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S~I~ACY K. RIGA Phone: (AOR) 961-8396
t'~,~~;~„~<,n R l'resulnix Ulfi~~'~~ ~ Nax: (R08) 961-8912
7Hnn~i~~r J _ _ Email: shiga(n~co.hawaii.hi.us
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HAWAI COUNTY COUNCIL
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To: Virginia Isbell, Chair
Committee on Finance
From: Stacy K. Higa, Chair
County Council v-'~
Date: May 2, 2005
Subject: Proposed changes to Council Operations and Council Rules
Changes
1. Council Staff
• (a) discloses that all employees are "at will" and co-terminus with the
appointing council member unless personnel actions to the contrary is
initiated.
• (b) will remove designations as all employees will be equal.
• (c) will increase the staff of the chair by two: one Deputy Executive Assistant
to the Chair-East/West Hawaii, and one Council Aide to the Chair. It also
reduces salaries of certain chair positions.
• (e), (g) and (h) deletes Salary and Wage accounts and fairness to existing
employees, whose salary exceeds salary cap.
• (f)(iv), (v) and (vi) discloses that Council Members may have their staffs
assist other districts and the Clerk's Office.
2. District Allowance Expense account
• (b)(iv) discloses that NACo and HSAC are allowable expenditures.
• (b)(vii) increases the monthly cell phone reimbursement to $75.00 per
month.
• (b)(viii) clarifies that joint expenditures are allowed and shall be expended by
the appropriate districts.
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• (e) clarifies that only NACo and HSAC Executive Committee representatives
shall be expended by the Clerk-Council Services OCE.
• (f) clarifies that expense related to committee meetings, council meetings
and public hearings shall be expended by the Clerk-Council Services OCE.
Similarly, committee support staff expenses shall be drawn from the general
account.
3. Rule 22, Legislative Auditor reFlects the Ramseyer version of the Rule.
{This Office is supervised by the Legislative Auditor who is supported by an
administrative assistant to the legislative auditor, and three audit analysts.} The
Legislative Auditor's Office would focus on audits and performance reviews and
would be responsible for overseeing the independent audit contract.
4. New Rule Legislative Research Branch.
{This Branch is supervised by the Deputy County Clerk who is supported by
three research specialists, the legal specialist and an administrative assistant to
the Deputy County Clerk.} Its primary purpose will be to assist the Council in its
legislative power. The supportive function includes objective research and policy
analysis, and legal services.
5. Under the proposed table of organization, the Deputy would be responsible for
the supervision of day-to-day operations of the Legislative Research Branch, the
Clerk and Committee Services Sections, the Reprographics Division and the
Elections Division. The Legislative Auditor would supervise the Legislative
Auditor's Office. Council Members would supervise their respective district staff.
The County Clerk would be responsible for the overall operations of the Council-
Clerk Office.
Plan of action:
• Staff-Prepare amendments to the operating budget by May 9, 2005.
• Staff-Prepare amendment to the Council Rules Resolution and Salary Ordinance by
May [33] 9, 2005
• Council-Approve first reading of the Operating Budget, Council Rules Resolution and
Salary Ordinance by May 18, 2005
• Council-Approve amended Salary Ordinance, Council Rules Resolution and approve
second reading of the Operating Budget by June 1, 2005.
• Clerk-Prepare administrative manual, including implementing procedures.
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Schedule C
Proposed Changes to the Council Rules, Draft 2
May 5, 2005
NEW RULE NO.
COUNCIL MEMBERS, STAFF AND ALLOWANCES
1. Each Council Member shall have direct responsibility over the respective district
staff.
(a) It shall be the duty of the Council Member to supervise his/her district
staff, including hiring, termination, promotion, and salary increase in
accordance with the applicable provisions of the state and county laws,
Council Rules, other personnel policies of the Council and the County, and
the limitations of the legislative budget ordinance. District staff are "at
will" employees whose employment shall be co-terminus with the
apoointina Council Member unless personnel action to the contrary is
initiated. The County Clerk may also initiate termination with the
concurrence of the Chair to assure proper management of the entire
Council Office using agreed upon guidelines and procedures. The Chair
of the Council shall continue to sign all documents necessary to
implement the decisions of the individual council members.
(b) Each Council Member is [^^~~flzze~~] assigned two full time staff:
(i) Council Aide [II~{E,4-1Hj]. {$25,200} {Note: Salaries in will
not be shown in rules, but will be in the Salary Ordinance of
2005}
(ii) Council Legislative Assistant [{kR-~)]. ($41,088}
(iii) [
(c) The chair is assi ned four 4 [tae-(23] additional full time
staff:
(i) Executive Assistant to the Chair (EA). {$39,120}
(ii) Deputy Executive Assistant to the Chair-East/West Hawaii (EAR
35 472
(iii) Special Assistant. {$44,000}
(iv) Council Aide to the Chair, in addition to subsection 1(b).
28 500
(d) Only one person per position shall be permitted.
(e)
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Staff responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:
(i) Office [~e~] tasks
(ii) [Respensible-fsr-aN] All work related to the individual council
members, including drafting bills, resolutions, and proposed
amendments, and conducting research on topics and issues
required by the Council Member [
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[T~~„~] Performing special assignments responding to
letters complaints and telephone inquiries gathering data or
appropriate information in order that the Council Member may
respond to requests from constituents preparing messages
articles and news releases facilitating meetings with the
community;
(iv) Providing committee support if the council member is the chair of
a committee Committee support means attending the committee
meeting writing the committee report for the chair's approval
drafting legislative amendments and conducting necessary
research to assist the committee in its deliberations. Committee
Chairs and Vice Chairs shall be responsible for the duties of the
committee;
(v) Assisting other Council Members if approved by the appointing
Council Member:
(vi) Assisting other divisions of the office if approved by the appointing
Council Member with the concurrence of the Countv Clerk
aeeeer~t.
