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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0177.179 1998-2000 COUNTY OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS 25 AUPUNI STREET, ROOM 202 RCL~I~J~~J HILO HI 96720-4245 TELEPHONE: (808) 961-8321 FAx (e~@~ ~~6s~o A~ 9 29 co~~°~rr ~ ~_E~;.< ~oul~ rti~ or ~ w~w,atl MEMORANDUM DATE: June 7, 1999 TO: Mr. James Y. Arakaki Council Chairman FROM: Jiro Sumad Deputy Chie i er RE: Bill 45, Comm. 177.153 - 177.155 In response to Communications 177.153, 177.154 and 177.155, we submit the attached memos from the affected Divisions, outlining their concerns and the impact of proposed budget changes. Comm. Na / / ~ 7 File No. a U ~ Ref. To: P~6seafsd C Ref, llate ~8 ~ COUNTY OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE DIVISION 630 E LANIKAULA ST HILO, HAWAII 96720 PH: (808)961-8349 FAX: (808)961-8633 MEMORANDUM DATE: June 7, 1999 T0: Jiro Sumada Deputy Chief Engine r FROM: Stanley Nakasone Highway Maintenance Superintendent SUBJECT: Budget -Equipment and Positions Our Highways Division has prepared ourselves since 1994 in anticipation of the poor economical condition our County of Hawaii was faced with. I have gone to each Baseyard throughout the island asking our employees to do a little more. Our plan was not to fill the 30 plus vacant positions in our Division. We were to plan more wisely, assist each other, share equipment, organize the best we can with the intent that no one will be laid off due to insufficient funds. We also antidpated the many fires, storms, flooding, etc. that this island frequently experienced. In 1995 we took on an additional workload of resurfacing our roadways. This was a great task and I think we have met the challenge in a positive way. We have done more than what is expected of us with no increase in staff for the past 30 plus years and each year we have additional roads added to our workload by the development of new sub-divisions. Weibok pride in trying to survive these tough times and maintain our present service to the public. We have filled the vacancies in a timely manner and now have 12 vacancies. We have every need of our positions and have looked at relocating positions to fit the need of our Division. We have every intend to fill these positions when the economical situation improves. Jiro Sumada Page 2 June 7, 1999 Several years ago, our Highways Division reduced our equipment inventory by 37%, an estimate of 45 pieces of equipment. We have established an equipment replacement list to be more efficient in our work. We replace equipment because there is a need to. The funds that are available to purchase this equipment is by our efforts in each District. We have sacrificed and done our work to keep our division operating the best way we can. Now to learn that our efforts to care for our division may be taken away is very discouraging. If funds for our positional and equipment will be taken away, then the resurfacing project should be given back to the Engineering Division. We will not be able to up keep our regular maintenance. We will have to re-plan with the 13 positions not available, and vehicles not being replaced. Positions Distri Equipment Operator I Kona X Equipment Operator I Hilo X Equipment Operator III Hilo X Equipment Operator III Hilo 0 Equipment Operator III Hilo 0 Lead Mason Hilo X Equipment Operator I Puna X Equipment Operator II Puna X Equipment Operator II N/S Kohala 0 Senior Account Clerk N/S Kohala 0 Equipment Operator II Hamakua X Driver Trainer Admin X Civil Engineer Admin 0 Eauipment 6 Pass Puna 'h T Pick up Hilo 6 Pass Puna 3/a T Hilo 6 Pass N/S Kohala Utility Vehicle Admin ~/z T Pick Up N/S Kohala Jiro Sumada Page 3 June 7, 1999 Our efforts will be maintenance only and very light construction. All the paper work has been done to have eight of the positions filled. The other five positions will be studied to see what our needs are. SN/aa Attachment (Impact to our Division) cc: File All Overseers IMPACT TO OUR DNISION 1. The Safety and Driver Improvement Coordinator position is very vital to our operations. This position ensures that the Public Works Department complies with the OSHA regulations and procedures. It also ensures: A. Proper training is provided in compliance with OSHA Standards. B. Proper training to our Equipment Operators and Laborers We have made a commitment to OSHA to fill this position. Failure to do so will result in our Division being fined $70,000.00. This was part of our negotiations with OSHA. Failure to fill this position may result in non-compliance to OSHA requirements and the possibility of fines. Training of our employees will be neglected and safety on the job will be of great concern to our employees and the Public. 