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received most of the union proposals and are currently reviewing them and <br />working on preparing the County's position for the proposals. On December 6, <br />the new governor will take office, and from there a Chief Negotiator for the <br />State will need to be designated and we should have a better idea of the <br />employer's position. <br />Mr. Takashiba also assists the departments with supplemental agreements <br />which are specific to the needs of the County of Hawaii and which also involves <br />certain departments. An example is a department that wants a 4 -10 schedule, <br />which is a four -day, ten -hour work schedule. The department will seek <br />Mr. Takashiba's assistance, and he'll negotiate with the specific unions. <br />Mr. Takashiba also assists or takes the lead in consulting with various key <br />officials on things that impact the County. <br />In the day -to -day work, he deals with departmental managers and with <br />the HR representatives in applying and interpreting the collective bargaining <br />agreements. He also assists them with some of the day -to -day operations and <br />interpretations. <br />Also as a participant in cross training, he is working on the training <br />program to familiarize the rest of the staff on what the labor relations division <br />does. It's been a challenge, but he believes they're heading in the right direction <br />and staff members are willing and motivated to learn more about labor <br />relations. <br />Mr. Yoshiyama asked about internal complaints and the internal <br />complaint procedure. Mr. Takahashi responded that the department is not <br />involved in that. The Mayor's Office primarily handles that, as the process is set <br />up for complaints to end up at the Merit Appeals Board level; and at the time <br />procedures were being developed, Mr. Ben had decided that MAB shouldn't be <br />ruling on the director's decision. However, they do consult with the Mayor's <br />Office and with Corporation Counsel. <br />The Mayor has designated Mr. Takahashi as the chief negotiator for the <br />County. The process set up by the collective bargaining law is that the State and <br />the county jurisdictions serve as the employer group to negotiate one contract <br />with the various unions. It's one contract that's applicable to the State and all <br />county jurisdictions. The law allows for negotiations of supplemental <br />agreements, whereby individual needs of the specific jurisdiction are addressed <br />