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HomeMy WebLinkAboutREP GOEAC 053 2025-07-08 2024-2026REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS AND EXTERNAL AFFAIRS DATE: July 8, 2025 PLACE: Council Chambers Hilo, Hawaii TIME: 9:00 a.m. Council Chair and Members Hawaii County Council Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Re: Comm. No. 334Bill No. 64 Your Committee on Governmental Operations and External Affairs, to which was referred Bill No. 64, reports as follows: Bill No. 64, introduced by Council Member Holeka Goro Inaba via Communication No. 334, dated May 27, 2025, amends Article VI, Chapter 2, Section 6-2.2, of the Charter of the County of Hawaii (2024 Edition), relating to the Director of Public Works. Bill No. 64 replaces the requirement that the Director of Public Works must be a registered professional engineer with the requirement that the Director has a bachelor's degree in engineering, architecture, public administration or a related discipline, or a degree in law. It adds the requirement that at least two of the five years of required administrative or managerial experience must be in public works or construction, or a related field. This bill was previously heard and postponed on June 17, 2025. Governmental Operations and External Affairs Meeting of June 17, 2025 Member Inaba began by sharing that this is a copy of Bill 244 from 2022-2024 and was originally introduced by Council Member Aaron Chung. Member Inaba said that initially, he was not in support, but due to the current difficulty in fulfilling this position he is now in favor of this proposal to open the position to different candidates. Member Inaba stated that he wanted to avoid a drawn -out political discussion and that he hoped that Council could make a quick discussion on this bill to move it forward. Member Inaba called upon Managing Director William Brilhante to provide insight from the Administration. Mr. Brilhante said that the biggest impediment to finding a qualified director for the Department of Public Works (DPW) has been the requirement of the candidate to be a registered professional engineer. He reminded committee members that this is a proposed charter amendment and ultimately it will be up to the public to vote if they support this change in qualifications. He mentioned that while this won't help with their current search, it will make things easier in the future if it passes. Finally, he mentioned that two other Counties, Maui and Kauai, have removed this requirement from their minimum requirements for this position. Committee Member Ashley Kierkiewicz said she was in support when Council Member Chung brought this forward and watched prior administrations struggle to fill this position. It would expand the pool of candidates for the Administration to consider. She reiterated that they would GOEAC Report No. 53 GOEAC-53 Page 2 July 8, 2025 not be venturing into new territory based on the example of Maui and Kauai. Member Kierkiewicz stated that managerial experience and the ability to motivate people to get the job done is most important. Committee Member Michelle Galimba said she was on the Charter Commission when this was brought forth in that setting and was in support until the most recent past DPW Director Hugh Ono came forward in opposition and helped change her mind. She said that she was compelled by the testimony that having subordinates having higher qualifications than the director may cause concerns when the director needs to override decisions and wanted to know how that would be addressed. She wanted to hear the potential amendment by engineers that might be able to address this concern. Committee Member Dennis Onishi asked Mr. Brilhante if they had 30 days to fill this position. Mr. Brilhante said they had 60 days based on the recent charter amendment. Member Onishi said that the previous administration did not have that restriction. Member Onishi asked why the charter amendment was added prior to that to have a qualified professional engineer. Mr. Brilhante said he is not familiar with why that happened but is willing to get that information. He then asked if Division Chiefs were required to have a professional engineering license. Mr. Brilhante said that he thought that the Engineering Division head was required to have a professional engineering license. Corporation Counsel Renee Schoen stated she was not familiar with the minimum qualifications required for those positions. Member Onishi then mused that if the Director doesn't have to be licensed, then maybe the Engineering Chief also doesn't have to be licensed. Mr. Brilhante said that the rationale is that that Engineering Division does need higher license and certification due to their job description and duties. Member Onishi suggested that the Engineering Chief will have to stamp certain documents that previously could be stamped by the Director of DPW and wants to understand who would be responsible for that. Ms. Schoen said she doesn't think that this occurs. Member Onishi said that in the past the Deputy Director couldn't sign off on certain specific documents because they didn't have the proper qualifications in the absence of the Director. Member Onishi asked if a licensed engineer is needed at the top, then why would one be needed elsewhere in the Department? Mr. Brilhante said that these are questions that Human Resources would be best to address regarding minimum requirements for various positions. Mr. Brilhante said that there is additional language being proposed but he doesn't have it currently. Committee Member Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder stated that he agrees with Member Kierkiewicz, that he supported it then and he supports now. Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder believes that it's a managerial position, which is not necessary to have an engineering degree. He also recommended that the decision be left up to the voters. Committee Member Rebecca Villegas said that while it is easy for professional engineers to say, yes, you need to have this requirement, none of those qualified want to do the job. Member Villegas stated that perhaps the Department has become too large and might benefit from being split into two different Departments. She has witnessed multiple different mayors struggle with GOEAC Report No. 53 GOEAC-53 Page 3 July 8, 2025 multiple nominees in these positions. Member Villegas stated that she is in support of this bill and wants the voters to decide. Committee Member James Hustace asked what the feedback has been from potential candidates regarding filling this position. Mr. Brilhante said the salary for this position is below what can be made in the private sector. He stated that first year graduates can earn up to $150,000 in the private sector. Member Hustace asked if we still consider DPW as the central coordination agency as mentioned in the Hawaii Revised Statues (HRS) Section 46 regarding enforcement. DPW Acting Director Neil Azevedo said that falls to the Planning Department. Planning Director Jeff Darrow said that they work closely with DPW, but that our County doesn't have a central coordination agency. Committee Member Heather Kimball mentioned that departmental reorganization might accomplish the needs of filling these positions better. Member Kimball mentioned that the salary is a consideration as well as consistency between administrations as this is a position that is only guaranteed for a mayoral term, and many Public Works projects can take much longer to see all the way through. She stated that HRS 464-4 mentions the requirements of a licensed professional overseeing Public Works projects. The Hawaii County Code identifies the director as the authority having jurisdiction over those projects that would require a licensed engineer. She said she would like to know how Maui and Kauai were able to remove that requirement and still maintained compliance with HRS requirements. She encouraged all Committee Members to review HRS 464 as well as Hawaii County Code 5-2-1 and 5-2-2. She offered to work with engineers on their suggested amendments and also recommended bringing back a prior charter amendment proposed by Member Kierkiewicz to reorganize DPW into different Departments. Member Kierkiewicz stated that she is opening to bring back her charter amendment bill for discussion. Member Inaba said that he would be interested in having that bill brought back, but feels it is confusing to the public to have overlapping conversations in the same meetings. He invited those with amendments to bring those to him or another Committee member. He reminded everyone that Charter amendments need to be heard at Council three times and urged the other members to move this bill forward from committee meetings. Member Onishi asked Mr. Brilhante if the Administration would consider a commission to hire DPW, similar to Fire or Police. Mr. Brilhante said they have not given much consideration to that idea yet. Member Kimball said that is a third thing to consider and would work on another proposal along those lines. Committee Chair Jenn Kagiwada requested that the Director of Human Resources be present to answer questions at the next hearing. She stated that raising the salary level would be the ultimate solution to find someone who has both an engineering degree and managerial experience. Member Kimball made a motion to postpone until the July 22nd Governmental Operations and External Affairs meeting. The motion was seconded by Member Galimba. Member Kimball stated that they have plenty of time to get it onto the ballot by the deadline for a Charter amendment. She said that there are many things to work out here with multiple proposals and she GOEAC Report No. 53 GOEAC-53 Page 4 July 8, 2025 stated that working out clear language in committee before moving it to Council should be the goal. Member Inaba suggested moving postponement to July 8 h. Member Kimball withdrew her original date and motioned to postpone to July 8d', Member Inaba seconded that motion. All voted in favor of the motion with Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder absent. Governmental Operations and External Affairs Meeting of July 8, 2025 Member Kimball began by bringing forth an amendment contained within Communication No. 334.1 with clarifying language around the original bill's requirements to be a Director of DPW. Member Onishi said that he would not be supporting the amendment or the bill. Member Inaba said that while he appreciates the specificity in the amendment, the original intent was to open the pool of candidates and more specificity on qualifications may impact that, so he would not be supporting the amendment. Members Villegas, Kierkiewicz, and Kdneali`i- Kleinfelder shared their agreement with Member Inaba in opposition. Communication No. 334.1 was approved, 5 ayes and 4 Members Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Onishi, and Villegas voting in opposition. Member Kimball introduced her second amendment which was contained within Communication No. 334.2. She said this is another concern brought to her by members of the engineering community and would protect the safety of the community and the integrity of those with professional degrees by requiring the Director