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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0098.007 2024-2026 Dell Otsuka 376 King Avenue Hilo, Hawai'i 96720 July 20, 2026 Hawai'i County Council 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, HI 96720 HEARING DATE: Wednesday, July 22, 2026 RE: STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS/COMMUNICATIONS,COMM. 98.5, COMM. 98.6 Dear Chair Inaba and Members of the Council, I am writing to express my deep concern regarding Hawaii County's ongoing recruitment crisis, which leaves our community operationally vulnerable with nearly 700 (693 HR November report-*Salary Commission), active workforce vacancies. While the administration frequently cites systemic hiring difficulties, a closer look at our short-term contract practices and outsourcing habits reveal a self-inflicted cycle of inefficiency that damages employee morale and locks local workers out of long-term career advancement. The data presented for this meeting provides an incomplete picture, reporting short-term hires for only two out of four quarters (Comm. 98.5, Comm. 98.6). By omitting half of the fiscal year's data,this Council is prevented from conducting proper legislative oversight. Worse yet,this report is fundamentally opaque because it completely conceals the true extent of our reliance on retired staff. While the 90-day civil service logs track lower-level lines, high-profile retired administrators are routinely brought back via executive political appointments or specialized consulting . agreements. Because these positions are processed outside standard civil service logs, their presence is hidden from these quarterly disclosure Comm. No. CI 1J Ref.To: 17I FC Ref. Date JUL 2. a 2026 packets and so, no quarterly reports were submitted for these. This level of data omission is not standard practice across the nation. In well-run mainland jurisdictions, transparency laws require comprehensive, unified reporting where any returning retiree-whether an executive appointee, short-term casual hire, or contractor-are clearly named alongside their full compensation package in a single, accessible document. Hawai'i's state and county governments, by contrast, are notoriously unique in their heavy abuse of the "89-90-day hire" loopholes. This is a structural problem that our public sector unions, including the Hawaii Government Employees Association (HGEA) and United Public Workers (UPW) have repeatedly fought against at the State Legislature. The unions have explicitly condemned these temporary loops as a direct circumvention of the civil service merit system. The ultimate irony is that while the Salary Commission recently granted massive 15%raises to county managers-justified explicitly by riding the coattails of HGEA's hard-fought collective bargaining efforts for rank-and-file members-the administration simultaneously uses these 90-day loopholes to bypass union civil service protections. During my tenure on the Environmental Management Commission (EMC), I witnessed the direct local fallout of these alarming contradictions: 1. Staffing is Core to Charter-Mandated Functions: When raising staffing concerns repeatedly as a commissioner, I was told each time by Corporation Counsel, that HR was outside our purview and that we were "just an advisory board." You cannot separate the"function" of a department-as mandated by the Hawai'i County Charter-from the permanent personnel required to execute it. I also wrote to this body,the County Council, citing the "long-standing" critical staffing issues and offering suggestions to help address these shortages.I did not receive any response. 2. The$15 Million Outsourcing Firewall:While the administration claims it lacks the resources to properly fund, recruit, and retain permanent local staff, the county managed to spend upwards of$15 million in just 18 months on outside consultant studies. This was only for the Department of Environmental Management(one of at least 24 departments).* We are wasting millions on corporate paperwork because we refuse to invest in a permanent leadership pipeline. When"we"trap active, dedicated senior staff in indefinite "acting" roles-giving them all the stress of management without the permanent title or security-and then pass them over to bring back retirees, we not only crush workforce morale, we perpetuate poor governance. Requested Action: I respectfully ask this Council to,defer acceptance of these short-term hire reports until the Department of Human Resources provides complete, four-quarter disclosures (two years-24 months)*to include ALL of the personnel and quarterly reports that have been left out of the Council's oversight packets today. This disclosure must explicitly clarify how many individuals have