COM 0200.004 1996-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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JAY T. KIMURA ~ PROSECUTING ATTORNEY 40pN?~ °F!4k' HaROAHAWiW %O mE RECEIVED LI,,,•: CHARLENE Y. IBOSHI ~ ifine.._.-,__ gy EnX ~i-i os FIRST DEPUTV 9sB-n 59 PROSECUTING ATTORNEY ~ %i zsYo County Council WEST IUWAII UNIT' ~ YA KEALAKEKUA, HAWAY %150 PH 322-2559 OFFICE OF THE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY `A% 32z 6~' TESTIMONY OF PROSECUTING ATTORNEY JAY T. HIMURA Tuesday, May 6, 1997 I request that the Finance Committee approve and refer to the full Council the amendment of Chapter 2, Article 26, of the Hawaii County Code relating to the compensation of Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys and Deputy Corporation Counsels. This amendment clarifies ordinance 95-17 and eliminates concerns with the unified scale as previously adopted in Resolution 176-90. The proposed amendment deletes references to LGl and LG2 and also removes time limitations within the 50-90% range of the appointing authority. This removes the possibility that deputies may be paid at less than the current starting salary without the possibility of moving for six months. This ordinance also allows the appointing authority to balance the scale of salary adjustments within the range set by the Council. Currently the experience level within the office, excluding the prosecutor and first deputy ranges from less than one year of experience to 14.5 years. There are 6 deputies that have 10 to 14.5 years of experience, 10 with 5-10 years as deputy prosecutors, and 7 with 1 to 5 years of experience. The experience refers to experience within the office and does not represent experience in other jurisdictions as deputy prosecutors, judges, deputy corporation counsel, deputy attorney generals, or private counsels. This range of experience is an important asset to the office and to our prosecution effort. It not only provides us the experience level to take on any number of difficult cases but it provides us with the experience level to maintain a top notch level of in-house training. The experience level within the office is an asset to the County of Hawaii. The cost to train a deputy is a lengthy and expensive process that cannot easily be replaced. In recent years the office has lost almost 10% of our experienced deputies for various reasons. I cannot say that the compensation level was not a factor. A reluctance to adjust the current code after 7 years would further increase the danger that experience staff may leave without the ability of the office to recruit experienced deputies. ComFa. Dia 200, O~ Y'Sle lYo. 20l Presented FG ' "1 3 1997 Ftsf. Date- - -