. Kunz.
MR .KUNZ: Aye.
CHR. CABANAS: Counsel, can I vote on it because I'm recused? Can I vote on it? Should I
vote on it or abstain?
MR. YOSHIMOTO: You should abstain.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. For the record, the Chair abstains because I am recused from this
matter. Motion has been carried.
So, at this time, I will turn it over to Mr. Mel Ventura, who will serve as Acting Chair over Item
number 7, and I will leave the Council Chambers along with Mr. Yoshimoto.
Ms. Amanda Furman is the legal counsel, for the record, for the Merit Appeals Board when there
is an appeal. So, Mr. Yoshimoto is leaving the room along with me. Thank you very much.
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Merit Appeals Board
April 8, 2022
(At this time, Chair Cabanas and Mr. Yoshimoto exited the Council Chambers.)
MS. YAMADA: Hi, Chair Ventura, everyone left. Okay, to proceed.
Communication No. 22-02, From Amanda Furman, Deputy Attorney General,
Transmitting The Findings Of Fact, Conclusions Of Law (FOF COL) And Decision And
Order Concerning Communication No. 21-04, 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. Based On The Foregoing Findings Of Fact, Conclusions Of Law And Order,
The Merit Appeals Board Remands The Instant Recruitment Back To The Human
Resources Department To Conduct A More Thorough Review Of The Appellant's
Application. Board Action Required: Approval Of FOF COL (Executive Session: 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)
ACTING CHR. VENTURA: So, at this time, may I have a motion for the Board to enter
executive session?
MS. YAMADA: Excuse me, Chair Ventura, it's my understanding that if there is no discussion,
then you can go ahead get a motion, a second, and vote whether to approve on this matter. But,
if there is discussion, then a motion is needed to go into executive session.
ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Okay. So, at this time, may I have a motion to approve the
Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Decision and Order concerning Communication
number 21-04.
MR. KUNZ: So moved.
ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Is there a second?
MS. MATHEWS: Second.
ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Is there any discussion at this time? If not, then I will take a vote.
Ms. Mathews.
MS. MATHEWS: Aye.
ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Mr. Kunz.
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Merit Appeals Board April 8, 2022
MR. KUNZ: Aye.
ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Mr. Ventura—aye.
The motion is carried.
MS. YAMADA: Excuse me, Chair Ventura, just for the record, Kate De Soto is absent and
excused from the vote today.
ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Okay. Yeah, let the record reflect that Ms. De Soto is absent and
excused; and that Ms. Cabanas has recused herself.
MS. FURMAN: Okay, thank you everyone. If it's okay if I could be excused from the meeting
at this point unless there's anything else for me.
ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Does anyone have any questions for Amanda?
MR. KUNZ: No.
MS. MATHEWS: No.
ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Okay. Thank you, Amanda.
MS. FURMAN: Thank you, everyone. Stay safe.
(At this time, Chair Cabanas and Mr. Yoshimoto returned to the Council Chambers.)
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. This is Chair Cabanas speaking. It is 10:13 a.m. and Mr. Yoshimoto
and I have returned to the Council Chambers.
Mr. Ventura, do we—does he need to turn anything over back to me or
MR. YOSHIMOTO: You can just mention, for the record, that you've reassumed the role as
Chair.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Thank you, Counsel. So, first of all, I want to thank Mr. Ventura for
serving as Acting Chair on this matter. I appreciate that. We could manage the matter under
your leadership as Chair and with the fellow Board members. So, thank you for doing that.
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Merit Appeals Board
Approval of Minutes (Item 4)
April 8, 2022
October 29, 2021 (Regular Session); October 29, 2021 (Closed Hearing Re Comm.
No. 21-04); November 19, 2021 (Regular Session); November 19, 2021 (Closed Hearing
Re Comm. No. 21-04); December 2, 2021 (Regular Session); December 2, 2021 (Closed
Hearing Re Comm. No. 21-04)
Review of Executive Session Minutes
November 19, 2021; December 2, 2021 (Executive Session: 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) And92-5(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 am now back in the Council Chair and we will move on to the other items
on the agenda. And so, we are now on Number 4, "Approval of Minutes"—and we have a large
amount of minutes that are listed here.
October 29h, 2021, the regular session; October 29h, 2021, is a closed hearing but I'm going to
have Mel read that, right? Okay, so I'm going to stick only to the regular session minutes
meeting minutes—and Counsel has advised me to do that with Mr. Ventura reading the closed
hearing minutes and the executive session minutes. And the reason is because I have recused
myself on this matter that—regarding the appeal dealing with this matterCommunication
number 21-04. So, let me start over again.
So, we're going to approve the minutes for the regular session meetings—October 29, 2021;
November 19, 2021; and December 2nd, 2021. So, have the Board members reviewed the
meeting minutes and is there a motion to accept and file the meeting minutes for the dates I have
read.
MS. MATHEWS: So moved.
CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Ms. Mathews. Is there a second?
MR. VENTURA: Second.
CHR. CABANAS: Thank you. So, there's a motion made and seconded to approve the meeting
minutes for the regular session of October 29, 2021; November 19, 2021; and December 2nd
2021. We'll start with a rollcall vote. Mr. Ventura.
MR. VENTURA: Aye.
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Merit Appeals Board
CHR. CABANAS: Ms. Mathews.
MS. MATHEWS: Aye.
CHR. CABANAS: Mr. Kunz.
MR. KUNZ: Aye.
CHR. CABANAS: Ms. Cabanas—aye.
April 8, 2022
There are four ayes. Motion carried to accept and file the meeting minutes for the dates that I
have just read.
At this time, I'm going to turn it over back to you, Mr. Ventura, to read the approval of minutes
for the closed hearing sessions and the executive session minutes.
ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Okay. Thanks. J, can I entertain one motion for everything or do I
need—would I need to entertain two separate motions?
MR. YOSHIMOTO: No, you can do one motion as long as there's no objections from the Board
members, which I do not believe there will be.
ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Okay. So, for Item number 4, "Approval of Minutes" the
October 29h, 2021, closed hearing, regarding Communication number 21-04; for the November
19d', 2021, meeting regarding same communication, Numbered 21-04; and the December 2nd
2021, closed hearing regarding Communication number 21-04; and also for the executive session
minutes of November 19d', 2021, and December 2nd, 2021—may I have a motion for approval
and filing of these minutes?
MR. KUNZ: So, moved.
ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Is there a second?
MS. MATHEWS: Second.
ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Is there any further discussion? If not, then I'll call for a vote.
Mr.I'm sorry, Ms. Mathews.
MS. MATHEWS: Aye.
ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Mr. Kunz.
MR. KUNZ: Aye.
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Merit Appeals Board April 8, 2022
ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Mr. Ventura—aye.
Motion is carried.
MR. YOSHIMOTO: So, Mr. Chairman, just real quick. So, for the record, Ms. De Soto is
absent and excused.
ACTING CHR. VENTURA: Thank you.
MR. YOSHIMOTO: Oh, and Ms. Cabanas has also been recused from the matter and the
previous vote, I think, Ms. De Soto was also absent and excused just for the record.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay, we're good?
MR. YOSHIMOTO: Chair Cabanas can re-assume—
CHR. CABANAS: Can re -assume. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Ventura, for doing that.
Communications (Item 5)
Communication No. 22-01, From Tyler J. Benner, County Auditor, Office Of The County
Auditor, Transmitting The "Department Of Human Resources Hiring Practices Follow -
Up, Report No. 2022-01" Dated February 7, 2022. States They Have Completed Their
Follow -Up Audit Of The County Of Hawai`i's Department Of Human Resources (DHR)
Hiring Practices Report No. 2017-03, Dated September 7, 2017. (Their Objective Was To
Determine If DHR Implemented The 2017 Hiring Practices Audit Recommendations. In
Their Follow -Up Audit They Tested And Found Five Recommendations Were Completed
And Three Were Resolved)
CHR. CABANAS: We are now on Number 5, "Communications." Mr. Benner is here to
conduct a presentation before the Board. Is that correct, Mr. Benner? Okay, so if you could
approach the dais.
(At this time, Mr. Tyler J. Benner, County Auditor, Office of the County Auditor came
forward.)
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. And Ms. Yamada reports that our Director of Human Resources is on
his way also to hear the presentation. We can do a little pause while we wait for Mr. Leopoldino.
RECESS: The Chair called for a recess at 10:20 a.m.
RECONVENE: The meeting reconvened at 10:25 a.m.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. The regular meeting is back after pausing for a few minutes. We are
now at 10:25 a.m. I am Chair Gabriella Cabanas, along with our three other Board members—
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Merit Appeals Board
April 8, 2022
Ms. Gay Mathews, Mr. Charlie Kunz—here with me in the Council Chambers—and Mr.
Mel Ventura, appearing via Zoom from Kailua-Kona.
We are now on Item number 5, Communication number 22-01. May I have a motion to accept
and file Mr. Tyler Benner's report on the "Department of Human Resources Hiring Processes
Follow-up Report, Number 2022-01," dated February 7, 2022 (SEE ATT. A).
MR. KUNZ: So moved.
CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Mr. Kunz. May I have a second?
MS. MATHEWS: Second.
CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Ms. Mathews. Motion made and seconded to accept and file
Communication number 22-01, from Mr. Tyler J. Benner.
At this point, I think we will proceed with the presentation by Mr. Benner. So, you may proceed,
Tyler.
MR. BENNER: Thank you very much. Good to be with you, Members, the Merit Appeals
Board. My name is Tyler Benner and I'm with the Office of the County Auditor. I'm presenting
follow-up of our original Human Resources Hiring Practices Audit, the original Report Number
2017-03 was published September 7, 2017. Our follow-up Report Number 2022-01 began
November 2021 and concluded in January 2022.
