2006-07-06 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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The Chair said that could be the reason Mr. Dworsky went with the request for proposal, as he did not have the staff to investigate or do the legwork for him. Ms. Stremski noted that this is not the first time the issue of orientation came up, and Ms. Nicholson said that this is another issue for the Civil Service Department list. The Chair asked if there were any other recommendations for the Solid Waste Division. Mr. Stremski said that the issue of grant writers came up, and Ms. Nicholson said they needed at some point to talk to the Department of Research & Development about this. The Chair said a recommendation for a grant writing position was already on their list. Mr. Sakaguchi said that grant writing brought up the issue of resources being centralized in one department and questioned whether that department could know enough about all the other departments to serve them adequately. He said Mr. Sumada had also made a comment about needing to look around for grant money. He wondered whether every department should have that capability or whether it should be centralized under Research & Development. Ms. Provalenko suggested that there be "x" amount of grant writers with knowledge in different areas. Mr. Sakaguchi said they could also have funds to contract out grant writers and that employees should have the opportunity to talk to other county governments, not in Hawaii, about this. Ms. Provalenko stated that there is a lot to be said for networking and developing relationships with mainland people. Mr. Sakaguchi said the County should also look at the software similar mainland counties use. The Chair asked whether there were any more recommendations regarding the Solid Waste Division, and there were none. 6. PRESENTATION AND QUESTION /ANSWER SESSION BY THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS, HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE DIVISION Ms. Garson stated that Stanley Nakasone, the head of the Highway Maintenance Division of the Department of Public Works, would not be able to give the presentation today, as he was on vacation until July 11, 2006. He was prepared twice earlier to give his presentation, but the meetings were cancelled. The Department of Public Works did not want to send another representative to this meeting, so this matter will need to be deferred to the next meeting. Motion and Vote: Ms. Nicholson moved to defer the question and answer session with the Department of Public Works, Highway Maintenance Division, until Stanley Nakasone is available. Ms. Provalenko seconded the motion, and all members voted aye. The Chair said if there were no objection, he wanted to take some agenda items out of order, to go along with what they had been discussing. He wanted to discuss next item 12, then 24, 19, 14, and then go back to item 7.