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2. Each Council Member shall have direct responsibility over the District Allowance
Expense (DAE) account.
(a) Each Council Member shall be appropriated $7,500 in a DAE to cover
incidental expenses in carrying out his/her duties as an elected official.
Incidental duties and activities include expenditures incurred in
connection with carrying out the public's expectation of a Council
Member's role and responsibility to the community and constituents. In
an election year (July-December), the Council Member shall be allotted
50% of the appropriation. The remaining 50% (January -June) shall be
allotted in January.
(b) Allowable DAE include, but are not limited to:
(i) Community meeting expenses such as facility rental fees, charges
for maintenance or security services, light refreshments, special
mailings or handouts, leis for speakers, and the rental of special
equipment.
(ii) Leis for recipients of honorary certificates and frames for honorary
certificates.
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(iii) The purchase of research or reference materials, publication
subscriptions, or other materials related to legislative issues or
procedures.
(iv) NACo, WIR, HSAC. conference or seminar registration fees,
including travel and accommodation costs associated with the
conference or seminar attended. All travel expenses shall have
the concurrence of the Chair.
(v) [T~ "nor`] Miscellaneous office supplies, equipment or
materials. All purchases must follow the procurement law and be
domiciled in the Council Members'
office. Equipment and supplies are the property of the County
(vi) [ ~ ]
The expenses of his/her staff.
(vii) Monthly cell phone reimbursement not to exceed $75 00 per
month.
(viii) Joint district expenditures for allowable expenditures are
permitted.
(c) Each Council Member [is] shall be personally responsible [fef-t+~e
~aytnerfE-efJ to oav any expenses incurred in support of the conduct of
official duties and activities that exceed the [previded] 7 500 allowance
and those expenses that are deemed [t~aNeevable] prohibited.
(d) [NeR-aNewa}31e] Prohibited expenses include, but are not limited to:
(i) Personal, political or campaign related expenses, [fleF-fer] and
those spent outside of the scope of a council member's [e~eRSes
^~°~,a„] official duties and activities
[ .Please review the ethics code and the
campaign spending laws.
(ii) Donations to community organizations or transfers to County
agencies.
(iii) Transfers between the DAE and Contingency Relief accounts are
prohibited.
(iv) Transfers from a district account to other district accounts are
prohibited.
(e) The expenses of the HSAC executive committee member or the official
NACo or WIR board member shall be drawn from the general accounts
Lf~ The expenses for the attendance of a council member at committee and
council meetings and public hearings shall be drawn from the general
accounts. Similarly, the reasonable expenses for the attendance of the
district staff to support the committee chair shall be drawn from the
general accounts with the concurrence of the County Clerk
3. Each Council Member shall have direct responsibility over the District
Contingency Relief account.
(a) Each Council Member is allotted $100,000 in annual contingency relief,
when appropriated in the General Fund, to provide for county related
projects ['cr t . a~^.~,.~].
(b) In an election year (July-December), the Council Member shall be allotted
50% of the appropriation. The remaining 50% (January -June) shall be
allotted in January.
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(c) Expenditures shall be transferred to County agencies using the
appropriate legislative mechanisms to for the benefit of the agencies to
provide for the public.
(d) All purchases of equipment must follow the procurement law and be
domiciled in the County Departments.
Equipment supplies and products are the property of the County
(e) Transfers between the DAE and Contingency Relief accounts are
prohibited.
(f) Transfers from a district account to other district accounts are prohibited.
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I
RULE N0. 22
LEGISLATIVE AUDITOR
1. The Legislative Auditor shall be appointed by the County Clerk with the
approval of the Council. Such position shall be exempt from civil service
laws and classification.
2. The Legislative Auditor shall, at the discretion of the Council:
(a)
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(a) Be responsible for the procurement of an Independent Certified
Public Accountant for the financial transactions of the County
(b) Assist the Council in the adoption of the annual budget
(c) Be responsible for all projects assigned or requested by the
Council by resolution.
(d) Conduct performance and financial audits of the funds ~roarams
and operations of any agency or operation of the County when
requested by resolution. All audits shall be conducted in
accordance with governmental auditing standards.
3. Personnel assigned to the Legislative Auditor shall report to the
Legislative Auditor and shall comply with internal guidelines established
by the Legislative Auditor.
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Initially the LRB will consist of the Deputy County Clerk acting as the director,
Administrative Assistant to the OCS, 3-Analysts.
NEW -RULE N0.
LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH BRANCH
The Legislative Research Branch NLRB) is established to assist the Council in
exercising its legislative power. The purpose of the LRB shall be•
1. To conduct research and analysis, including legal research. as may be
necessary for the enactment or consideration of legislation;
2. To serve in an advisory or a consultative capacity to the Council and its
Committees on all matters within its competencies and responsibilities:
3. To assist with the revision, codification and publication of ordinances to
the Hawaii County Code.
4. To assist in the preparation of the annual report for the Council.
5. To review legislation initiated by an individual Council Member as to its
proper form.
6. To coordinate orientation sessions for the Council Members and staff.
The Deputy County Clerk shall act as the director.
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