HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0959.029 2004-2006
CONSTANCE R. KIRIU tv or N WILLIAM E. SMITH
Deputy County Clerk
County Clerk
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County of Hawai `i
Office of the County Clerk
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
Telephone: (808) 961-8255 Facsimile: (808) 961-8912
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August 1, 2006
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TO: Council Members R
FROM: Constance R. Kirika)
County Clerk =
RE: Resolution No. 402-06
Council Rules of Procedure relating to West and East Hawaii Meetings
The purpose of this memorandum is to inform you of the resources required to
implement holding an equivalent number of Committee and Council meetings in West
Hawaii and East Hawaii. Funding for these resources have not been placed in the
budget and are in addition to those already discussed.
These resource recommendations are made after discussion with our employees, two
meetings with the union, and after a serious assessment of the current work, our
employees' needs and requirements.
PERSONNEL RESOURCES ($60.000)
1 full-time clerical position whose responsibilities would focus on transcribing
minutes. (Clerk III, SR10 = $30,000 per year)
• 1 full-time clerical position whose responsibilities would be on transcribing back-
logged minutes and assist with indexing documents in the CORES system. (Clerk
III, SR10 = $30,000 per year)
There will be a significant decrease in the amount of time staff will have to perform
their major responsibilities of transcribing minutes, preparing agendas, preparing
digests for publications, preparing ordinances for publications, posting notices, and
mailing agendas to citizens, departments/agencies, and council members. The
inability to complete tasks means that deadlines will not be met and the records
management system will be incomplete and ineffective.
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Hawai `i County Is An Equal Opportunity Provider And Employer
August 1, 2006
Page 2
As you may be aware, the Council Section is currently not able to meet its statutory
mandate of having Council minutes available within 30 days from the meeting. The
reason for the delay is due to the increasing legal, statutory and deadline
requirements of the law and publications coupled with more defined responsibilities
of registering lobbyists, accepting lobbyists' expenditure reports, supporting the
committee on the destruction of records, supporting the pension board, monitoring
the submittal of financial disclosures, and processing claims. The Council is also
required to conduct public hearings on the budget and real property tax rates.
While the Committee Section is essentially up to date with their meeting minutes,
the change in meeting location will impact their operations as well.
It takes a minimum of three hours to transcribe one hour of discussion. Editing and
proofreading are not included in this ratio. You should know that a taped meeting is
reviewed at least two times in order to finalize the minutes. After transcription, the
supervisor conducts a final edit and review of the minutes.
Of utmost importance is the safety and health of our employees and their families.
Our employees work at night and on the weekends. They take work home and to
meetings. We must be careful that they do not `burn out' or transfer out of the
Council Office. It goes without saying that their families also feel the effects of their
overtime.
We have also tried to make information more accessible to the public through the
County's website and videoconferencing. Additionally, streaming video and the
intranet are technologies used to keep the departments in communication with the
council. These information technologies all take staff hours to maintain. It is also
recommended that an information technologist position in the legislative branch be
created to support our technological objectives and other computer issues, including
the elections platform. This request should be made when fund balance is
considered.
For the above reasons, the creation of two clerical positions and funding will be
requested to assist the Council and Committees implement the proposed change in
Council rules.
We will have to start now to create the positions, interview, hire and train.
EQUIPMENT RESOURCES ($44,100)
1 vehicle to transport staff and/or equipment to/from meetings ($32,000)
August 1, 2006
Page 3
• 3 laptops for traveling staff members to allow each to work while they are away
from the office and to research the Clerk's Office Records System (CORES)
($5,100)
• 2 computer workstations for 2 Clerk III ($3,000)
• 2 transcribers for Clerk III ($2,000)
2 desks, workspace, telephones, etc., for Clerk III ($2,000)
The Council currently has one vehicle. When traveling to a two-day
Committee/Council meeting in West Hawaii, the Committee Section will drive the
Council van with equipment to set up. The Council Section will follow the next day
with another department's vehicle. The vehicles will be swapped and the Committee
Section will bring the borrowed vehicle home. Finding a loaner from another
department can be difficult. Having two vehicles will enable reliable and safer
coordination of transportation, especially with the anticipated frequency of use.
VIDEOTAPING ($4,800)
$150 per diem (total $3,600 additional)
• 50 cents/mile (total $1,200 additional)
VIDEOCONFERENCING
• Costs not confirmed at this time.
We appreciate your consideration of the real concerns of our employees and the impact
of the proposed rule change on their ability to continue their high quality of work.
xc: Ralph Boyea, HGEA