The purpose of today's presentation is to provide this body with information regarding the steps
for the Department of Human Resources or we may refer to it "DHR" took to resolve the original
audit recommendations. Unfortunately, our lead auditor for the engagement, Maxinne Pacheco,
could not be here today. So, I'll answer her questions as available and anything that I'm not able
to, I may have to research and provide follow-up via email.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Benner. But before we proceed, I failed to introduce
or acknowledge our Director of Human Resources and his manager from the EOA—ADA
Coordinator. So, we have Mr. Waylen Leopoldino, the Director of Human Resources, along
with Mr. Danny Patel, present, to hear your presentation. So, you may proceed.
MR. BENNER: Wonderful. Thank you. Okay. So, looking at our Table of Contents, I need to
first draw a quick note about an apology there's a discrepancy there. I know on their 7
recommendationswe, actually, have 8 recommendations in our slides and in these—in this
audit as well as a conclusion slide that didn't capture that. So apologies for that.
We found that 5 of the items that were recommended in the original audit were completed and
this means sufficient and appropriate evidence was available to support all aspects of the
recommendation. We found the remaining 3 were resolved—and this means an alternative
solution was implemented and fully addressed the findings or the risks.
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Merit Appeals Board April 8, 2022
So, just a very brief background. The issue central to the original audit had to do with the
creation of the Staffing Review Committee or SRC. This body, which consisted of the
department head, a designee from the mayor's office, and the human resource director created
conditions which allowed the SRC to exert undue influence in and throughout the hiring process
and this led to credible complaints of unfair hiring practices. Recommendations in the following
slides are based on what we found.
So, "Recommendation 1" well, the Staffing Review Committee has already been eliminated.
We recommend the Office of the Mayor, the Department of Human Resources—ensure that
hiring selection rests solely with the appointing authority and prevent preferential treatment of
new hire candidates. This may include updating policy and procedures, County Charter and/or
the County Code.
In December 2019, DHR revised the Rules to refer the top 5 applicants plus high scores—"Rule
of five"—for open -competitive recruitments that replaced referring the entire list. Registration
recruitment is selected through a random generator. Ten applications are randomly selected
using this method. There's duo control in place. This replaced using the skillset evaluation
criteria. The appointing authority determine the hiring method—and this eliminated the Staffing
Review Committee entirely.
To verify the status, we tested the "Request to Fill" process and found no exceptions. We found
"Status 1" to be completed.
"Recommendation 2," we further recommend that the Office of the Mayor and the Department
of Human Resources consider implementing an independent "whistleblower program and
system" to allow anonymous complaints to be reported. I'm going to provide a couple of
subsequent slides to explain this a little bit. But we consider this "Status" as "Resolved."
And so, the Office of the County Auditor is an independent office free from the influences of
either the Legislative or Executive Branches of government. In January 2022 OCA implemented
a "fraud, waste and whistleblower (abuse) hotlines"claims can be made either in-person, over
the phone, through email, or by filling out our online forms.
We've had each one of these options—we've had at least one claim made through each one of
these mediums.
Individuals can be assured that our claims are treated confidentially. OCA staff are trained to
research the claims. All staff complete statements of independence to be mindful of potential
conflicts of interest. Our staff is also going to be attending an Association of Trade Group
association meeting in Dallas in May. And we have meetings scheduled to work with a couple
of our counterparts who have mature programs in place to continue our development as well as
some educational programs that—some modules that will be offered as part of that to help
enhance our understanding and handling of those issues.
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Merit Appeals Board April 8, 2022
Regarding the education—OCA distributed brochures Countywide in January 2024—or excuse
me January 24h. OCA published an HR audit report and brochure on February 7h. We
worked with Personnel and Organizational Development Division to provide fraud, waste, and
abuse information for New Hire Orientation. We've presented HR the HR audit report and
fraud, waste, and abuse programs to Council on in March 9h. OCA published its first quarter
results via a dashboard into our website as promised to this body and we are scheduled to present
at the DHR Human Resources Quarterly Workshop on April 12'h next Tuesday.
I've just provided you with a quick screenshot of our online form. We've received a number of
tips through the form. A well-documented issue takes about three -and -a -half to five -minutes to
fill out.
Regarding the "Analytics" piece. We informed the MAB Board that we would create a statistics
page to provide for additional transparency and accountability after the first quarter of the year.
In keeping with that promise, this hotline statistics dashboard is available on our websites.
Statistics will be updated quarterly.
And I just want to explain to this group of individuals that we have the ability to incrementally
refresh that dashboard and keep it live if we wanted. But in the interest of protecting the
confidentiality of people making those claims, we prefer to have a long leg in doing that.
As of today, we've received 15 tips consisting of various subject matter. We have not received
any that would fall squarely into the human resources responsibility. So, thisI understand that
this body is focused with a very specific function. But I would just say that this between these
two lines, we're capturing a very large breadth of issues. And we've seen a lot of value come
out of it so far and we look forward to continue to explore where that's going to take us.
Some of our counterparts, I think, when we were considering and researching thisHonolulu,
for example, said that they were running into all sorts of issues with potholes being reported.
We've not had one of those issues. We contacted one of our mainland counterparts they said
that they deal with a lot of Craigslist deals that go bad. We have not had any of those issues.
So, what we found is that our issues are our issues. And that is why we are in a development
period. We're calling it a "pilot" but we want to assure this body that is going to be a permanent
program. The pilot is just so that we can gather and analyze data regarding where those
complaints are coming from, what they address, and what kind of time and manpower inputs are
needed in order to address them.
All right. So, Recommendationexcuse me. Why don't I pause on that just because I know
that there was a lot on it. Does this group have any questions up to this point?
MS. MATHEWS: I have two.
CHR. CABANAS: Go ahead, Ms. Mathews.
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April 8, 2022
MS. MATHEWS: The first is on you don't have slide numbers on here. On the Analytics,
under Mass Transit Agency, it shows "declined" on the third item. How does somebody decline
something that would fall in here?
MR. BENNER: So, an issue is brought forward, for example, one question that we ask is, "Do
you have"—and I'm not saying that this is necessarily bad but when somebody comes to us,
one of things that we ask them is, "Have you filed a union grievance?" If it is an issue that
would speak to a union grievance and we're told, "No." But then, when they actually report the
issue, we find out that that's a "yes." And so, we wouldn't be in the business of duplicating
efforts or establishing parallel process to existing pathways.
And so, in that case, we declined the engagement and asked them to keep in contact with us
pending that outcome of that to determine if there's more work to be done. That's just one
example.
CHR. CABANAS: So, in other words, you got to re-route it, right?
MR. BENNER: Right.
CHR. CABANAS: To the appropriate venue.
MR. BENNER: Well, in this case, it was an out of order operations. So, it was the grievance
was already filed. So, it—we shouldn't have been drawn on at all while that was in process.
MS. MATHEWS: And my second question, actually, goes back to the first under the
"Remediation" number "1." When you're talking about testing, could you describe what—how
many people are involved in your testing, what your ratios are, et cetera. So, are you looking at
three? Are you looking at 100—and over a body of what?
MR. BENNER: Let me continue the presentation and, perhaps, I might address that in a future
slide. If I haven't, then I will definitely attempt to.
MS. MATHEWS: Thank you.
MR. BENNER: All right.
CHR. CABANAS: Can I ask a question?
MR. BENNER: You bet.
CHR. CABANAS: So, for the first two listed—Environmental Management and Finance—it
says, "County" but not fraud, waste, or abuse—what does that mean?
MR. BENNER: I'm sorry, I don't have the spreadsheet in front of me at the moment.
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CHR. CABANAS: `Cause it says, "Disposition County, but not fraud, waste, or abuse"so, I'm
taking it like it's a County matter but it doesn't fall within the criteria for fraud, waste, or abuse?
MR. BENNER: Yes. That is exactly the case.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay.
MR. BENNER: We would definitely investigate something where a supervisor is abusing their
power or authority but we wouldn't get involved in, say, interpersonal conflict between two co-
workers. If that makes sense.
CHR. CABANAS: Yes, it does.
MR. BENNER: So, we—and these are the type of issues that we're vetting a lot of and we don't
fault anybody. I don't want to say anything that would prevent somebody from making a phone
call. We want to encourage those phone calls into the line. But we are in, kind of, an education
curve here where they're not sure if we're the correct pathway to go to. So, they come to us and
we're doing our best to assist them into some of those mediums that may already be established.
And so, if there's some improvement opportunity in the future to disposition these in a way that
helps to educate better—we'll certainly look at making those kind of changes. But we also have
to offer at such a high level that it doesn't tie back to the individual making the complaint.
CHR. CABANAS: And then, for the two that are listed "Not Substantiated" that falls on what
you've just described?
MR. BENNER: Yes. Well—no. That would be something where they've made a claim that the
evidence actually shows otherwise once we've began that investigation. There's—again, we
can't comment on the investigations that we've pursued.
But what we're talking about there is somebody claims that they went through the hiring process
and that they checked all the boxes and they did everything that they were supposed to do to
establish, say, candidacy. In fact, we find out that it's turned in after the positions' closed. It's
not turned into the right people. There's missing documents. There's required certifications that
were to accompany that application that weren't on file. And so, although he claim is made, it's
not substantiated.
So, we're happy to take and look at those things because it only takes one failure, but that's what
we've found in the investigation of those particular claims.
CHR. CABANAS: And the respondent understand that?
MR. BENNER: Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. I mean, just being honest—
human
onesthuman nature—some folks they want to ring lots of doorbells and see who answers. And what
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we ask is follow the process, ring the first doorbell, and get your answer. And if it's not an
appropriate answer, then elevate.
So, that's what we're, again, trying to educate them or trying to achieve that curve.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Benner. Any other questions for Mr. Benner?
