2006-07-20 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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Mr. Nakasone said he has worked for the County of Hawaii for 35 years and that his title is now Superintendent of Highways. He said the County has about 1,000 miles of roads to maintain, with his Division having about 180 employees and 30 temporary positions. Their budget is about $11 million per year, not including $2.5 million for resurfacing roads annually. The Chair asked Mr. Nakasone how many men it takes, per mile, to maintain the roads. Mr. Nakasone explained that when he became superintendent, around 1995, there was no standard of performance, so he did not know what he could expect of employees. He visited the different counties and learned that none of them did. As a result, he worked on developing his Division's own standard of performance, and it amounts to five miles per employee, both sides of the road, and includes the maintenance and grass cutting work. The Highway Division has programs, including paving, resurfacing, and shoulder maintenance programs. These programs do not necessarily start and end. The grass cutting has a cycle and is done by the employees of that district. They start at one end and finish at the other. They do the same with herbiciding, patching, and shouldering. There is only one County paver, so the paving is scheduled. The Chair said that the work priority then, to clarify, was on damaged areas or areas needing improvement, rather than on a cyclical basis. Mr. Nakasone said that in addition to the regular work, they also receive work orders and requests and have emergencies, which interrupt the regular schedule. Sometimes a grass cutter may start his area but get called to work elsewhere on an emergency. By the time he returns to his area, he may need to figure out whether to start over or continue where he left off. The Chair said that he went to yesterday's County Council meeting and noted that many issues were hitting the media, particularly on the subject of splitting the island into east and west. He asked Mr. Nakasone whether he felt it would be good to have one superintendent in charge of East Hawaii and another in charge of West Hawaii, or whether they would have a harder time functioning. Mr. Nakasone said that when there is top- heaviness, there is confusion. In his opinion, the Department is not big enough to have two sections. Though they could use assistance, the County is one entity and should not be separated into east and west. Doing so would make people territorial. Employees could be working for different supervisors, and production could be affected. He does not believe they are ready for this. Mr. Joseph asked whether the Highway Division was fully staffed at 180 employees, and Mr. Nakasone said they were fully staffed for what they are currently assigned to do, but if the County has to take on the "roads in limbo," they will need to increase staff. He explained that the roads in limbo are roads which neither the State nor County claim. These roads are in bad shape, and taking them over will require more equipment, material, and employees. He said more employees are always needed, but you need to be realistic and do the best you can with what you have. If you always think you need more employees, then you stop thinking about how to better yourself. So he does not worry about needing more employees. Rather, he looks at what he has and thinks about how they could do better. If a grass cutter has a performance standard of cutting so many miles of grass, he will see if that can be increased. 2