2010-11-17 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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already a consolidation that takes place in that kind of environment. So as we are broken out into different departments, we've also broken out the enforcement responsibilities, whereas when you look at other counties on the mainland, they may have a lot of those responsibilities already under one department. WONG: Within this concept, would that require a different kind of IT software so that you can link to all these departments, or it's a matter of paperwork? LEONARD: Well, currently the enforcement process is all manual, and we do draw upon Real Property Tax, the GIS system, and the data base that's over in the Building Department. So before we go out as a zoning inspector, we find out what's on the property, is it properly permitted, what's the information from Real Property Tax? And then we go into our own land use files and look at the information that we have. And then we go out and inspect and then we can make a determination whether or not they're in violation of the Zoning Code. And if there's other issues taxes, environmental issues and such then we just simply identify that and then forward that onto the appropriate department. Whether they follow upon it, we have no idea. With respect to IT, as I just mentioned, this is something that is strictly manual. Three years ago, I wrote a software solution to totally automate that process. So for me there are four zoning inspectors for the island I do my work in a dual mode. I manually do everything that the county has set up over the years, but I also have a computerized program that does it all automatically. And so what would be best in the future is to move to a software solution that totally automates the process, because then trackability - -it gives the community opportunity to come on and like you setup a kiosk or internet site where people can find out, hey, I just issued a complaint, I want to know whether or not - -what you're doing with it. There would be some limited information on the internet for them to be able to go to and take a look at. Or, as most generally what happens now, people call me and I just open up the program and I can tell exactly where I'm at with it, and they're generally happy, knowing that at least something's being done. So that's something that needs to be looked at in the future. Exactly how do we want to go to —what what sort of software solution do we want? One of the recommendations that I made in the past was that we also need to look at our processes. For instance, I go and I find a violation. I come back. I write a notice of violation and order. That letter gets through the process, signed out by the director, goes to the individual. Most people, when they see a certified, restricted mail waiting for them from the County of Hawai `i, they don't pick it up. So then that comes back to me. Then I write another notice of violation and order, and that one is now civil deputy serviced to them, and either posted or they actually get it and typically people that ignored the first one will ignore the second one. Then the third thing that I do, after another 30 days, is send out a daily fines letter. And that just goes to a regular mail box, and they suddenly see they owe thousands of dollars and they typically will call me and start talking tome. Now contrast that with the idea that if I was an inspector that had an automated system, that I went out there and I did the inspection. And I had some sort of device, like a PDA, that generated the tickets, if you want to call it that -- notice of violation and order. And I said well, they're in violation. They've got roosters in a residential area. And it prints out, cites the code, and I hand it to the person right there. Notice of violation and order is delivered on the spot. The person I got pictures of the chicken on the ticket, and so they know they've got to do something about it, and it says in 30 days. So already you're trimming down the process from 60, 90 days E