Mr. Ventura, do you have any questions for Mr. Benner.
MR. VENTURA: No questions. Thank you.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Benner, you may proceed.
MR. BENNER: Sure. Thank you. Okay. So, "Recommendation" number "Y' we recommend
the Department of Human Resources develop and implement policies and procedures that
address monitoring and oversight of Countywide interviewing and selection process to deter,
detect, and prevent questionable hiring practices and ensure compliances with applicable laws,
rules, and regulations.
DHR audited 22 interview packets for compliance with the Merit Principle. DHR initiated the
interview packet audits in 2018. We did have a noted exception as we were doing our testing
Mass Transit missed their deadline. It's our understanding that that hiring was that particular
position, they were not able to proceed with that as having missed the deadline, and the mayor's
office had no qualifying recruitments to test.
So, to verify that status, we reviewed the process and found no exceptions other than that noted
above. I should specify that for follow-up audits, we don't make additional recommendations
`cause we won't do a follow-up on the follow-up for the original audit. But we did identify
additional opportunities to further strengthen monitoring and oversight.
Had we been—had I been involved in the initial audit, I would have offered this recommendation
in addition to those at that time, which is to adopt monitoring and oversight procedures to define
nepotism, define conflict of interest, define familiar relationships—including hanai relationships,
establish policies addressing nepotism and conflicts of interest, disclose any potential conflict of
interest on the interview panel acknowledgment form.
So, we offer those proactively to the Department in the hope that that would nullify the need to
do an additional audit in the future. And we consider this status, at this time, completed.
All right, so "Recommendation 4"—we recommend the Department of Human Resources
require individual hiring departments use the NeoGov System to track and monitoring the status
of candidates during the interview and selection process.
I'm accustomed to NeoGov prior to working for the County and it does carry with it a wonderful
audit trail. So, I'm an advocate of that system. DHR requires all departments to conduct all
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hiring correspondence through NeoGov to verify that status—we trace this information, on-site,
through NeoGov and found no exceptions.
This replaced decentralizing informal communications. We consider the status completed.
"Recommendation" number "5" we recommend the Department of Human Resources provide
mandatory ongoing hiring procedures and merit principles training for all employees involved in
this hiring process.
I attended this training a few weeks ago. DHR conducted 62 classes. DHR trained 1,040
individuals. To verify the status, we reviewed the class agenda and sign -in sheets. We found no
exceptions. We just feel that this further strengthens and unifies the understanding approach and
expectations required with hiring individuals based on their merit and not in the relationships that
they've got. We consider the status to be completed.
All right. So, "Recommendation" number "6"we recommend the Department of Human
Resources use open -competitive recruitments on a continuous basis for difficult to fill classes of
work. DHR closed all continuous recruitments in December of 2016 with the noted exception of
the Clerk III position, the number of vacancies that were being offered for the position were
greater than the number of applicants that were applying.
To verity the status, we reviewed job postings for those four classes of work identified in the
prior audits the 29 recruitments or 100% of the testing population and we found no exceptions.
This replaces the practice of continuous recruitment for positions that were not difficult to fill
and we consider this recommendation completed.
"Recommendation 7we recommend the Department of Human Resources develop and
implement written policies and procedures clearly defining prohibited personnel hiring practices.
In October 2018, DHR developed, adopted, and circulated the "Human Resources Best
Practices" as a foundation of their actions and decisions.
To verify the status, we reviewed the documents related to the merit principle and information
related the education and dissemination of those materials. As I had stated before, we offer some
additional opportunities to strengthen these internal controls.
For example, DHR should clearly define, develop, and implement written policies and
procedures to address prohibited hiring practices to ensure future Administrations adhere to
applicable federal and state laws, their rules, and the County's policies and procedures.
We do feel that in practice, the department is doing very well right now. That isn't the
immediate concern. The immediate concern is that until it is enshrined in policy and procedure
that it is easily dismantled by somebody who may have malign intent. And so, we offer this
again as a proactive opportunity and we would like to see this enshrined. We would like to see
policies and procedures, generally, enshrined among a lot of departments who are doing things
by word of mouth.
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Merit Appeals Board April 8, 2022
At this time, we consider this status resolved.
And then, finally, "Recommendation" number "8" we further recommend the Department of
Human Resources work with other jurisdictions to have the State of Hawai`i's Revised Statutes
updated or reinstated to include provisions that address prohibited personnel hiring practices
using federal laws as a guideline.
This recommendation was alwaysI'm not sure how appropriate it wasI think it was
worthwhile to make the recommendation. I don't I would almost see it as a proactive comment
made to them because we're now introducing factors that are beyond its control.
So, DHR did reach out to its state counterparts to see about reinstatement of this, but they were
unable to appeal the prohibited personnel hiring practice law. They reinstated written
examinations as a compensating control for certain positions.
We verified that status by reviewing the application policies and procedures and found no
exceptions.
So, this did strengthen assurances of hiring decisions based on the fitness of the ability of the
applicants for the categories that are listed belowclerical, professional, and blue-collar.
At this time, we consider that recommendation is resolved.
And then, just bringing it to a close—we welcome the County employees and members of the
public to address concerns over the misuse of County resource or positions through our fraud,
waste, and whistleblower lines. Often the improper ties to government resources or positions is
discovered, thanks to employees and the public submit confidential tips to defer improper
conduct to our fraud and waste hotlines—our whistleblower hotlines through email, fax, mail
we'll accept it any way that we can get it.
So, we've included some links on this. And that brings my presentation to a close. And I'll just
open it for the questions.
CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Mr. Benner. Questions from the Board members?
Ms. Mathews, you have any?
MS. MATHEWS: Yes. "Remediation" number "3
MR. BENNER: Yes, Ma'am.
MS. MATHEWS: So, how were the 22 interview packets selected? And what was the total
number of interview packets during that window?
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MR. BENNER: That is a question that I don't have access to the data right in front of me. And,
again, I apologize. My Audit Analyst was going to accompany me, but had to—something that
came up that took priority.
So, I would happily (inaudible) and email the Board with that answer.
MS. MATHEWS: Thank you. Unless
CHR. CABANAS: Is that a question that Mr. Leopoldino can
MS. MATHEWS: That's what I was wondering.
CHR. CABANAS: address? Isn't there a schedule for interview audits to be done? Can you
approach the dais, Waylen.
(At this time, Mr. Waylen Leopoldino, Director, Human Resources Department, came
forward.)
CHR. CABANAS: Without specifically saying what the schedule is, but can you just explain
that there is a schedule, right?
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yes. We do have a schedule that was established back in 2018 and I don't
have the specifics on the—what was audited of the total packets but we do have a list of the
departments and our recruitment analyst will select from that list that schedule. And when a
Request to Fill comes in, we'll go ahead and select that recruitment for an audit. That's kind
of—that's our general process and that's—we work off of a schedule that was already
established in 2018.
MS. MATHEWS: So, it's 100% of the—whatever that schedule?
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yes.
MS. MATHEWS: Okay.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: We do 100% of that schedule. We audit every department on that
schedule.
MS. MATHEWS: And so, you're turning over to them
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Whatever we've done.
MS. MATHEWS: Whatever you've done.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yes.
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MS. MATHEWS: Okay.
April 8, 2022
MR. LEOPOLDINO: And so, I think Tyler's point is the—his staffI'm not sure what their
sample size was of what we—of the 100% that we've audited.
MS. MATHEWS: Yeah, I was kind of curious about that, too.
MR. BENNER: I think ours was within scope of whatever those four positions identified in the
original audit were. So, we have to maintain scope of the original audit. So, I think it was 100%
population of those four positions identified in the original audit.
MS. MATHEWS: Thank you.
MR. BENNER: And if there's any fact pattern that emerges different than that, we'll definitely
email this body and let you know.
CHR. CABANAS: Four positions or the 4 departments that were audited?
MR. BENNER: I'll have to seek clarification from my audit analyst.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Just a point of clarification, Waylen, can you explain that it's not an
audit of all the positions. It's—can you explain that?
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yeah, correct. So, we don't audit all the Request to Fills that come into
our office. Iour analyst will pull certain ones that come through. It's kind of like a spot check.
As it comes in, the analyst will pull a random Request to Fill that comes in and then we'll
proceed.
So, the department really doesn't know which position or Request to Fill that will be audited
through that process. So, it's not all positions that come through. Thank you.
CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Waylen. Thank you, Mr. Benner.
MR. BENNER: Thank you.
CHR. CABANAS: Any more questions, Ms. Mathews, for them?
MS. MATHEWS: Well, since our charming director is sitting there, I do have a couple of quick
questions for you. The—and back on that remediation page—it's—we identified additional
opportunities for the strengthen—could you comment on both that and, I think, there was another
one whether it was something similar to that.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: I think it was 7—"Remediation 7."
MS. MATHEWS: It is 7.
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MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yes.
MS. MATHEWS: As to what you have—
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yes. So, in our formal response to the Office of the County Auditor, we
did address him. We did say we would consider these recommendations and move forward with
incorporating them into our process in the future.
So, we will take these recommendations and move on them. Yes, absolutely. They were great
recommendations, so I have no reservations about them.
MS. MATHEWS: I assumed that. I just wanted to get it on the record. Thank you.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: You wanted to hear me speak, didn't you?
MS. MATHEWS: Yes, I did.
CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Ms. Mathews. Mr. Kunz, do you have any questions?
MR. KUNZ: No questions.
CHR. CABANAS: Thank you. Mr. Ventura, do you have any questions?
MR. VENTUIRA: No questions. Thank you.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay, thank you. Okay. So, Ms. Cabanas, do you have any question? I
believe I do.
