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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0124.029 2004-2006 ®s~`v,°`•"'`'~ Lincoln S.T. Ashida Nar Kim ~6i;~; Corporation Counsel rY Mayor I+; ' Gerald Takase F`~ ` ~ Assistant Corporation ef';. ; ,;ro;.'~~ q>E Counsel COUNTY OF ~I~W~I`I 101 Aupuni Street, Suite 325 Hilo, Hawaii 96720-4262 (808) 961-8251 Fax (808) 961-8622 March 28, 2005 v~ onorable Gary Safarik Chair, Hawaii County Council County of Hawaii ' 25 Aupuni St. - Hilo, HI 96720 r\, Honorable Virginia Ilsbell Chair, Committee on Finance County of Hawaii 25 Aupuni St. Hilo, HI 96720 Dear Chairman Saf;arik and Council Member Isbell: RE: Qperating and Capital budgets and Pr®grarn Review ~espa~nse fr®rr~ Corporati®n C®unsel This communication responds to Committee on Finance Chair Virginia Isbell's questions concerning the Office of the Corporation Counsel, contained in her March 22, 2004, memorandum to the Legislative Auditor's Office. 7. What are the major lawsuits confronting the County and how much? Our sumrnary of pending lawsuits will be provided to you under separate confidential cover. The information contained in our summary includes candid assessments from the attorneys in our Litigation Division, and comprise their work product. 2. The program objective for the development of a risk management system would continue to work with their prospective clients in risk management activities. Does the function enhance or duplicate the function c?f the new Risk Management Division in the Department of finance. Ref. To Hawaii County is an Equal Opportunity Employer and Provider Ref. U~t : ~ _ _ _ Honorable Gary Safarik Honorable Virginia Isbell March 28, 2005 Page 2 There is no duplication. In the absence of a comprehensive risk management program and division within our County, our attorneys have, by default, assumed the responsibility of overseeing risk management activities within their client departments. This is inefficient, and not conducive with the County's long-term goal of developing a comprehensive risk management program. This is exactly why we need a division within the Department of Finance, dedicated to this function. With the advent of a centralized risk management program as a division of the Department of Finance, our attorneys would continue to provide legal support to our client departments, without having to shoulder the entire responsibility of developing or maintaining a comprehensive risk management program for the department, which may admittedly be outside the scope of their expertise. When aCounty-wide risk management program is finally implemented, this program objective will be deleted as a primary responsibility of our attorneys. 3. Why did the program objective of fhe collection of delinquent child support payments decrease from $400K in FY05 to $350K in FY06? Do we have problems collecting from county employees? At the time the Family Support Division's program objectives for Fiscal Year 2006-2007 were being formulated, the Division was faced with a low collection total of $320,090.00 for Fiscal Year 2003-2004 (the collection goal had been set at $400,000.00 for Fiscal Year 2003- 2004). This was partially the result of collection case referrals from the State of Flawai'i being extremely low. Instead of setting a collection goal that ,appeared to be unattainable, the decision was made to set a collection goal for Fiscal Year 2005-2006 that was more realistic. Hence, the figure of $350,000 for Fiscal Year 2005-2006 was selected. With respect to collections from County employees, this is not a problem. Wages from these employees may be assigned towards child support payments. Further, upon retirement, County employees who still have child support obligations have their retirement income subject to income assignment. Honorable Gary Safarik Honorable Virginia Isbell March 28, 2005 Page 3 4. Please justify the department's need for a new employee? The value of good legal secretaries cannot be overstated. The Legal Clerk III's at the Office of the Corporation Counsel are knowledgeable of the Hawaii Rules of Civil Procedure, Rules of the Hawaii Supreme Court, Federal Court rules of practice and procedure, Third Circuit Court filing requirements, and specialized rules relating to Bankruptcy Court and the Bureau of Conveyances, to name just a few. The Legal Clerks III's perform citation verification of all legal documents, Shepardize legal citations, and ensure proper formatting. There are; presently 13 attorneys in our main office (including the Corporation Counsel). Five (5) Legal Clerk III's support 12 of the attorneys. The recommended law office ratio of two attorneys per one secretary is not met. This results in a burden to the existing Legal Clerk III's, and their supervisor who must set aside her supervisory and special project responsibilities in favor of assisting with the day-to-day legal clerical work, just to get it done. The increase in the number of legal demands placed on our office, together ~roith the increase in the number and magnitude of claims and lawsuits facing the County has been well documented, and is again presented below. Failing to have adequate staff to address these needs is 1:antamount to malpractice.' In 1987, when I began as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney with the County, there were an equal number of deputy prosecutors as there were deputy corporation counsels. Today, the prosecutors have over 39 attorneys (with more positions being submitted with their budget), and a staff of over 80 island-wide. The Corporation Counsel has only 12 main office attorneys, and five legal secretaries. The Prosecutors perform a very vital function in our community, and are staffed by dedicated and talented attorneys and public servants. No question about that. The Corporation Counsel's present request of adding just one legal secretary is modest in light of the County's desire and need to have both their legal offices adequately staffed. Due to the shortage of legal clerks, our Supervising Legal Clerk II has been tasked with responsibility of handling legal clerical matters for our bankruptcy cases. Other duties of our legal clerks which may not be apparent are the servicing of the Board of Ethics, coordinating travel and other arrangements for the attorneys and witnesses in litigation cases, and work with the County Clerk's Office in the updating of the Hawaii County Code. Honorable Gary Safarik Honorable Virginia Isbell March 28, 2005 Page 4 Corporation Counsel Total Case and Work Statistics FY FY FY FY 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-052 Requests for Legal Representation (includes litigation, administrative hearings, arbitration and 564 506 531 395 claims in which the Count is named as a art Requests for Legal Services (includes all administrative requests such as approval of 1,569 1,883 2,172 1,473 documents, drafting legislation, legal research and o inions, collections, etc. I hope we have satisfactorily addressed each of your questions and concerns in this communication. We will be available at our budget hearing on March 30, 2005, to further elaborate on these questions if necessary, or to address any other concerns you or your colleagues may have. Thank you for this opportunity to respond to your concerns, and for your careful review of our budget. Very truly yours, LINCOLN S. T. ASHIDA Corporation Counsel c: Honorable Harry Kim, Mayor S: Departments/Corp Counsel/LSA Misc. Corresp./Letter to Finance Committee re FY 2005-06 budget 2-28-OSILSAmr 2 Fiscal Year 2004-2005 numbers are as of March 24, 2005. There is one more quarter (three months) left in the present fiscal year.