held multiple temporary, executive, or contractual appointments over the past 24 months. We must hold our administration accountable to a"Path to Permanent" framework that prioritizes internal succession planning over temporary fixes, ensuring that Hawaii County jobs are built for the long-term future of our employees, their families, our community and our island. Sincerely, Dell Ots ca otsukadell@gmail.com To: counciltestimony(Whawaiicounty.gov Subject: Testimony - Comm. 98.5 and 98.6-Finance Committee, July 22, 2026 Dear Chair and Council Members, I am submitting this written testimony to expand upon my oral remarks for the two agenda items; Communication 98.5 and Communication 98.6, which were strictly limited by the 3-minute time constraint during the live meeting. Communications 98.5 and Communications 98.6 lacked critical, comprehensive information regarding the county's split reporting,* overlapping timeline dates (quarters) and selective departmental numbers which represent a significant breakdown in compliance with the Hawaii County Code Section 2-12.5-*explicitly regulates the hiring of short-term contract workers. This reporting section exists to ensure the county does not bypass the standard, competitive Civil Service merit system. Omitting 19 of 23 departments (472 known critical emergency service vacancies - as of November 2025-HR), makes an objective, well informed entity-wide operational analysis impossible. Comm.98.5, third quarter (January 1, 2026 -March 31, 2026) lists 12 contractors,ALL 12 contracts end in the fourth quarter-latest date-May 29,2026, TWO DAYS BEFORE FOURTH QUARTER ENDS! Comm.98.6, fourth quarter (April 1. 2026 - June 30. 2026) list 61 contractors of which 60 of those contracts end in the first quarter-latest ON AUGUST 28,2026, FIRST QUARTER OF FISCAL YEAR 2027(Ordinance No. 26-44)* The actual vacancy crisis was omitted. Having ONLY two quarters reported and not four, left me to question—Qtrs 1 and Qtrs 2 (July 1, 2025- September 30. 2025) and (October 1, 2025 -December 31, 2025) would be where and when the need for hires to the critical emergency services would be more prevalent.Also omitted and not revealed, is the extent of reliance on retired staff. While the 90-day civil service logs track lower-level lines, high-profile retired administrators are routinely brought back via executive political appointments or specialized consulting agreements (potentially bypassing _qualified career senior civil service staff) but no reports were submitted for these, at least not for this 40th Session, Committee on Finance. Aside from the numbers, and as I wanted wholeheartedly to convey...while the county navigates through the numbers and manipulates its findings, does it even consider the psychological impact of the 89-day loop and how it presents a profound reality on systemic job insecurity,performance pressure and personal anxiety(that extends to their families)? Does 'it'not care enough to search outside the proverbial box of self inflicted excuses year after year to address this long standing injustice?It's not that we don't have jobs! It's not. Do we have to wait for another administration to actually actively look into how other jurisdictions do it? It is definitely not what I've been told many times, that"no one is applying." Recruitment methods are flawed. Policies need to be revisited. The County Charter should be reviewed more often than every 10 years. I really could go on... I pose this to this Council because as dedicated as you all are, and as overwhelming the expectations you place upon yourselves and that of this county's residents, and this County,you are the body that can change it all. YOU ARE OUR FISCAL STEWARDS, and therefore must exercise utmost prudence before rubber-stamping these communications or passing related budget approvals. When budget funds are spent across fiscal years without explicit line-item oversight, it dilutes this Council's legislative authority and possibly exposes the County to legal, structural, and financial liabilities, but as of this writing, Communications 98.5 and 98.6 have been passed, unanimously. We MUST ALL BE MINDFUL to NOT lose sight of what is fair and just, for our County and all its residents, starting with ALL the employees that make this county function, and who appreciate the opportunity to work; for this county. After all, this is about looking for permanence in the County workforce and eliminating the bureaucracy(excessive paperwork, delays that obstruct practical, fiscally responsible action, safety, health and environmental concerns and notorious inefficiencies) toward a more efficient county government. COUNCIL, WHY NOT CREATE PERMANENT BUDGETED POSITIONS and save us time and money(just a suggestion)... Respectfully,Dell Otsuka