But before I even ask the questions, I just want to make a statement that I'm pleased that the
Whistleblower Hotline has been implemented because I feel that it provides a safe venue for the
employees and the public to report any abuse, fraud, illegal activity that might occur.
We have many wonderful employees in the County of Hawaii working but as you stated, if
there are individuals with misaligned motives, hidden agendas, that make the workplace
unhealthy and unsafe for the employees then it really needs to be addressed.
So, I'm pleased. I'm pleased, as the ChairI'm pleased as a Board memberI'm pleased as a
taxpayer, and I'm pleased as the former Recruitment and Examination Manager. It's something
that I wished we had back then, but we didn't. And so, I hope that individuals will pursue, if
they feel the need to because it provides a safe venue—mechanism is the word, actuallya safe
mechanism for individuals to report abuse, fraud, or any illegal activity. People abusing their
power.
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We need to hold government officials and employees who might be misaligned and doing such
things. We need to hold them accountable. So, I'm grateful that you—I know you're new and
you started off really quickly with this. So, I really want to thank you, Mr. Benner.
MR. BENNER: Well, thank you very much. And the tips that we've received have largely
echoed that sentiment. So, I know that it's a hopeful value on this side and it's showing itself to
be a perceived value on the other side So, thank you.
CHR. CABANAS: Because it only—if—when it works well as it's intended to, then
individuals, members of the public, hopefully, will trust government more. And we want to
always have a safe and healthy environment for our employees. And so, I think this is a great
start.
So, with that statement, I just want to ask just a few more questions. So, I see that there's
brochures, there's the HR Quarterly Workshop next week, new hires are being oriented about the
fraud, waste, and abuse program which is great. Are the brochures enough to educate the
existing employees? Not the new hires. The employees that are—have been working in the
County, is that sufficient or are you going to have more training sessions for them? How will
you address that? Waylen, how will you address that?
MR. LEOPOLDINO: There are other opportunities that we can reach our current employees.
One of them, we could do like a payroll stuffer. We could also do training, as you mentioned.
We also have—we could also put the information on our County's Intranet.
So, yes, there are opportunities. I also wanted to add that we're working closely with the Office
of the County Auditor's on this program and, kind of, supporting them on things that they need.
So, the communication and the PR piece, we can definitely continue our partnership and I'd be
happy to explore other opportunities to do that. So, thank you.
CHR. CABANAS: I think that's a good idea and if you can do that.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Sure.
MR. BENNER: If I may, I would say that for our side of things, we're trying to improve the
ease of access to that. So, if you go to the hawai i county. gov website, the inquiries and
complaints is actually right on the top bar of the hawaiicounty. gov. It's not buried within a
department. That will take you then, to our directory where they can navigate those myriad of
different complaint avenues.
So, we're just doing the little things that we can to try to just push it slightly out in front.
CHR. CABANAS: Right. That's good. I'm glad that you're doing that because for other
jurisdictions, when I was working and I had to research it—some websites, their websites—it
was very difficult to find. It's like it's hidden. It shouldn't be hidden. If we want individuals to
use this mechanism, the hotline, then it should be easily visible for the employees. It should be
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visible for members of the general public, so that this is what this is for. If there is something
going on, please report it. This is a safe mechanism now.
So, okay, I'm glad that you're doing that—you're looking at it. Both of you, thank you—thank
you very much. I don't know if you folks can realize how much this means to me. And it means
to a lot of people. A lot of our employees and members of the public. This is a very significant
step for the County of Hawaii. And so, with that, thank you very much.
I do have a few more questions, if you don't mind. There are two just because I'm a little
curious. One was—one question I have there are two different hotline numbers. Why is that?
One is for fraud and waste and the other is the Whistleblower hotline. Can you explain the
significance of the two separate numbers?
MR. BENNER: Well, we found that universallyalmost universally that when we were
benchmarking among industry peers that a fraud hotline is one that county auditors host all over
the country and some host a whistleblower hotline.
Now, ultimately, whether you dial one phone number or the other, it rings to the same phone.
But we don't know what the mature program is going to look like. We don't know if it's hosted
in our office eventually or if it grows beyond our office. So, we wanted to build it with some
smart architecture where we would be able to provide for that carve off, if it became necessary.
And we could do that with it being minimally invasive. If we spent all this time, money, and
energy to education our workforcea phone number to dial—and then we decided that it grew
beyond our capacity or that it needed to be outsources some number of years in the future—we
don't want to disconnect the phone number and have them have to start all over again.
So, instead we set them up in parallel so that we could, kind of, decide after that period of
review, our pilot program, what kind of inputs and that we would need and what this thing is
going to look like 5 years/10 years from now.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Thank you. Is there a plan to budget money for a independent call
center?
MR. BENNER: I don't know. ThisI would say there's no supplemental on the table right
now for that.
CHR. CABANAS: Oh, okay.
MR. BENNER: And I've had some discussion with Council on it as well. There's a strict
tradeoff and we talked about this a little bit, Ms. Mathews the last time I was in front of this
panel.
That there is a tradeoff between confidential and anonymous—and we are a small community.
And one thing we feel like we can do is so long as our office never betrays the confidence of
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these there are distinct advantages to running confidential program because we have the ability
to reach back out to these folks and get back additional information.
And, also, it helps us to strategize how we go in and we approach the department. The problem
is that you've got one employee and one supervisor—and the employee sees something wrong
and they call that in anonymously and that just comes to us. The general approach would be you
go to the supervisor and you ask what's going on. Well, they're going to be able to point directly
back to the person who made that claim. So, that's what you get the anonymous environment.
In the confidential environment, they can report this and you can represent that as just a general
concern of our department. And so, there's just some different ways that you can approach
going into and following up with in getting additional information, so that you can conduct the
best investigation possible when you're trying to get to the root cause.
So, that is kind of where we're at with that.
CHR. CABANAS
be for both of you.
interview is done.
Okay. Thank you. How do—and this question might be for—well, it might
The audit right now are being done of interview packets by DHR before the
Correct, Waylen?
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Correct.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. That's how it was designed. How do you address the security factor
once the interview is done. And the reason why I ask that is because there may be times that
interview packets are sitting on someone's desk for a prolonged period—more than a day,
sometimes two days, sometimes even three days.
Now, the instructions that we used to give the departments that does not occur, right? That
does not occur. We keep the material, the interview questions secured, right, Waylen?
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Correct.
CHR. CABANAS: Right. So, but how do—how does DHR ensure the departments are actually
doing that because if an applicant follows up with the HR rep. of that particular, a particular
department, their response was, "Oh, it's sitting on the department heads desk"—sitting at the
desk for several days.
So, are they retrieving the folder at the end of the day to keep it under lock and key until the next
day where the department head can sign it. Or is it sitting there for two days, maybe three
days—so that's a little that's a concern. And how does DHR ensure that they're not doing that
because now the audit of the interview packet was done prior, but then how do you ensure
protocols are being followed or instructions are being followed, directives are being followed
and it might not be followed. So, can you address that, Waylen, it's more for you.
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MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yeah, sure. I think we share the same concern and that's partly why we
have the training that Mr. Benner talked about.
We emphasize—aside from actually going to the departments and physically tracking that folder,
which is we don't have the resources to do that. But we do emphasize in our trainings how
important it is to keep these confidential folders—anything related to the interview under lock
and key at all times. Not even for—we don't even encourage they just leave it for an hour.
Anytime that it is unattended, these documents need to be secured.
Recently, in our own offices all of our staff that have cubicles. We've actually built locked
cabinets because at any point they're not at their desks physically—any kind of confidential
documentation related to personnel records, shall be locked up in those cabinets.
So, when we do these types of trainings, that is highlighted at numerous points through our
training. And so, our staff is very mindful when they're communicating, especially with the
interview packets that is being followed. And, I think at this point, without the added resources
of actually going into the departments and kind of tracking these folders, we'veI feel like
we're doing a pretty good job of communicating how important it is to secure these documents.
So, you and I share the same concerns. It's like once these documents are out of our sight, we
have no idea what's going on. So, again, we're open to any recommendations on how we can
better secure those documents but that's what we do.
CHR. CABANAS: WaylenMr. Benner, would you like to comment on that?
MR. BENNER: Our office and the function of an auditor is to establish conditions upon which it
can test. And so, written policy and procedures as to what you're going to do formalized
policy and procedures as to what you're going to do establishes that. Not memorandums but
actually policy and procedures—and that allows us to find out whether there's compliance to
those policy and procedures.
So, we—it's a circle. First part of it is—say what you do; and then second part—is do what you
say.
CHR. CABANAS: And then constant reminders at training sessions or HR quarterly meetings,
et cetera, yeah?
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Exactly.
CHR. CABANAS: Yeah. Okay. Thank you.
MR. KUNZ: I have one comment regarding this matter. Well, Waylen knows when we worked
together the state's HR department is such a huge thing and very much so, always a mess. I'm
talking from the Honolulu standpoint, not so much locally.
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But I remember even personnel files that were kept for the staff—there are two sets—one that's
local, one that's on Oahu. And, administratively, they actually had sign in/sign out log
whenever it was taken out of the file, which isI don't know how you could implement that by
department, but other staff touch these files or folders—and when they take it out, they sign it
out, they work on it, and they have to put it back they sign it back in. Someone else grabs it,
they sign it out—it's, kind of, simple log, right, but it kind of help bird dog where the file is and
who has it. Just a small suggestion.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yeah. Thank you, Charlie.
CHR. CABANAS: I think in—if I remember correctlyI think in our own office when I was
working, I think there were only there was only one person that could go to the personnel file
in the cabinet file to retrieve a personnel folder. Not anyone could go to the personnel file in
the cabinet file. So, that was a, I thought, a very good control because then if we needed a
personnel file of a subordinate, that person would go get it for us, give it to us. And when we
were done, we would give it back to that individual. That person was the authorized person.
