2024-08-27 Salary Commission Minutes

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Salary Commission August 27, 2024 MS. NAMAHOE: Commissioner Namahoe. Again, I would like to extend my appreciation to Managing Director Deanna Sako. The second paragraph that she has listed in her communication, dated August 27, 2024, she concisely makes those points. "Although this is a new department"I'm quoting her—"the duties of this department had resembled the duties of the Research and Development Director. So, in terms of duties, that's at 162,540, as well as the size of the department is similar to the Office of the County Auditor where the County Auditor also makes 162,540." So, that underpins it—that's the goal posts on both sides. Thank you for that. CHR. PAVAO: I think the earlier Findings of Facts around the cost of living and inflation apply to this position that's how we brought the other comparable positions to their current salary range. I think it also impacts the decision on this position. You need more information for the Findings of Facts? MS. FRENZ: Yes. So, the difficulty I'd have with that is we don't have a benchmark other than the temporary salary that was set for them to fill an Interim Administrator in the meantime—and it wasn't as back -dated as our previous department heads when we did that multiple -year catch- up where there had been no increases. So, I'm not sure how to incorporate that language into the rationale for—it's a substantial jump, right, from what she's currently at or the interim position is currently at now to this—it's significant. So, to make sure that I can properly articulate that and how it applies to here, isI might need a little more to be able to properly do that. MS. NAMAHOE: Commissioner Namahoe. So, the Interim Director's salary, I think—I believe was set outside of this body and it was set prior to the work that we had done to apply the inflationary adjustments that we were faced with, that was not corrected prior to January 1st 2018. So, without knowing any different, my assumption is that the Interim Director position was also priced out of proportion to the current economic reality. Again, one thing that we learned is, if someone was hired, theoretically, at $100,000.00 January 1st, 2018, by October 1st, 2023, that wage was $77,000. That was the inflationary cracks that Hawaii County took and the State of Hawaii took between 2018 to 2023. And while we hear that inflation has since tapered off, that's what we were facing which drove the decision-making that this body undertook for the inflationary adjustment, effective January 1st, 2024, and then the salary adjustment, effective July 1st, 2024. So, the correction to the interim wage, although it was made prior to this body, it was made prior to the economic treatments that we applied to the salaries overall the corrections that we are working on right now have little to do with what the Interim Director was set at, and everything to do with the expectation that the County needs to provide its directors, effective 2024. Good? Page 10