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Merit Appeals Board <br />MR. YOSHIMOTO: It's okay. <br />February 17, 2023 <br />CHR. CABANAS: Can? Okay, thank you very much. So the question I had is, the department <br />has an "Exam Plan." And the exam plan lists by each class of work whether there's going to be <br />a written test or what you call now is an "E&E""Education and Experience Evaluation." And <br />because of the hiring difficulty and lack of qualified applicants, the department has decided to <br />the words you used, "temporarily suspend written exams" for some of these classes of work. <br />I'm not sure if you'll be able to answer me today but maybe at a subsequent meeting. What <br />criteria is the department using to assess and determine when that temporary suspension on <br />written exams would be lifted, if at all? Or are you going to revert back to the exam plan that the <br />department established, I think it was 2010—where the majority of the classes of work had no <br />written exams and there were reasons for that to allow persons from the Continent USA to apply <br />more easily to encourage former residents to apply who wanted to relocate back home to <br />Hawaii, for students who were close graduating to look at the County of Hawaii as a viable <br />employer. Those were some of the reasons back then. <br />So, my concern is that you have over, now—it's about 67 continuous recruitments in the history <br />of the department. And so, my concern is how does the department adequately and appropriately <br />establish criteria in determining how you're going to manage the exam plan because, to me, <br />there's there could be a danger in that—how do you say—okay, for instance you <br />administered a written test earlier for, let's say, Clerk III. And the clerk III might be on <br />continuous recruitment—at what point do you say, "Okay, we're going to revert back to a <br />written test" to safeguard the department. You know what I'm trying to get at? So that there's <br />no appearance that, "Oh, certain people didn't have to take written test for clerk III"—and now at <br />this given time they have to take written test again. Yeah? <br />So, I understand why the suspension of the written exams for those classes of work. But then <br />what is the criteria for the department to justify what you're going to do moving it all forward? <br />You're going to say, "Okay, we're going to revert back to the exam plan of 2010 where no <br />written exams were given for certain classes of work and we're going to stick to that." Because <br />the term being used is "temporarily suspension"—so that concerns me when you say <br />"temporarily suspension" because, at some point, is that temporary suspension going to be lifted <br />or the concept of the exam plan is going to be modified? Does that make sense to everybody? <br />Am I explaining it adequately? <br />Do you have ques you may not be able to answer me now. You might have to think about it <br />and then check with the staff. Is that something that's on the table that they're looking at? <br />Because now I can see why it would be temporarily suspended, but there should be an exam plan <br />so that there is one but the temporary suspension, kind of, bothers me, frankly. Because people <br />perceive things differently out in the public and I don't want the department to be in a precarious <br />situation. <br />MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yeah, actually, the answer is simple. <br />Page 12 <br />