So having checks and balance, like what Charlie is alluding to, I think is really a good internal
control but that's something that you folks will work out.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: And we have continued that practice, actually, that's still in place. Even I
don't have access to the personnel files. I don't know where the key to it is so it's pretty—it's a
solid system.
CHR. CABANAS: Yeah. Okay. Thank you so much. Any other questions for either
Mr. Benner or for Mr. Leopoldino?
MS. MATHEWS: One quick one. Have you gotten any negative feedback from employees or
community or—on the—on what you just discussed here?
MR. BENNER: Yes, a little bit of negative feedback. Basically, when it's a issue of emotion
and that emotion is the guiding principle and it's not really based on the merit of the complaint
what this is this tipline does is this is a bellwether to processes that are beginning to crack
and break.
It does not assure that there's going to be a one-to-one investigation on every phone call that
comes into the office. And sometimes individuals don't understand that and they want us to drop
everything that we're doing and they expect that as they hang up the phone, we're going to get to
the front door of that department.
And that is not how we operate. We're looking to solutions and somethings are done with
malice, but sometimes people do it because they just didn't know. And there are reasons why
things fall out of alignment, which can be easily corrected through a phone call, it can be easily
corrected through an email. And sometimes they're expecting a little bit more of a dramatic
disposition.
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So, they don't always get that—it's the minority. Like I said, we've only had now, as of today,
15 of these come in. And some of those are attention to the State—and so that would be a quick
report process—find the agency that needs to deal with it, pass the information along to them,
and close file on it.
So, yeah, that's but being honest—yes, not everybody will be satisfied. And looking at the
mature program, again, out of like Portland they received, last year, they said 94 phone calls
within a year. Of those 94, 10 of them warranted an investigation and one of them was elevated
to their audit plan. And so, that is what a typical—maybe a typical mature program would look
like. But for those other phone calls in between, there's going to be a certain sub -population of
those that are not going to be satisfied with the outcome.
MS. MATHEWS: Thank you for the statistic on Portland, `cause that helps us understand what
happens with the large metropolitan area versus here, where we're just getting started. So, and
that was very gently said and I commend you on people and emotions.
How are those followed up? Do people can a phone call back from you guys if somebody's put
something in to let them know what the resolution is or where you are or
MR. BENNER: It really depends on the issue. Some of them, like we've said in this
confidential environment, have had back and forth dialogue and we need some additional
information. And those have gone very well and we have great rapport. I would say that the line
itself only, rings about two-thirds of the phone calls—and the other third ring directly to the desk
of the individuals who taken them. So, they do have a relationship with those people.
So, I mean, we've made good inroads there but there's more work to be done.
MS. MATHEWS: Thank you, both of you.
CHR. CABANAS: I have couple more questions, now that I'm sitting here and thinking things
through.
MR. BENNER: Sure.
CHR. CABANAS: And I'm not sure if you're able to say it but, if you're not, I understand. So,
out of the 14 issues—and maybe you've said it but maybe I missed it—are these from the public
or from employees? Can you say that? Just—
MR.
ust
MR. BENNER: We don't make the distinction they're from both.
CHR. CABANAS: Oh, so they're from both. Okay. Wonderful. Okay. And then, your first
quarter results that you published April 1st who does that go to?
MR. BENNER: Nobody.
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CHR. CABANAS: Oh.
April 8, 2022
MR. BENNER: I mean, we that's embedded on our website as a dashboard. You guys can go
and visit at any time.
CHR. CABANAS: Oh, okay. So, it's on the website.
MR. BENNER: I would just advise that we're only going to update it every quarter.
CHR. CABANAS: Oh, okay. But it's on the website.
MR. BENNER: It is.
CHR. CABANAS: So, whoever wants to follow-up—
MR. BENNER: Yes.
CHR. CABANAS: —can view the website.
MR. BENNER: Yeah. Link is hotline statistics there.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. And I like the idea of you presenting at the HR Quarterly Workshop
next week because the HR departmental representatives are key to going back to their own
respective departments helping DHR strengthen the program, so they can provide all the detailed
information, answer questions, and answer questions that may arise from their own employees. I
think that's really a good start, so thank you for doing that.
MR. BENNER: Thank you.
CHR. CABANAS: This really shows—and I mentioned it to you before—how well organized
you are, Mr. Benner, it shows. And employees—excuse me—employees and members of the
public should know that how much work you've put into this—'cause you started when—July?
MR. BENNER: Yes.
CHR. CABANAS: And we are now April—it's not even a year. And you have taken it and
implemented the Whistleblower Hotline. So, really, thank you so much for doing all of this
because it really benefits the employees and the public and strengthens the image of the County
of Hawaii. But it needs to be done on—in the right way, which I think you started out doing so.
MR. BENNER: Thank you.
CHR. CABANAS: So, thank you, Mr. Benner.
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Merit Appeals Board
MR. BENNER: You're welcome.
April 8, 2022
CHR. CABANAS: And thank you, Waylen, for following up with all the recommendations,
making sure that merit system principle is being adhered to in the County people need to be
reminded of it, educated of it on an ongoing basis. That's why we are all here. And that's why
the Whistleblower Hotline is so important. So, thank you to both of you.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: You're welcome.
CHR. CABANAS: Any other questions or comments? Mr. Ventura, do you have any?
MR. VENTURA: No questions. Thanks.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Mr. Kunz?
MR. KUNZ: No more questions. Thank you.
CHR. CABANAS: Ms. Mathews?
MS. MATHEWS: No. Thank you.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. So, we had thank you—we had a lot of discussion. So, at this time,
we do have a motion and a second. And so, may I have—may I start the rollcall vote with
Mr. Ventura to accept our motion to accept and file Communication Number 22-01. So,
Mr. Ventura.
MR. VENTURA: Aye.
CHR. CABANAS: Ms. Mathews.
MS. MATHEWS: Aye.
CHR. CABANAS: Mr. Kunz.
MR. KUNZ: Aye.
CHR. CABANAS: Ms. Cabanas—aye.
Motion carried to accept and file Communication number 22-01. Oh, yes, and the Chair also
acknowledges that our Board member, Ms. Kate De Soto, is absent and excused from today's
meeting and the vote.
Okay. So, thank you, again, Mr. Benner, and thank you, Waylen, very much.
MR. BENNER: Thank you.
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April 8, 2022
CHR. CABANAS: At this time, because the Director of Human Resources is here, I'm just
wondering if it's okay with the Board members to take out of order the "Director's Report"
which is Number 8 on the agenda.
So, may I have a motion to take Number 8, "Director's Report" out of order and—so that we can
hear his report at this time.
MR. KUNZ: So moved.
CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Mr. Kunz. Motion made by Mr. Kunz. May I have a second?
MS. MATHEWS: Second.
CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Ms. Mathews. Any discussion? If not, we will take a rollcall
vote starting with Mr. Ventura.
MR. VENTURA: Aye.
CHR. CABANAS: Ms. Mathews.
MS. MATHEWS: Aye.
CHR. CABANAS: Mr. Kunz.
MR. KUNZ: Aye.
CHR. CABANAS: Ms. Cabanas—aye.
Motion carried. We have four votes—Ms. De Soto is absent and excused. We have four votes
to accept the director's report out of its listed agenda item and we will now take it up at this time.
Director's Report (Item 8)
Equal Opportunity Officer/ADA Coordinator Introduction; Governor Ige's Emergency
Proclamation Update; Labor Relations Statistics
CHR. CABANAS: Well, good morning, Mr. Leopoldino.
(At this time, Mr. Waylen Leopoldino, Director, Human Resources Department, came
forward.)
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Good morning, Chair Cabanas, and members of the Merit Appeals Board.
Waylen Leopoldino, Director of Human Resources.
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April 8, 2022
Before I begin, was there any questions on the director's report items I had here before I
proceed? Otherwise, I'll go into my report.
CHR. CABANAS: I think you may proceed, Waylen.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Okay, thank you.
CHR. CABANAS: I don't think anyone—does anyone have any questions for Waylen? They're
shaking their heads "no."
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Okay.
CHR. CABANAS: You may proceed.
Equal Opportunity Officer/ADA Coordinator Introduction
MR. LEOPOLDINO: We'll proceed. So, the first item on my report is, I would like to happily
introduce our Equal Opportunity Officer/ADA Coordinator, HR Manager Danny Patel. He
joined us in December of 2021. And I'm going to do less talking because I did a brief overview
when we had our managers come in, of their respective divisions and I did aI hope I did a fair
representation of his division.
But I'm going to let Danny come up and, kind of, introduce himself and go over some of the
great things he's been doing so far. So, Danny, if you don't mind coming up, please.
(At this time, Mr. Danny Patel, Human Resources Manager -Equal Opportunity
Officer/ADA Coordinator, Human Resources Department, came forward.)
CHR. CABANAS: Good morning, Mr. Patel, it's so nice to see you.
MR. PATEL: Good morning, Chair Cabanas.
CHR. CABANAS: Just for the record, the Chair has worked with Mr. Patel in his previous life
when he worked for the Office of the Corporation Counsel. So, it's nice to see you back working
for the County.
MR. PATEL: It's nice to see you as well. Good morning, again, Chair Cabanas, and members
of the Merit Appeals Board. Danny Patel—as Waylen mentioned, I am the County's new Equal
Opportunity Officer and ADA Coordinator.
I apologize if it looks like I'm shivering because I am. And seeing you up there with some of
your cozy jackets is making me even colder.
CHR. CABANAS: That's okay, it's cold in the Council Chambers—so we understand.
