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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0124.038 2004-2006 o+`Y Lincoln S.T. Ashida ~ ~ ~~,i~'r;, Corporation Counsel I-tarry Kim Mayor ~ e Gerald Takase `ti<~<~rr 4~`<j's:•: Assistant Corporation oR ~A~ Counsel COUNTY Ole I~IAW~I`I 101 Aupuni Street, Suite 325 Hilo, Hawaii 96720-4262 (808) 961-8251 Fax (808) 961-8622 April 5, 2005 _ / Honorable Gary Safarik U Chair, Hawaii County Council County of Hawaii 25 Aupuni St. Hilo, HI 96720 ; Honorable Virginia Isbell Chair, Committee on Finance County of Hawaii 25 Aupuni St. Hilo, HI 96720 Dear Chairman Safarik and Council Member Isbell: RE: budget and Program i2eview for Corporation Counsel We extend our heartfelt thanks to you and your fellow Council members for taking the time to review our proposed budget for fiscal year 2005-2006. We wish to address issues and concerns raised by the Council at our meeting on March 30, 2005. Urtfuna9ed rnanaPates Our atfiorneys have been advised and directed to work with their client departments to identify unfunded State and Federal mandates, as they arise in the course of their work. Katherine A. Garson, our Counseling and Drafting Division head, will work with our legal clerical staff to maintain a database of these mandates. If you or your fellow Council members have specific mandates you wish to have our office evaluate, please let Ms. Garson know. As you know, state law requires mandates by the State be funded, and our office has in the past been involved in litigation concerning what the County believed to be unfunded Ref. To: _ r.:f. ~~t~ ~ 2 Honorable Gary Safarik Honorable Virginia Isbell April 5, 2005 Page 2 mandates.' Conversely, federal mandates present much more problematic issues, so your observations and input would be much appreciated by our staff. Office space We thank the Council for their support in the move of the Office of Aging to the County Building, which in turn will result in needed office space for the Corporation Counsel. We will work with the Aging administration and the Department of Public Works Building Division to see what may be done to expedite this process. Scanner As indicated at our meeting, the United States District Court plans to convert to a Case Management/Electronic Case Filing (CM/ECF) system by the middle of this calendar year (2005). The Bankruptcy Court (our office handles cases involving the County with this Court) already utilizes an electronic filing system. For the Council's information, benefits associated with the CM/ECF system for the Federal Courts include: • Abetter case management system for the Federal Courts and its users • The replacement of aging national systems • Allowing for electronic filing and management of documents • 24-hour filing over the Internet • 24-hour access to court case files • Automatic e-mail notification of case activity • Access to files concurrently in the Judge's chambers, with court staff and/or with other attorneys • The ability to download and print documents directly from the court's electronic system • The reduction in mail, courier and copying fees • Secure document storage (no misplaced paper files) We have identified the following needs in order to utilize the CM/ECF system:2 • A computer with Windows software ' By way of example, our office recently favorably concluded litigation with the State over its newly enacted "policy" that pre-arraignment detainees be housed at the Hawaii County Police Department, instead of the Hawaii Community Correctional Center. z Our office will need to purchase the software and licenses only. We are already equipped with the computer hardware, word processing capability, and Internet access. Honorable Gary Safarik Honorable Virginia Isbell April 5, 2005 Page 3 • Word processing capability • Internet access • Software to convert files to PDF (Adobe Acrobat 3.0 or better) • Login and password The costs associated with utilizing a scanner in order to process our documents through a CM/ECF system include the following: • Purchase of the Adobe Acrobat program at a cost of approximately $500 each. For a staff of 25, the cost is approximately $12,500. If a single program and 25 licenses are purchased, we estimate a total cost of $3,175.3 Note that these are simply estimates, as State purchasing laws would require us to go out for bid on these items. • Purchase of a high speed scanner at a cost of $7,500 or more (depending on our needs). • There are ongoing costs associated with accessing the Federal Court system. We have been informed that we may access our documents in our cases one time free of charge. Thereafter, there is a 7 cent per page charge. As we discussed, our office is presently evaluating whether leasing a scanner or purchasing one would be most efficient for our office and the County. Representatives from our staff will be visiting Housing to learn about their scanner, and evaluate the capacity of their machinery. We appreciate the support of the Council in this matter. We will determine whether we may be able to fund the program, licenses and scanner within our existing budget. If not, we may ask the administration and Council for their support in an additional appropriation of monies to cover the cost of this vitally important and necessary tool. Smoking ban I checked with Deputy Corporation Counsel Patricia K. O'Toole concerning the non-issuance of citations for violations of the County's smoking ban. Ms. O'Toole reports she did not speak with Council Member Bob Jacobson concerning this matter. However, we have no reason to doubt that no citations have been issued to date. Further, we wholeheartedly share Mr. Jacobson's vision to have an enforceable law that provides for meaningful enforcement, which in turn benefits our community. The present ordinance is unambiguous and clear that enforcement authority is vested with the Police and Prosecuting Attorney. Soon after this ordinance was passed, I met with the leadership of the Police and Prosecuting ' We found one company that quoted us $20 for the program and $127 per license. Honorable Gary Safarik Honorable Virginia Isbell April 5, 2005 Page 4 Attorney to advise them of this new responsibility. I do not believe the Corporation Counsel had previously committed to participating in the enforcement effort, as this responsibility was not conferred upon it by law. In checking with Deputy Corporation Counsel Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd, I was informed she had offered to assist the Council in reviewing possible amendments to the ordinance, and having complaints routed to our office, so they may be relayed to the Police. I apologize for any misunderstanding on Mr. Jacobson's part that our office had assumed responsibility for enforcement. I will follow up with both Police Chief Lawrence Mahuna and Prosecuting Attorney Jay Kimura, and ask they work with Ms. Leithead-Todd to see if there are any suggested changes to the law that may provide for meaningful enforcement. We again thank the Council for their continued interest in and support of our office. Please contact me if you have any further questions, comments, or concerns. Very truly yours, LINCOLN S. T. ASHIDA Corporation Counsel c: Honorable Harry Kim, Mayor Corporation Counsel Staff S: Departments/Corp Counsel/LSA Misc. Corresp./Letter to Council re budget 330-05/LSAmr