2024-01-17 Salary Commission Minutes (Draft)

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Salary Commission January 17, 2024 It answers to Vice -Chair Farahi's questions about the position that Director Tokihiro has provided. Also present is our Managing Director, Deanna Sako. She may be able to provideI don't knowI don't want to put her on the spot, but she may be able to provide some additional information and/or whether or not the Director was present or able to be present or if there was a scheduled conflict for her—and any other questions that may or may not be relevant to this body for consideration. If we don't have them today, we can get them for you between now and our next hearing as an FYI. Thank you. CHR. PAVAO: Any further discussion? MR. FARAHL Based on the questions that I asked, Mr. Chairman, this is a new position and it's comparable but it's not asI didn't understand how equity would fit into this `cause I didn't see it in the internet search. And the answers that HR Director provided was sufficient for me to be able to propose (inaudible) dollar a month salary for this individual with four employees and potentially 10 in two years or more—or that's 13,000 a month, which is what the number they gave us is (inaudible). So, to set it—you don't want to make it too high and you don't want to make it too low. And, hopefully, that department would be successful and next year if adjustments are made—well, we will make those adjustments. MS. NAMAHOE: Commissioner Namahoe here. So, first of all, thank you so much, Mr. Farahi, for the questions that you asked and for the information that we were presented. I think the struggle for me in looking at the documents will always be what are the responsibilities and how does that person—and how does that department respond to those concerns. Now, for example, Oahu that's a million -man island but this island, if we look at the last 10 years, if—in order to underwrite the next 10 years, we look at the immediate last 10 years. When it comes to climate change, just those two wordsLahaina is something new for Maui but how many times have we dealt with lava, and hurricanes, and earthquakes, and so forth. I mean, we're the island—we're the geologic island that I would assume right away, this job would be, kind of, pseudo Civil Defense or a close agency that would be working with CD because we're dealing with the impacts of a community that has just faced loss. And I think some of the drivers on that are the understanding Native Hawaiian culture and the unique environmental and social justice issues of Hawaii. I see that as—okay, so how do we step in with lava flow and it's coming for a neighborhood—how do you deal with that community? But then, also, when the weather is bright and nice, we're going to throw all the GMO issues at that office, too. It's going to be, kind of, a clearing house and I—and while that might make this particular future department unique, I don't know what that department's going to do. That's a concern for me. As much as I appreciI'm somebody who likes to read the fine print—and I couldn't figure out from it, enough to come up with a number or an agency to line it up against with what we currently have in the County. Thank you. Page 5