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April 8, 2022
MR. PATEL: For now, I'll keep the mask on, at least it keeps my face warm. So, as Waylen
mentioned, he just asked me to be here today and introduce myself. Just by way of brief
background, as Chair Cabanas already mentioned.
My previous stint with the County was as a Deputy Corporation Counsel in the Office of
Corporation Counsel. I've worked alongside with J, as well, in that capacity. I've held that
position for a little under four years total, I believe before that, I was in private practice on
Oahu.
Some of my employment, related experience stems from first practicing on Oahu. The law firm
there, we represented multi-employer pension plans, trust benefit administrators, and some of the
unions out on Oahu before I moved back here—well, with my family to start a family.
As far as my role, currently, I've just started as of December 15, 2021. Prior to that, the position
had been vacant maybe for about a month or so, I believe. So, my first order task was to get up
to speed, redoing the County's Anti -Discrimination and Harassment trainings, which are
mandatory for every County officer and employee.
So, so far, I've completed approximately nine of those training, three by requests, six as
standard. I have, I want to say, over 10 more classes I'm planning on finishing up this month.
So, it's really getting up to speed in that respect.
I've also been looking at some of the policies. A lot of the policies we have, have been in place
for over a decade, implemented by my predecessor, Teri Spinola-Campbell who I also had the
benefit of working with during her time here.
Beyond that, it's really just helping out wherever I can—re-establishing relationships—with
COVID, some of the local disability rights groups have been inactive—less so than previously.
At least one of them, I've been in contact with recently and they're starting up again having
meetingsI believe their first one was just this past Wednesday. So, I expect to be in contact
with them more frequently. We're also going to be meeting regarding some ADA Title 11
matters that have been coming up.
Did I, kind of, cover everything, Waylen?
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yeah.
CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Danny. Are there any questions for Danny Patel?
Ms. Mathews.
MS. MATHEWS: Not at this point.
CHR. CABANAS: Mr. Kunz.
MR. KUNZ: No questions.
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Merit Appeals Board April 8, 2022
CHR. CABANAS: Mr. Ventura.
MR. VENTURA: No questions.
CHR. CABANAS: I don't have any questions either, Danny but, like I said, I'm so happy that
you're back with the County of Hawaii and with Department of Human Resources.
MR. PATEL: I appreciate that.
CHR. CABANAS: We've had a good track record and I know you'll continue to do really well.
MR. PATEL: I hope so. Yeah.
CHR. CABANAS: Thank you for coming today, Danny. Okay, Waylen, you may proceed with
your—the remainder of your report.
Governor I2e's Emer2ency Proclamation Update
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Okay. So, the second item on my report is Governor Ige's emergency
proclamation update.
I'm super excited to tell you all that the provisions that related to our employees have ended,
effective 11:59 on March 25', which related specifically to employee vaccination and testing.
I'm sure all of our employees who were affected are also very excited.
So, with that, I just wanted to share some of the statistics with you all. I found some of them to
be interesting. When we implemented the Governors provisions in his proclamation on August
18'', 2021 this is the first week ended—our County was 66.07% vaccinated. And effective
March 25hthe end of the proclamation—we were at 84.72% vaccinated—which is huge.
That's a huge success. And, at that time, there was 146 that had—in August of 2021-146 were
partially vaccinated. And at the end of the proclamation7 were partially vaccinated. Status
unknown was at 337 in August of 2021. And in March of 202218—and majority of them
were on leave.
So those are some of the interesting—some of the stats. that we were tracking throughout the
throughout this throughout the Governor's proclamation. So, as I mentioned, we are happy we
can proceed. What also ended with that Governor's proclamation was the requirement for
masking.
So, we were going back and forth with the Administration on how we wanted to communicate
that to the employees because masking was still a sensitive subject and we didn't want to
eliminate the consideration of using masks. So, we partnered with Civil Defense—and Civil
Defense came up with some best practices with masking and social distancing to which we
communicated to our staff and encouraged the other departments to do the same.
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Merit Appeals Board April 8, 2022
So, I'm happy to also announce that we haven't had any issues that we were anticipating with the
removal of the mask requirements. So, hopefully, going forward, we continue in the way we are
and we can look back and learn from what we have so far.
So, that's what I have as far as the end of the Governor's proclamation.
MR. KUNZ: I have one quick question. Just out of curiosity.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Sure.
MR. KUNZ: Waylen, do you know by comparison the percentage of vaccinations compared to
other counties?
MR. LEOPOLDINO: I do not have that number and I know just our meeting with the other
DHRHR directors, we are working on, kind of, compiling and comparing our numbers. So, I
anticipate something to be coming out shortly.
MR. KUNZ: Thank you.
MS. MATHEWS: Will you continue to track the vaccines, particularly, in related—in relation to
COVID—like the boosters, et cetera—since it looks like we may have another wave behind us.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yeah. Actually, the authority that gave us the right to track those things,
fell under the proclamation. So, once the proclamation sunsetted, it doesn't allow us to there's
no mechanism legally for us to track that.
CHR. CABANAS: Mr. Ventura, any questions for Mr. Leopoldino?
MR. VENTURA: Yeah, Waylen, if there was any kind of disciplinary action due to
noncompliance with testing or vaccination rules or—are those type of actions going to be
revisited?
MR. LEOPOLDINO: I can't go into specifics, but I can generally tell you all that we have had
implemented disciplinary actions. And even through the Governor's emergency proclamation
has ended, any violation of that proclamation during that period, we can still take action
disciplinary action on.
So, for example, the very last week of testing employees were still required to test if they thought
that, "Oh, this was the last week, I don't need to test"—and they didn't get tested—we still have
the authority to implement discipline.
So, anything after March 25h, at 11:59, we will not implement any kind of discipline. There's
no violation.
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April 8, 2022
MR. VENTURA: And if there were any pending reviews of religious exemptions or medical
exemption—are these reviews just going to be dropped or are they going to be continued in case
there is another mandate due to a resurgence of the virus?
MR. LEOPOLDINO: No, that's a great question. We can continue to review the request that we
have regarding any kind of religious exemptions. And we would have to review it on a case-by-
case basis to see what the situation is, if it's vaccination, if it's testing—and then we'll have to
just compare it to what the Governor's EP allows us to do. But, if we do have another outbreak
or anything like that, we do have the process in place to re-initiate if we needed to.
MR. VENTURA: Thanks.
MS. MATHEWS: So, to follow-up on what Mel was saying. You're using the word "can" as
opposed to "we will"so, does that mean, going back to what he was saying, that anything that
was pending you're moving forward with or
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yes, anything pending. Anything pending, we will move forward.
MS. MATHEWS: We will.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yes.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Any other questions for Waylen? No—okay, Board members are
shaking their heads. Okay. They're saying, "no." Okay, Waylen, you can proceed.
Labor Relations Statistics
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Okay, my the last item on my director's report was more of a follow-up
to some questions that were asked at the last Merit Appeals Board about some of the grievance
statistics. So, I kind of pulled some numbers together.
And recognizing the sensitivity and the confidentiality with grievances, I can't go into specifics.
But what I did was I did try and put together some numbers, just to give you an idea. And one of
my comments was that the grievances that we've been receiving has increased over the last
couple of years. And so, I wanted to actually put some numbers together.
So, just for educational purposes, I kind of wanted to—if you don't mind, I wanted to go over
our bargaining units real quick just to do an overview.
So, we have the United Public WorkersUPW Bargaining Unit 1. Those are our blue-collar
employees. HGEA we have three—five unitsHGEA BU2, blue-collar supervisors; Bargaining
Unit 3, white-collar employees; Bargaining Unit 4, white-collar supervisors; Bargaining Unit 13,
professional and scientific employees; and Bargaining Unit 15, our ocean water safety officers.
And then, of course, we have SHOPO, our police officers, Bargaining Unit 12; and Hawaii Fire
Fighters Association, BU11.
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April 8, 2022
So, what I did was I kind of took a look—we have a grievance log—so I took a look at the last
three years. So, for Fiscal Year `20, we had a total of 15 grievances. Some of the grievances
included—most of them included discipline. So, it could be for a wide -range of things
suspensions, terminations, verbal and written reprimands, related to compensation, overtime,
temporary assignment. I think the question at the last meeting was what kinds of grievances we
were getting. And I mentioned, it's a wide array of grievances.
We did get three class grievances. So, class grievances are related to grievances filed on behalf
of a group of more than one bargaining unit member. So, we had three class grievances back in
Fiscal Year `20. So, again, the total for Fiscal Year 19-20 was 15 grievances.
As we move on to Fiscal Year 2021, there was a total of 24 grievances. An increase to five class
grievances. Still, the majority involved disciplines, suspensions, terminations, re -assignments,
written reprimands for this fiscal year. It also included a grievance on limited duty assignments,
sick leave, those types of things. So, a total of 24 for the entire Fiscal Year to 20-21.
The current fiscal year numbers through March 16, of 2022, we're already at 21 grievances. So,
if you compare that to Fiscal Year '20 that's a 42% increase and a 25% increase already. We
haven't even completed the fiscal year in comparison to last fiscal year.
Class grievances have increased already, currently, year-to-date in Fiscal Year 21-22. We're
already 50% over what was reported in Fiscal Year `20 where we only had three class
grievances.
And some of the types of grievances we received, this current fiscal year already, we had six
class grievances, ten discipline -related grievances including termination, suspensions; we had a
retaliation grievance, non -promotion, violation of personnel policies, and a temporary
assignment grievance.
So, really, a wide -range. But what Ianother part of the comment that was made at the last
meeting is—are we doing any kind of training to address reducing some of these grievances in
the future and Iso my answer was confirmed—for these discipline type grievances, we—Jenny
Sakamoto, she is our trainer, she's in our Personnel and Organizational Development Division.
