2006-05-04 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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way of doing things in Hawaii. Mainlanders often find it difficult to work with the local culture. She is currently working with a mainland consultant on the sort station project, and her explaining how the government and attitudes are in Hawaii has helped the consultant. Ms. Nicholson asked about the first question, dealing with ideas on saving money. Hiring outside consultants is like privatization, and Ms. Beck had costed out that if the DEM increased its engineering staff by six people, it would save the County about $1.3 million. She asked whether the DEM had the space and equipment available to handle six engineers. Ms. Beck said that getting basic office equipment would not be a problem, but space would be a problem. She said she is holding off on trying to hire more until she knows what the space situation is. The County Building is currently undergoing an analysis on where departments can go, but she does not know much about this or when it will happen. Ms. Nicholson questioned how the space issue is handled, as other departments also say they need more people but cannot hire because there is no space. She asked if Ms. Beck was involved in the long -range plan to figure out where the DEM can go, and Ms. Beck said that issue is more under the director's purview. Ms. Nicholson asked if the director knows about how Ms. Beck analyzed the situation, and Ms. Beck responded that the director read and signed the response letter. Ms. Beck said she can only make suggestions to the director, which she frequently does, to help the director understand the situation. She believes the director does understand and that it is just a matter of getting a plan into place and knowing which direction to head. Mr. Sakaguchi asked if Ms. Bell was an engineer, and Ms. Beck said no. He asked what Ms. Bell's field of study was, and Ms. Beck said she believes the director has a degree in theatre. In terms of work experience, Ms. Bell started out as county clerk and then went to work for Recycle Hawaii, where she believes Ms. Bell got the bulk of her work experience before being appointed by the Mayor as director of the DEM. Mr. Sakaguchi said Ms. Bell's education and experience raised questions, and Ms. Nicholson explained that Ms. Bell is an appointee. Mr. Sakaguchi and Ms. Stremski expressed that appointees should have some background in their position. Ms. Nicholson said that one would assume that when the Mayor appointed Ms. Bell, he had confidence that she had the skills necessary to lead the department. Mr. Sakaguchi said that the DEM is a technical department and Ms. Stremski said that there is difficulty because the DEM is a new department, taken out of another department and set up as a separate entity. It still needs to get the kinks worked out. Mr. Sakaguchi questioned how the DEM, if it does not have a knowledgeable department head who understands the technical aspects, can get problems solved. He said there needs to be cooperation between the right and left hand, and there is only one person who can bring the right and left together. Ms. Beck said the people in leadership do not really need technical expertise, as they depend on their division chiefs for this. However, they do need to have planning capabilities and be able to prioritize what are immediate problems and what can be dealt with later. 31