Report of the Cost of Government Commission 2010-2011

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Part 3 - Conclusion The essence of the work of this Cost of Government Commission has been to serve as a conduit of public and private perspectives to study and investigate the organizations and methods of operations of all departments, commissions, boards, offices and other instrumentalities of all branches of the County government and determine what changes, if any, may be desirable to accomplish the Hawai'i County Charter policy. Mahalo to all the elected officials, department heads, County employees, volunteer board members, public citizens, and the County staff who collaborated with the COGC members to contribute to the mission. Mayor Billy Kenoi spoke to the COGC on April 27, 2011 when he expressed the value of the COGC's representation as the public voice. Further he articulated, "when we talk about creating a new economy, a 21St century knowledge based economy... you need three things... to create a thriving, vibrant economy that allows our working families to raise healthy, safe children... you need people, you need ideas, and you need capital." Councilman Pete Hoffman addressed the COGC on January 14, 2011 when he spoke passionately about the importance of the council and the administration working together—and he asked to emphasize the attitude of cooperation between the two bodies. The attitude, he said, that "we've always done it this way... and somewhere along the line we have to be smart enough and courageous enough politically in order to say to ourselves that ain't good enough... and until the administration and the council(are) willing to work together as a team to address this and to make the real tough decisions, then we don't make the progress that we need to." By the responses from the County employees and volunteers, we have respectfully surmised that they generally want to do effective and efficient work for the good of the community. The recommendations that we have listed herein are intended to support their efforts. The task of delivering essential local government services, especially during these rough economic times, requires innovative reforms that focus on efficiency and innovation... and, yes, cooperation within government and between public and private groups. Bringing together our people, resources, and ideas in a collaborative approach —with the aloha spirit— has been the intention of the work of this COGC and the leadership of the Hawai'i County government system. We, the members of the 2010-2011 Cost of Government Commission, fully appreciate that there are changes that not only should be made, but need to be made in order for the County to provide the essential services in a cost effective manner that the County populace will require in the years ahead. It is our hope that some of these changes will grow out of the recommendations that we have put forth in the report. These collective recommendations have been thoughtfully deliberated upon by the COGC to serve as a plan of action for the County. We expect that the outcomes of adopting the recommendations will make a significant start toward changing the way the Hawai'i County government will do business. by incorporating the voices of its employees, its leadership, and its volunteer commissioners who represent the local citizenship. Further, we expect innovative collaboration with State and Federal governments and the unions to enhance the County efforts. We are especially keen to see the priority action items identified in the Executive Summary acted upon within the next year. We look forward to watching for the meaningful changes that unfold over the next few years. 17