2006-07-06 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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24. DISCUSSION /ACTION ON ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMISSION RESPONSE TO THE COMMISSION'S LETTER DATED APRIL 10, 2006 Ms. Nicholson said she did not understand the second bullet under 1, about recruiting employees by way of outsourcing projects. Mr. Sakaguchi said he believed the issue was to explore the feasibility, if they can't recruit, of outsourcing a whole project, such as hiring a company in California to design a sewage system for us. The commissioners discussed that the communication was not clear about what it meant in terms of recruiting employees. Ms. Nicholson said they should not take action because the issue is not clear. They could, however, discuss the issue of outsourcing projects rather than hiring employees and that would possibly be another item for their Civil Service list. Ms. Garson stated that the DEM already has the authority for privatization, and Mr. Dworsky and Ms. Bell had stated that the DEM already does quite a bit of that. Ms. Nicholson asked whether there is a difference between using an outside consultant and outsourcing an entire project. Ms. Garson said that commonly a consultant would be hired to do a design, and then would stay on through the construction project, as project manager. The Chair said projects do get outsourced, but they have to go through the whole Council process, which takes a long time but is thorough. Mr. Sakaguchi said it takes time to gather all the reviews, but if that was not done the County could be exposed to liability. The Chair said they don't want to go with something that is obsolete or not suitable for Hawaii. Motion and Vote: Ms. Nicholson moved to file the communication, Ms. Provalenko seconded the motion, and all members voted aye. 19. DISCUSSION /ACTION ON PLANNING DEPARTMENT RESPONSE TO THE COMMISSION'S LETTER DATED APRIL 10, 2006 Ms. Garson said that the Planning Department is next on the priority list, and so they might want to decide what they would like to ask the director about. Mr. Sakaguchi said that they received a report from another department on how much land the County owns, but when he looked at Mr. Yuen's response, he said the Planning Department's main job is to manage land use. He wanted to know if that meant managing County land, or land that is in Hawaii County. Ms. Garson said it means land within Hawaii County. Mr. Sakaguchi asked what the State Land Use Commission deals with. Ms. Garson explained that there is a two - tiered system. The State Land Use Commission has categorized all the land in the State. Each County also has its own land use regulations, which are superimposed upon the State's regulations. They might be conflicting, so in order to go forward with something, both the State and County need to have the correct land use designation. Mr. Sakaguchi questioned why both systems were needed and said the law should be changed because it causes so much confusion, and the public interest may not be upheld by having all of this. The Chair said that the Land Use Commission is for zoning —that if you