2023-03-24 Merit Appeals Board Minutes

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Merit Appeals Board March 24, 2023 And then, finally, the research—our Department of Research and Development and our Office of Community—Housing and Community Development, have partnered with HEC or Hawaii Executive Collaborative and Reos Partners to tackle some big questions and start discussions on the future of Hawaii, in all aspects, including County government. This is a very interesting and a new idea that the County is participating in. It's, basically, a collaborative group, which include various stakeholders in the community including business leaders, cultural practitioners, educators, advocates, and non-profit leaders. It's brand new. We've had one meeting already with department heads, deputies, and key departmental staff. But it's, basically, trying to integrate Hawai`i's culture into County of Hawaii operations. It's in alignment with our focus on community. And so, I anticipate there's going to be a lot of integration with the core culture of Hawaii and business in Hawaii. And we think that our partnership will help draw more candidates who might be interested in, really, the core of Hawaii and the essence of Hawaii. The group is actually called—or the title of these discussions, they're titling it, "Rediscovering Hawai`i's Soul." So, I don't know if you've heard of that program, but it's really new—at least the County's participation in it is very new. So, I don't have much to share, but from the couple of discussions that I did have with R&D and Office of Housing, I feel there is an opportunity for us there and I'm excited to see where we can participate and collaborate with this group. So, these are some of the main community events that I've participated in and look forward to continuing my partnership with. CHR. CABANAS: Thank you, Waylen. Mr. Wiseman? MR. WISEMAN: Yeah. Waylen, in these programs, is there any outreach with the schools and the County, in particular, school counselors? MR. LEOPOLDINO: No. We haven't—as far as school counselors, the only counselors we have interaction with is career development counselors. So, we have—we've connected with Kea`au High School, Hilo High School, and Kealakehe High Schoolactually, all of the major high schools we have contact with career development counselors. MR. WISEMAN: Okay. Thank you. CHR. CABANAS: Anyone else—Board members, any questions for Waylen? Ms. Mathews. MS. MATHEWS: So, continuing on this you call it Hawaii Executive Collaboration—is this an R&D project or is this something that, sort of, sprung up out of (inaudible) or how did this happen and who's driving it? Page 6