2025-11-17 Salary Commission Public Hearing Minutes

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Salary Commission November 17, 2025 stewardship, ensuring that every dollar spent honors trust—honors the trust placed in our leaders by the people they serve. CHR. PAVAO: Thank you. MS. OTSUKA: Okay, thank you so much. CHR. PAVAO: Okay, next up, Gabriella Cabanas, on behalf of yourself. MS. CABANAS: Good morning, Chair Steve Pavao, and Salary Commission Commissioners, and Director of Human Resources Sommer Tokihiro, and Deputy Corp. Counsel Cody Frenz. I’m Gabriella Marie Cabanas, I’m representing myself. I’m a lifelong resident of this beautiful Island of Hawaiʻi. And I just happen to be a retired Human Resources Manager who worked for the County of Hawaiʻi for 37 and-a-half years. I had a wonderful career, and I really enjoyed it. I want to thank all of you. I know your job is very difficult. It’s a complicated matter and hard to please everyone out there, but I know you’ll do what is right. Your proposed Findings of Fact is very detailed, so it helps all of us. The reason why I am here, first of all, I want to say I have not talked to any executive employee whose position is listed. I’m doing it from, really like an outsider reading the newspaper and other information out there. My suggestions to all of you are more focused. And it’s focused on a number of positions. And the reason it’s focused is because of the nature of their work—and it’s public safety. So, I’ve looked at the Police Chief and Deputy, and the Fire Chief and Deputy. These are public safety leaders. Our island is unique. It’s the largest island, as we all know, in the Hawaiian chain. For Fire—Fire enters into a state agreement to provide EMS services and that contract is with Department of Health. I don’t think it has changed. I’ve been retired seven years. And our firefighters are trained—all of them—EMT’s and a select number become paramedics. They cover the whole island. No other island in the State—ooh, that was fast—no other island in the State has that type of agreement. So, our firefighters serve a dual function. Can I have a little extension, Chair? CHR. PAVAO: Yes. MS. CABANAS: I can—okay, thank you. And so, with Police and Fire as well, we have unique circumstances on this island as we all know. We have an active volcano. The only island in the Hawaiian chain that has an active volcano. We have Kilauea Iki, and we have—every now and then Mauna Loa erupting. So, Police and Fire need to be decisive, strong leaders. They need to be paid to do their work. Page 7