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If there is a problem, she plans how to approach it and tries to come up with solutions and <br />implements them. When people just react, it becomes chaotic. <br />Mr. Sakaguchi said he is concerned that the DEM lacks focus, as it has a relatively simple <br />function. He questioned what the tangents might be and whether there were personality <br />problems between Kona and Hilo. Ms. Beck said the problems do not go as far down the ladder <br />as that. <br />Mr. Sakaguchi said he feels that the government is broken, that there is not one <br />department that seems to work well, yet more money keeps getting put in. He said that even the <br />President screws up, but at the local level it hits close to home. He asked what the relationship is <br />between the DEM and the private systems maintained by hotels. Ms. Beck explained that there <br />is no relationship between the two. Hotels have their own treatment system, and the federal <br />government sets standards. There are both private and County -owned sewer systems. The DEM <br />does not have authority over the private systems, which are probably regulated by the PUC. <br />Mr. Sakaguchi asked whether the State also owned treatment systems, and Ms. Beck said <br />it probably does. An example could be a prison, which might have its own collection and <br />treatment system. She had never looked into this. <br />Mr. Sakaguchi asked how the DEM makes money and what its source of revenue is other <br />than the fees it collects. Ms. Beck said that was why she suggested getting a grants manager on <br />board, to research more sources of funds. She said there are not enough hours in the day for her <br />to spend time researching this. <br />Mr. Sakaguchi felt the DEM could learn from other jurisdictions and asked whether the <br />DEM sends people to conferences. Ms. Beck said there is an annual conference and that there <br />are mainland conferences, which may be more valuable. However, the DEM discourages trips to <br />the mainland because of the costs. She said she disagrees with this and feels the mainland is <br />probably years ahead of Hawaii and would be a good source of knowledge and information. <br />Mr. Sakaguchi said sending employees to conferences, including on the mainland, would <br />be good for morale, and employees would come back with information and ideas to try. The <br />DEM should not need to reinvent the wheel, but the government seems to do a lot of that. <br />Ms. Beck explained that she is from the mainland and has been with the County of <br />Hawaii for three years. She had worked for 15 years on the mainland in private consulting in <br />engineering. When she first came to Hawaii, there was culture shock and she also felt like they <br />were reinventing the wheel. She had questions about why things were being done a certain way <br />and found it was usually due to County rules and policies that needed to be followed. After a <br />while, she just got used to it and gave up the fight. Fighting was not practical and did not help. <br />Mr. Sakaguchi said it is leadership's function to empower the employees to find new <br />solutions, and Ms. Beck said she agreed. <br />Mr. Sakaguchi asked whether the DEM consultants are from the mainland or local, and <br />Ms. Beck said the majority are local. Mainland consultants may be more knowledgeable or <br />experienced, but there are problems with the distance as well as with the different culture and <br />5 <br />