to delegate any engineering decisions to be left up to those with professional engineering licenses. Ms. Schoen responded to Member Kimball's question regarding if there is any mechanism in place for employees to appeal a decision by a superior who doesn't hold a professional engineering license, by stating that there isn't currently. Human Resources Director Sommer Tokihiro said that while there are protections regarding being a whistle blower if you disagree with the decision of a director, there is nothing further to disagree with a decision made by your Director. Member Kimball stated that the information provided by Ms. Schoen and Ms. Tokihiro highlight the importance of requiring delegating engineering decisions to someone with a professional engineering license. Members Kierkiewicz, Inaba, and Onishi stated their opposition to this amendment. Member Galimba called up Mr. Ono to share a recent story from Kona traffic changes that engineers were opposed to. Member Galimba said that she is in support of the amendment. Chair Kagiwada stated that she sees the amendment as an imperfect fix to an imperfect bill. She said that she strongly believes that the Director should have the ability to make the final decisions around protecting public health and safety, but if the Director doesn't have the proper skill set then they need to defer some of those responsibilities and would therefore reluctantly support the amendment. GOEAC Report No. 53 GOEAC-53 Page 5 July 8, 2025 Communication No. 334.2 was not approved, 3 ayes and 6 Members Inaba, Hustace, Kaneali`i- Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Onishi, and Villegas voting in opposition. Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder requested a reconsideration regarding the vote on Communication No. 334.1, which was seconded by Member Kierkiewicz. A vote taken to allow for reconsideration and was approved, 6 ayes and 3 Members Hustace, Galimba, and Kimball voting in opposition. Mr. Brilhante said that it has been a challenging process to find qualified applicants and explained that the search for candidates was on -going, but the position was not attractive enough to engineers due to lower than private company salaries and lack of job security as it is an appointed position. He added that they were reluctant to seek out -of -State candidates because of the concern that they might not stick around or have the connection with the community. Member Kimball asked additional questions about the process. Member Inaba objected that it was out of the scope of the discussion on the amendment. Mr. Brilhante said that he didn't have full details of recruitment efforts available, but that he would work to obtain them. Chair Kagiwada asked that those details be provided to the full Council. On the revote of Communication No. 334.1, the amendment was not approved, 4 ayes and 4 Members Inaba, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Onishi, and Villegas voting in opposition and Member Kierkiewicz absent. Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder said that for a Department of roughly 600 employees, it is much more important to have people skills rather than engineering degrees or licenses and that he will be supporting this bill. Member Onishi asked Ms. Tokihiro how to change the minimum qualifications of those working under the Director of DPW to also not have a requirement of engineering licensure. Director Tokihiro said that it would be an internal amendment proposed by the Department to change the qualifications that would need to be reviewed by Human Resources. Member Onishi said that Maui and Kauai don't have requirements for these positions and suggested that we were going overboard with our requirements. Ms. Tokihiro said that since the Division Chiefs are handled within their class specification system it is handled differently than the Directors. Member Onishi asked if there would be conflicts within the Department if some of the Division Chiefs were licensed and the Director was not. Ms. Tokihiro pointed out that the Director of the Department of Environmental Management is not required to be a licensed engineer, but some of their Division Chiefs and Deputy Division Chiefs are. Member Onishi stated that he was in favor of a Commission being created. GOEAC Report No. 53 GOEAC-53 Page 6 July 8, 2025 Member Kimball spoke about how Mr. Brilhante had done a good job of explaining how challenging it is to fill this position, but she said it is important to her that time is taken when making this important decision and would be willing to bring forth different amendments. She also said she is open to a Commission alternative as mentioned by Member Onishi. Member Kimball said she looks forward to hearing the bill for reorganizing the Department being proposed by Members Hustace and Kierkiewicz. Chair Kagiwada wondered if all possibilities had been exhausted regarding salary increases. She also was in favor of further discussion regarding a charter amendment to allow for a Commission appointee for longevity of the position to make it more attractive to future candidates. Your Committee on Governmental Operations and External Affairs is not in accord with the purpose and intent of Bill No. 64, and forwards it to Council with a negative recommendation. slm AYES NOES ABS EX GALIMBA X HUSTACE X INABA X KAGIWADA X KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER X KIERKIEWICZ X KIMBALL X ONISHI X VILLEGAS X Respectfully submitted, COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL Is) 9a T' to)��QN VC EXTERNAL AFFAIRS iNN KAGI ADA, CHAIR GOEAC REPORT NO.: 53 ADOPTED: JUL 2 3 2025