State of Hawai'i County 2005 Year in Review/2006 Looking Forward

Home

State of the County 2005 - The Year in Review 2006 - Looking Forward: Projects and Issues Civil Service Michael Ben, Director of Personnel Recruitment. The low unemployment rate has caused a tight labor market and has made it difficult for us to fill many vacancies, especially for our lifeguard and police positions. As a result, we have had to develop better"marketing" strategies to reach out to all segments of the employable population. These strategies included "pau hana informational recruitment sessions" around the island; having a "County Jobs" booth at the Hawaii County Fair and attending job fairs on Oahu; placing cinema ads at the various Hawai'i Island theaters, recruiting for fire, police and lifeguard positions; extending our newspaper advertising to include publication in state-wide newspapers; increasing the number of our radio ads on various radio stations on our island; and placing our police officer recruitment ads on the world wide web. In 2006, we will continue to consider and develop additional innovative strategies to recruit persons to apply for our lifeguard and police officer vacancies including a professional marketing video to use in the high schools, colleges, job fairs, and television; advertisements in national law enforcement publications and mainland movie theatres; and increased advertisements on the internet. Equal Opportunity. The County of Hawaii believes that access to public facilities, including roads, and programs must be provided to all persons. Thus our Equal Opportunity Officer (EOO) delivered specialized classes on the Americans With Disability Act (ADA) to our Police personnel and assisted the state Disability and Communication Access Board (DCAB) in delivering 5 ADA courses to County employees. These classes focused on effective communications and the delivery of services to persons with disabilities. The same focus applied to the EOO's presentation to Cabinet Members and select County employees on aspects of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Also, our EOO facilitated the resolution of expressed concerns regarding pedestrian access during the construction of the Kuakini Highway. In still other matters, our EOO responded to 52 inquiries concerns from the public regarding applications of the ADA, both by the County personnel and private businesses. Our EOO is currently providing Anti-Discrimination and Harassment training to all County managers, supervisors and human resources employees. This educational initiative will continue through 2006 for all other County employees. These sessions are important both from the perspectives of employment and provision of services to solidify and deliver upon our commitment to Equal Opportunity.