2. Equipment Operators I, II, III Currently these positions are used daily on Temporary Assignments to accomplish our workloads. We use the funds from these positions for payments to employees for Temporary Assignments and overtime. Overtime is necessary for our resurfacing program as we assist each other in various Districts. Overtime payment is used also for the many emergencies on our Highways and islands. Such as oil spills, flooding, fallen trees and rocks, high seas, etc. Failure to fill these positions would definitely require our division to alter our programs and how we do our maintenance work. We would concentrate on our regular maintenance such as, grass cutting, shoulder work, patching, weed control, cutting overhangs, guardrails, ditches, drywells, culverts, complaints, etc. Our resurfacing program will have to be looked at very carefully and see if we would do this program. It is, without a doubt, impossible to maintain our present resurfacing schedule. I would request that all major resurfacing programs be returned back to the Engineering Division to have this work contracted out. Our Highways Division will do sectional type of resurfacing only. Any questions please call me. SN/aa cc: All Overseers File " WASTEWATER. DI~~ISION ~ _ D¢partment Of Pni7(iC 1'l~o rjiS Mailing Address: 25 Aupuni Street, Rm. 202 x=~_'= 108 Railroad Avenue -Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Hilo, Hawaii 96720-4252 - (808) 961-8338 -Fax (808) 961-8644 F+ June 7, 1999 Memorandum: To: Jiro Sumada, Deputy Chief Engineer From: Peter Boucher, Division Chief Subject: BILL N0.45, DRAFT 2 I have reviewed the letter dated 5/27/99 from Dominic Yagong to Chairman James Arakaki which proposes amendments to the referenced Bill. The Wastewater Division has serious concerns regarding the proposal which would defund vacant positions and place a portion of our user fees into a contingency fund. The fund, according to Mr. Yagong, would be used for private sewer connections. From a legal perspective, the County has certified in each of it's State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan applications that it will "operate and maintain the publicly owned treatment works in accordance with the minimum standards as required by the cognizant Federal, State and local agencies...". The County has further agreed on numerous occasions to the standard clause in the final SRF loan agreements which reads, `The County guarantees that revenues from the User Charge System will be set aside for operation and maintenance (including replacement) and not used for other purposes." Placement of the user fees into a contingency fund as suggested by Councilman Yagong would be in clear violation of these agreements. Notwithstanding the above, the funding and filling of the vacant positions is critical to the successful operation of our facilities. As you may be aware, we have recently received our annual operation and maintenance inspection report for the Hilo Wastewater Facility. For the first time, the report gave our facility an "unacceptable" rating and cited us for lack of maintenance on various equipment. We do not deny the claims. The report stated "Staff vacancies have impacted preventive and corrective maintenance work...", and that the "sewer user charge appears inadequate to cover annual operation and maintenance costs of the facility". The report also questions zero disbursement for equipment replacement in the FY97/98 budget. The basic reasons for the above are the failure of the County to fill the vacant positions and the postponing of necessary equipment replacement in order to conserve funds for basic operations. Our only hope for reversing the decline of our facilities is to fill the existing vacant positions as soon as possible and consider raising the sewer rates to fund additional positions. Councilman Yagong's plan to transfer funding from equipment to the contingency fund would also violate the SRF loan agreements and impact our ability to adequately maintain our facilities. The large dump truck in particular was planned for purchase in order to eliminate several sludge hauling trips to the landfill per day in order to better utilize or limited manpower. The DOH summarizes their report by stating "Continual breakdowns in plant equipment must be addressed by the County before the facility experiences serious effluent violations." We agree. These violations could lead to fines and judicial action which would far exceed any short-term savings currently being considered. I recommend that DPW strongly oppose the proposed amendments. ENGINEERING BUBGET REDUCTION 1\~AY 27. 1 SSA YAGONG PROPOSAL OVERTIME: Should a shortage occur in this account we will take the following actions in the following order: 1. We will no longer service the Planning Commission, Water Commission or any other federal, state or county agency, commission or committee, including the County Counci l beyond normal working hours or days. We will provide services if overtime costs as borne by the requesting agency, commission or committee. 2. We will no longer attend community meetings scheduled beyond normal working hours or days. 3. We will not schedule any public meetings or hearings beyond normal working hours or days. 4. Overtime will be used for emergency purposes only. TELEPHONE: It is our understanding that our fax modem lines will no longer be paid by this Division as they were converted to the Centranet system. Should this occur we have no objections to this reduction. Ifnot, we will terminate our cell phone services as necessary. Although the cell phones aze under Design & Investigation, for practical reasons our inspectors are using the phones. However, if needed the phones maybe reassigned to engineers during emergencies, etc. MISC. MATERIALS AND SUPPLIES: Should a shortage occur in this account we will take the following actions in the following order: 1. We will not provide survey services to agencies outside the Department unless survey supplies are provided by the requesting agencies. 