She has implemented supervisory training modules to address some of these things that can help
supervisors best supervise, best coach their employees, best work close and engage with them
so a lot of these grievances can—we can have less of them going forward in the future.
So, these are great statistics to help us in that division, so we know where we need to put our
efforts. And so, I'm actually gladI did this myselfI'm glad I did this exercise, `cause it
gives me a better understanding of where we need to be headed.
So, thank you for raising that issue at our last meeting. And I will continue to monitor this as we
go forward. So, I'll take any questions. And I apologize, again, I can't go into details of the
specific types but I thought that might give you a better idea.
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Merit Appeals Board April 8, 2022
CHR. CABANAS: I believe Mr. Kunz has a question?
MR. KUNZ: I have more of a comment/observation. I think while there are grievances of which
you need to weigh, maybe mitigate the fact that being able to have the right to grieve is a very
important right. Until you see it on the table what it is, 22, 19, 50 of them—it's a good thing, I
think. Some, obviously, when you go through it, need to be addressed because it's awhether
it's certain disciplinary thing or something happened that is outright an issue but as much as I
think—and I'm trying to play a little devil's advocate here—as much as we hear how can we
lessen or do the training and all this stuff, I also want to acknowledge, at least, or have on record
that the grievance procedure is there for a reason. And that some of the grievances would be
quite legitimate, maybe, as well.
So, I just want to, kind of, get that out because often we hear how they need to be trained so that
we reduce the grievances. But then, some of the grievances are keeping some others honest,
that's why there're grievances.
So, I just kind of what to put that out. That's, kind of, my own opinion about it. I've been in a
position where I had to receive grievances in my previous job and some of them are legitimate
and some of them are found to be quite warranted—to me, they're all warranted. What you do
with them through your investigation and how it's mitigated, I think is the way you weed out the
ones that, "Yeah, we should have trained them better or differently" then that wouldn't have
happened, et cetera.
But I just wanted to, kind of, make that comment. Thank you.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Can I add to that? I actually haveI'm glad Charlie brought that up
because I have a second part that I was going to bring up because that is a great point.
This is, again, going back to just kind of the educational piece on the grievance process. So, the
collective bargaining agreements offer this opportunity, as Charlie described, for an employee to
have that opportunity to—like Charlie is saying the grievance the word "grievance" there's a
lot of negativity attached to it. So, but it's actually a process to allow the employee to bring up a
concern or bring up a challenge, if you will.
And so, I just want to briefly go over that opportunity that our employees have. So, the
grievance or the appeal process the first step is our employees are members of unions. So,
these unions represent these employees. So, they have that avenue to go to their union
representative and express their grievance and the union will usually file a grievance on their
behalf.
But even before then, the employees through Jenny's training and working with our
employees—have the opportunity to go to their department head prior to this to try and get that
resolved. If there's no success there, then they go to their union and that's what begins the
grievance process.
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April 8, 2022
And so, Step Iso the lingo in the County when you refer to grievances, you hear the word,
"Oh, it's at Step F or "It's at Step 2" or "It's at Step 3."
So, Step 1, is the formal meeting with the department head after the union has filed a grievance
on their behalf and they try to resolve this issue. It wasn't resolved informally, so now through
the grievance process the employee, usually with their union rep., will meet with the department
head to try and resolve whatever the issue is.
And, as Charlie mentioned, again, maybe it brings up an issue that has to be dealt with by the
department head and it's really no fault of the employee. So, that has happened as well.
Let's say the department head sustains the denial of the grievance at Step 1. It then moves on to
Step 2 of the grievance, which is a meeting with the employer. So, it's actually a meeting with
the County, which the mayor is the executive of the County. The mayor has delegated that
responsibility to DHR.
So, Step 2 comes through me as the Director of HR for review. And we set up a meeting with
the employee and their union rep. to hear their case. And I have the opportunity to overturn the
departments' decision on behalf of the mayor and it could be settled at Step 2.
If it's not settled at Step 2 and I deny the grievance, it moves on to Step 3, which is the last step,
which is a move to the arbitration hearing process.
The arbitration hearing process begins at Corporation Counsel. So, once a union decides to file a
Step 3, we receive it in our office at DHR and then we provide all the documentation, including
the request for Step 3, to the Corporation Counsel and they will proceed with setting up the
arbitration and the arbitration process.
So, I just wanted to provide—so I'm glad that Charlie brought that up because I wanted to
provide yes, it's a process not only to penalize the employee for any kind of remediation, but
it's also for issues to come up that can better the workplace is also my view.
So, I hope that piece, kind of, helped kind of put into place the general process of a grievance.
And it, kind of, ties into some of the statistics that I provided here today.
But that is all I had to present. So, I'll open it up to questions.
CHR. CABANAS: Are there any questions on the labor relations statistic? Okay, Gay's shaking
"no." Mr. Kunz, any questions? No questions. Mr. Ventura—okay, they say, "no." I don't
have any questions on the labor relations statistics, Waylen, but I do have a question or they may
have the Board members may have other questions of other areas.
So, do you folks have any questions in other areas? Gay? Mr. Kunz no. Mr. Ventura—no.
Okay. Well, coming to me. On the recruitments
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MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yes.
April 8, 2022
CHR. CABANAS: what's happening with the recruitments. I see on the website that there
are 50 open recruitments. The department has over 40 open -continuous. Any update on those?
MR. LEOPOLDINO: We areso, recently—as recent as a couple days ago, departments
haveso, let me back up. We are receiving applications, but a lot of them are not qualifying for
positions. So, our recruitment staff had been working a lot of overtime screening applications.
We've been having written exams. Like Tyler mentioned in the audit report, we do written
exams now. Written exams are almost weekly. I really feel for our recruitment staff.
So, we are getting applications but a lot of them are not qualifying. As I mentioned in a previous
meeting, we're looking at when employees were asked to return to work, a lot of them
experienced some change where—whether it's childcare, whether it's the emotions that are tied
to COVIDa lot of them don't want to return to the workplace. So, that's part of it.
So, we're actually implementing different things for—we're considering a telework policy. We
want to do this big job fair by the end of the fiscal year. We've—our HR manager for
recruitment has already started NeoGov access to the partnerships with the social media. We've
been in discussions with LinkedIn. I mean, I think we're doing a lot to try and help fill these
vacancies.
We work with departments individually, for example, the Department of Environmental
Management, we kind of brainstormed on some out of the box things, like, "Hey, you know at
your solid waste facilities, put up those signs with our jobs website" as people are waiting to
drop their trash. We do payroll stuffers, or—I've also networked with couple council members
who are willing to—in their own newsletters put out in our jobs website.
So, we're looking at all these different avenues.
MR. YOSHIMOTO: So, Madam Chair, that item is not on the agenda, so I would refrain from
going any further.
CHR. CABANAS: Oh, okay.
MR. YOSHIMOTO: I know that was something that was brought up in the past.
CHR. CABANAS: Right.
MR. YOSHIMOTO: But, probably, better if you're going to go into a lot of detail to have it on
the next agenda.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Sure.
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MR. YOSHIMOTO: Yeah.
April 8, 2022
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. And with that, can I just make my announcement? Okay. So, my
announcement is this, okay—so I'm the Chair of the Merit Appeals Board but in my former
capacity, you know that I was the Recruitment and Examination Manager. And I retired
December 1st, 2018. Waylen was still working for the City and County of San Francisco.
He started in January 2019
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yes.
CHR. CABANAS: Waylen and I never had the opportunity or the chance to sit down and meet
and he has questions for me and I have the history of the division, which I created back in 1987.
We never had that opportunity to meet, Waylen. And there were a number of reasons why we
did not and chose not to meet, primarily, because he became the Deputy Director—what year
was that -2020?
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Twenty-one.
CHR. CABANAS: Twenty-one?
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yes.
CHR. CABANAS: Yeah, 21-2021. And then, I was asked to serve on the Merit Appeals
Board and got approved to be on the Merit Appeals Board. So, I felt, okay, we need to kind of,
sort of, keep some distance so that I'm not in conflict, he's not in conflict—so we never had that
opportunity.
A long story short is there's a lot of history that needs to be shared for the department, for the
department's use and you can use it however way you want but, also for the Merit Appeals
Board.
So, I discussed this with our Legal Counsel, J Yoshimoto, and I asked him what is the best way
for me to share this information without being in conflict. So, I drafted three documents—three-
word documents which will be sent to the Merit Appeals Board and to you, Waylen, as the
Director of Human Resources.
And the three documents will be on the agenda for our May meeting.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Okay. Great. Thank you.
CHR. CABANAS: And the three documents are these—one is the listing of the directors of the
Department of Human Resources—we have it for the record from the time that I started, so
you're the eighth director, as far as I know.
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April 8, 2022
And then, one the second document are—is the recruitment strategies. All the strategies we
implemented over the years. So, you can all see what we've done, give you some ideas you
don't have to use it, but it's just to give you ideas of what we did over the years.
And the third document is the history of the division itself. And changes that occurred with civil
service reform around 2002, and changes that we implemented over the years due to, sometimes,
external sources—we had an ACLU lawsuit—we had the State Supreme Court ruling the
residency requirement was declared unconstitutional. So, to show that progression so that you
and your staff will have that as you move things forward—and that the Merit Appeals Board will
also have that information. So, we're being transparent.
And then, I can answer whatever questions all of you may have. So, that would be on the May
agenda and our legal counsel has reviewed it.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Will I get that document in advance of the May meeting in case I have
questions or
CHR. CABANAS: I think so.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Okay, perfect.
CHR. CABANAS: I'm going to send a letter
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Okay.
CHR. CABANAS: to the Merit Appeals Board and "cc'ing" you and I'm going to attach all
three documents and I'll send it to Glynis.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Okay.
