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Ms. Stremski said she has counted being stopped there and having to wait for 25 cars to <br />pass before she could turn onto Kilauea. She is afraid there will be a bad accident there, <br />and Mr. Sumada said the DPW worries about that, too. She asked again if it could be <br />considered to make it one -way, and Mr. Sumada said he wrote it down. <br />Mr. Stremski also said there are a lot of cars which park on the side of the golf course, <br />before the clubhouse. People open the car doors, put their clubs away, and sit and change <br />their shoes on this two -lane highway. It is not safe to have that side parking, especially <br />considering there is a large parking lot there. <br />Mr. Sumada said he would talk to Parks and ask them to initiate a park project. <br />Mr. Sakaguchi asked whether the County had a telephone number to take calls from <br />citizens about hazardous situations. Mr. Sumada said that each division, Engineering or <br />Highway Maintenance, would take calls like that. They get hundreds of requests and <br />have to weigh the safety issues with efficiency. <br />Mr. Sakaguchi said that is tough on the staff, and Mr. Joseph asked whether the DPW <br />gets the complaints directly, or whether the Office of Information and Complaints get <br />them. Mr. Sumada said they receive them both ways. The OIC would refer the <br />complaints to DPW. The requests or complaints are dealt with individually. In his <br />handout, there is a recommendation to create a Traffic Hotline, to deal with situations <br />where there are back -ups or some other hazard. He asked Mr. Sakaguchi if he was <br />proposing that the system of dealing with community requests be centralized, and Mr. <br />Sakaguchi said he just wanted to see what the procedure is, as no one likes getting these <br />calls and they waste time. The process should be automated to save on staff time. <br />Mr. Sakaguchi asked why Mr. Sumada felt going to a 10 -hour work day, four days per <br />week, would be good for the County or public. Mr. Sumada explained that they receive <br />complaints from people who have to take off from work to come to the DPW to process <br />something like a permit, and when they come in, there is a long waiting line. By the time <br />they get to the counter, they are upset because they have lost their lunch hour. The <br />suggestion is to expand the hours so people can be dealt with at a time that is convenient <br />for them. Right now, it is only convenient for the DPW staff. They have a regular work <br />day set up around the staff s convenience. They have also turned people away because <br />they show up too late. They need to get the word out, which ties in to another of the <br />recommendations in the handout, about hiring a public relations or customer service <br />specialist to aid in communicating with the public. On the expanded hours suggestion, it <br />would be good for the public and good for the employees, as they could be offered a <br />three -day weekend. In offering them the 10 -hour workdays, they could structure their <br />time around when they are the most productive. Some employees like to come early, and <br />some like to stay late or come in on Saturdays, so there could be flex time. People are <br />most productive when there are no interruptions. <br />Mr. Sakaguchi asked whether the DPW could just open on Saturdays, and Mr. Sumada <br />said they could. <br />11 <br />