2. We will not provide design drafting or copying services to agencies outside the Department unless drafting supplies are provided by the requesting agencies. EQUIPMENT REPA7It/MAINTENANCE: We object to the budget reduction. The budget in this account was increased to allow for scheduled maintenance of our survey crew's electronic surveying equipment. We had failed to account for this in previous budgets and have fallen behind schedule. With electronic surveying equipment we have reduced the size of our survey crew by one man and yet increased production. We need funds to properly maintain our surveying equipment to insure accuracy, efficiency and production. Page 1 of 2 VACA.~'C'IE,S: The Senior Construction Inspector and the Assistant Construction Inspector vacancies are in our West Hawaii office. We presently have a Civil Engineer V, a Drafting Technician II, a Construction Inspector and an Assistant Construction Inspector in our Vl'est Hawaii office. The inspectors in West Hawaii provide inspectional services from North Kohala to portions of Kau. Their work includes inspectional services for work within County Roads, grading/grubbing/stockpiltng work, Department of Public Works and Parks and Recreation projects. Should we fail to fill the vacancies we must limit inspectional work for Departmental CIP projects and will not provide any services for Parks and Recreation. We must also limit our Federal Aid work to having only one project under construction at a time. Though we may contract inspection construction management services, it will increases demands on the Civil Engineer. Further, as there will be no supervisor for the inspectors, the Civil Engineer must fill this role. These additional duties will limit the Civil Engineer's ability to remain in the office to service the public and to act as the division representative in Kona. With such a limited amount of employees in West Hawaii, we probably cannot address labor shortages due to sick leave, vacation, training and other absences. Having one inspector to service all of West Hawaii is obviously unreasonable. We would have no choice but to supplement West personnel with East Hawaii personnel. During these periods, besides financial impacts associated with travel costs, we must also reduce inspectiona] services in East Hawaii. Page 2 of 2 COUNTY OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS Office of the Chief Engineer 25 Aupuni Street ~ Room 202 ~ Hilo, Hawau 96720 Phone (808) 961-8321 ? Fax (808) 961-8630 ~~~~~e~r~`~~~ DATE: June 4, 1999 TO: Jiro Sumada & Nancy Crawford FROM: Pam Mizuno RE: COMMENTS TO MR YAGONG'S PROPOSED BUDGET CUTS Although the proposed budget cuts for the Chief Engineers Office appear to be minimal, we may be impacted by the cuts in the supply room budget. A 10% cut in our budget seems reasonable based on our history of actual costs for materials and supplies. But because the proposal identifies a 10% cut in the $215,000 storeroom budget, the storeroom itself may not be able to stock a sufficient amount of goods for the entire fiscal yeaz. If storeroom runs out of funding for their purchases next yeaz, we would be responsible for our own material and supply purchases. At that point, we would need every available dollaz to purchase necessities such as copy paper, pens, folders, etc. All the items which we normally count on storeroom to supply, and therefore do not budget for purchase. I think this proves that the effect and relationship that the various Department budgets have on one another needs to be scrutinized more closely. The effect of azbitrary cuts is not only irresponsible, but also dangerous. COUNTY OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS 25 AUPUNI STREET, ROOM 202 HILO HI 96720-4245 TELEPHONE: (808) 961-8321 FAX (808) 961-8630 MEMORANDUM DATE: June 7, 1998 TO: Nancy Crawford Business Manager FROM: Walter Lucas NJ~' Automotive Equipment Superintendent RE: Budget Item 177 - 010-181-5181.52-102 OCE Automotive Division -Public Works Telephone We have upgraded three of our automated fueling system lines at $473 per line. We have been paying for our South Kohala system since July 1998. Our Kau system went on line and our first billing was dated December 1998. Our North Kohala system (a FY '98-'99 building project) has just gone on line and we will be receiving our first billing shortly. We need the full $4880.00 for bill paying of all the Automotive Division's facilities. Item 178 - 010-181-5181.61-449 Public Works -Motor Vehicle A. 4x4 Truck - CH1050 Delete from budget - We will not replace this vehicle at this time. B. 2x4 Truck - CH 1726 Delete from budget - We will defer from replacing this truck for another two years. Item 179 - 010-181-5181.61-480 Automotive Division Eqpt Public Works Misc. Equipment Diagnostic Digital Oscilloscope Currently the equipment that we are using to repair the vehicles and equipment are old and obsolete. With all of the electronics built within the vehicles' systems, it is almost impossible to repair the vehicles without the use of this updated diagnostic tester. We need to purchase this equipment to keep up with the rapid changes of technology in the automotive field. Without proper equipment our mechanics will not be able to repair equipment. Position No: 1152 -Automotive Mechanic II This position was just vacated in December 1998. We haven't had time to replace the employee.