CHR. CABANAS: Yeah, `cause she is our secretary. So, I'll send it to Glynis and then from
there, Glynis, you can share it. And then, it will be on the agenda as well for May. Okay?
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Great. Thank you.
CHR. CABANAS: Yeah. Okay. So, with that, I want to thank you, Waylen, for your director's
report today.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: I have one more quick thing?
CHR. CABANAS: Oh, okay. Sure, go ahead.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: So, I do want to let you know that this week, I finally made the decision to
appoint my deputy. I'd like to do that by May I". After careful thought, I made the decision this
week. So, I will put that on our agenda. Yeah. I wanted to let this Board know.
Page 40
Merit Appeals Board
April 8, 2022
CHR. CABANAS: Oh, okay. So, you're not going to tell us who it is, right? You can't, right?
Well, we're in an open meeting, so I guess we'll have to wait till May 111. Okay, that is exciting.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: It is.
CHR. CABANAS: Because yeah, you need the deputy position filled to help you move things
forward for the department. So, we'll wait till May 1st. Okay.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: All right, thank you.
CHR. CABANAS: Great! Thank you, Waylen.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: I'm very happy. Thank you.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Thank you, all.
MR. KUNZ: We're happy that you're happy.
CHR. CABANAS: Yes.
MR. LEOPOLDINO: Thanks!
CHR. CABANAS: We all need to be happy. Okay. So, thank you, Waylen, have a great
weekend. And then, Board members, do you want to pause for a little break? It's 11:52do
you want to take a little break and pause? We do have one more item on the agenda and that's
6—Number 6, "New Business."
MS. MATHEWS: And then, we're pau?
CHR. CABANAS: Then, we're done yeah, pretty much. You want to proceed? Yes, J?
MR. YOSHIMOTO: No, well, I was going to mention something. So, on the agenda we-
2022-2023—
CHR.
e2022-2023
CHR. CABANAS: Correct.
MR. YOSHIMOTO: Annual Performance Evaluation. We're planning to put the 2021-2022
Performance Evaluation on the next agenda. So, I just wanted to clarify to make sure that it's
okay to proceed with this without the past year. Or did you want to do it chronologically at the
next meeting because they may impact each other they may not. But just throwing it out there,
if it's
Page 41
Merit Appeals Board April 8, 2022
MR. KUNZ: I don't have a preference.
MS. MATHEWS: I like chronology.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Mr. Ventura, what is your preference?
MR. VENTURA: It doesn't matter to me.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. It doesn't matter to me either. So, do we need to take a vote?
MR. YOSHIMOTO: Well
CHR. CABANAS: Do I need a motion?
MR. YOSHIMOTO: If you wanted to take action that's different from on the agenda, then you
would need a motion. If you just wanted to proceed with the agenda, as stated, then no motion is
required. In other words, if you want to postpone Number 6 till next month, when we're going
to have the 2021-22 on the agenda, before this, then you would need a motion. But if you just
want to stay status quo and just do this, then no motion is made.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Why don't we just proceed with the agenda item on Number 6 and,
Gay, you can go with it. Okay.
MR. KUNZ: Madam Chair, can I recommend we take a two -minute recess?
CHR. CABANAS: Can we take a five-minute break?
MR. KUNZ: Oh, five is good. Okay.
CHR. CABANAS: Five-minute pause. Okay. We'll be back in five -minutes. It is now 11:54.
Thank you.
RECESS: The Chair called for a recess at 11:54 a.m.
RECONVENE: The meeting reconvened at 12:04 p.m.
CHR CABANAS: Okay. It is 12:04 p.m. Chair Cabanas speaking, and we are back in the
Council Chambers with Ms. Gay Mathews, Mr. Charlie Kunz, and Mr. Mel Ventura appearing
via Zoom from Kona; J Yoshimoto and Glynis Yamada with us as well.
Page 42
Merit Appeals Board
New Business (Item 6)
April 8, 2022
FY 2022-2023 Annual Performance Evaluation Of The Director Of Human Resources
(HR) Process; And FY 2022-2023 Human Resources Employee Survey: Proposed Timeline,
SurveyMonkey Questions For FY 2022-2023, Merit Appeals Board's Evaluation Tool For
The Director Of HR For FY 2022-2023, Define Target Audience/Survey Participants
(Executive Session:–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: We are no on Number 6 of the agenda, "New Business."
At this point, may I entertain a motion to go into executive session to discuss.
MS. MATHEWS: So moved.
CHR. CABANAS: Is there a second?
MR. KUNZ: Second.
CHR. CABANAS: Thank you. Motion made by Ms. Mathews and seconded by Mr. Kunz for
the Fiscal Year 2022 to go into executive session to discuss Fiscal Year 2022-2023 the Annual
Performance Evaluation of the Director of Human Resources process and Fiscal Year 2022-2023
Human Resources employee survey. Is there any discussion? If not, we will start with a rollcall
vote with Mr. Ventura.
MR. VENTURA: Aye.
CHR. CABANAS: Ms. Mathews.
MS. MATHEWS: Aye.
CHR. CABANAS: Mr. Kunz.
MR. KUNZ: Aye.
CHR. CABANAS: Ms. Cabanas—aye.
There are four ayes, motion carried. Ms. De Soto is absent today, so she is excused. And we
will now proceed to go into executive session at 12:08 p.m.
Page 43
Merit Appeals Board
April 8, 2022
RECESS: The Chair called for a recess at 12:08 p.m. to convene executive session.
RECONVENE: The meeting reconvened at 12:23 in open session.
FY 2022-2023 Annual Performance Evaluation Of The Director Of Human Resources
(HR) Process; And FY 2022-2023 Human Resources Employee Survey: Proposed Timeline,
SurveyMonkey Questions For FY 2022-2023, Merit Appeals Board's Evaluation Tool For
The Director Of HR For FY 2022-2023, Define Target Audience/Survey Participants
(Executive Session:—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: Okay. Welcome back. We are now in open session at 12:23 p.m. May I
have a motion to continue the fiscal year 2022-2023 annual performance evaluation of the
Director of Human Resources process and fiscal year 2022-2023 Human Resources Employee
Survey to our to be continued to our May meeting?
MS. MATHEWS: So moved.
CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Ms. Mathews. Is there a second?
MR. VENTURA: Second.
CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Mr. Ventura. So motion made to continue to our May 16'',
2022, Board meeting the annual performance evaluation of the director of human resources
process and fiscal year 2022-23 human resources employee survey.
MR. YOSHIMOTO: I'm sorry, it's going to be at 10 a.m. right?
CHR. CABANAS: At 10 a.m. on May 16'', which takes us to the scheduling the next meeting
day, which is May 16' 2022, Mondayoh, I didn't vote on the motion. I got confused. I'm
sorry. I read all of that for so long. Okay, so we had a motion, we had a second. So, staring
with the rollcall vote with Mr. Ventura.
MR. VENTURA: Aye.
CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Mel. Ms. Mathews.
MS. MATHEWS: Aye.
Page 44
Merit Appeals Board April 8, 2022
CHR. CABANAS: Mr. Kunz.
MR. KUNZ: Aye.
CHR. CABANAS: Ms. Cabanas—aye.
Motion carried with four aye votes. Ms. De Soto is absent and excused today. Okay.
Unfinished Business (Item 7)
Communication No. 22-02, From Amanda Furman, Deputy Attorney General,
Transmitting The Findings Of Fact, Conclusions Of Law (FOF COL) And Decision And
Order Concerning Communication No. 21-04, 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. Based On The Foregoing Findings Of Fact, Conclusions Of Law And Order,
The Merit Appeals Board Remands The Instant Recruitment Back To The Human
Resources Department To Conduct A More Thorough Review Of The Appellant's
Application. Board Action Required: Approval Of FOF COL (Executive Session: 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
(Previously taken out of order.)
Director's Report (Item 8)
(Previously taken out of order.)
Equal Opportunity Officer/ADA Coordinator Introduction; Governor Ige's Emergency
Proclamation Update; Labor Relations Statistics
(Previously taken out of order.)
Schedule Next Meeting Date (Item 9)
CHR. CABANAS: So, we are now on Item number 9, scheduling our next meeting date, which
iseveryone is available. Thank you for responding to Glynis' poll. The meeting will be
scheduled May 16'', 2022. It's a Monday, at 10 a.m., in the Council Chambers of the Hawaii
County Building in Hilo, at 25 Aupuni Street.
Page 45
Merit Appeals Board April 8, 2022
And, Mr. Ventura, will you be sitting in via Zoom on May 16th?
MR. VENTURA: I believe so. I will let Glynis know for sure.
CHR. CABANAS: Okay. Thank you very much.
Adjournment (Item 10)
CHR. CABANAS: And at this time, may I have a motion to adjourn today's meeting?
MR. KUNZ: So moved.
CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Mr. Kunz. Is there a second?
MS. MATHEWS: Second.
CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Ms. Mathews. Any discussion? If not, motion made and
seconded to adjourn today's meeting. Starting with the rollcall vote, Mr. Ventura.
MR. VENTURA: Aye.
CHR. CABANAS: Ms. Mathews.
MS. MATHEWS: Aye.
CHR. CABANAS: Mr. Kunz.
MR. KUNZ: Aye.
CHR. CABANAS: Ms. Cabanas—aye.
Four ayes, motion carried to adjourn today's meeting. Ms. De Soto is absent and excused today.
Motion carried to adjourn today's meeting at 12:26 p.m. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you,
everyone.
Respyctfully submitted,
Q
Glynis Yamada, Secretary-Reporter
APPROVED:
jf CU/1(4..t.tHoL. &am titiY"
Gabriella M. Cabanas, Chair
Merit Appeals Board
Page 46
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