2006-07-20 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

Home

Mr. Joseph asked whether all 180 positions were filled or if there were vacancies. Mr. Nakasone said that they do have vacancies, but by the end of the year they should be able to fill them. They also anticipate about three retirements at the end of the year. Mr. Sakaguchi asked whether the Highway Division contracts with private contractors or vendors to do some of the work, or whether he has the authority to do so. He mentioned as an example that in Honolulu, the government was contracting with private companies to take care of the brush and grass cutting. Mr. Nakasone said he has the authority to request this, but has not done so. He stated he believes his Division is doing a good job and that their laborers are not paid very high, which saves on costs. The workers are required to cut at least five to six miles per day, both sides. He said that to be honest, he had not thought about contracting out and believes they are doing an okay job. He said he feels this because when he first became superintendent, it would take them eight to ten weeks to complete a district. Their goal is now four to five weeks, and they are about there. Mr. Sakaguchi asked whether a grass cutter who lives in Hilo has to travel to Ka'u to cut grass, and Mr. Nakasone explained that each district has its own crew. Certain specialized employees may need to travel to complete a project, but each district has its own crew sufficient to do the regular maintenance. There is a baseyard in each district. Mr. Sakaguchi asked why both the State and County have highway maintenance sections and whether just one organization could maintain the highways. Mr. Nakasone said that in his opinion, he believes there is a lot of redundancy of work in having both. As an example, both the State and County have baseyards in Waimea, which sit next to each other. The baseyards in Hamakua and Ka`u also are close to each other. About four years ago, this issue came up in the legislature. He went to the legislature and suggested that the Big Island be the first to try having the State merge into the County. (He said he did not want the County to merge into the State because of difficulties in getting approval from Oahu for things that need to be done on the Big Island.) However, in his opinion this issue should be addressed in the future because of the redundancy of work. He explained that if the County should take over, they would need to learn about federal guidelines and standards so that they could request federal assistance if a road is in the "T" program. He said that the federal standards are much higher than County and State requirements for the maintenance of roads. If the County should take over the roads, they would need to learn these federal procedures, and he would like to see that. Mr. Sakaguchi said the public always wonders why both the State and County maintain roads. Mr. Nakasone said that in his opinion, the counties should take over the maintenance of roads, and the Big Island is a prime place to start. He believes it would save money. Mr. Sakaguchi asked whether Mr. Nakasone had recently been to any conference or workshop related to his work. Mr. Nakasone said that about six years ago, when he was new at the job, he visited the other counties to compare things. The idea came to him that it would be good to have a superintendents conference, where all the State and County superintendents could meet. After discussing this with his various counterparts, they did have a superintendents - overseers conference. The idea was to make it a working conference where they shared ideas and thoughts on how to make things better. This conference is now held once a year. 3