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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN PWPRC 2017/06/06 2016-2018Committee on Public Works and Parks and Recreation 4th Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii June 6, 2017 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Public Works and Parks and ORDER: Recreation was called to order at 2:16 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Jennifer Ruggles, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Jennifer Ruggles, Chair Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Karen Eoff, Member Mr. Dru Mamo Kanuha, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Ms. Eileen O'Hara, Member Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: (There were none.) CHR. RUGGLES: At this time, we'll close testimony and move to Communication 311. COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 311: REQUESTS DISCUSSION RELATING TO PROTOCOL ESTABLISHED FOR POSITIVE WORKING RELATIONS BETWEEN MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL AND THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS From Council Chairwoman Valerie T. Poindexter, dated May 23, 2017. Motion to Close File: Ms. Poindexter moved to close file on Comm. 311. Seconded by Ms. Eof£ PWPRC-4 June 6, 2017 CHR. RUGGLES: Council Member Poindexter. MS. POINDEXTER: Yes, can I get Mr. DeMarco up here? Like, you stuck to the chair? Thank you. (Note: At this time, Public Works Director Frank DeMarco came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. POINDEXTER: Okay, this came about, and I asked for protocols because in the process—because I know I was having a difficult time. I've done a meeting—called a meeting with one of the engineers and I waited for two weeks to get it, and then the day before, when my staff is calling to confirm the meeting, I am told, "Well, sorry, you have to go and do a request to Mr. DeMarco," and then I heard other Council Members were having the same issue. So, you sent out a memo to all of us. I'd just like you to summarize on what happened and why. I guess we can start talking about some of the challenges that we're having because of this new rule that you've made. So, you have the floor. MR. DEMARCO: Frank DeMarco, Director of Department of Public Works. Yeah, so a little history on this. This is not precedent setting. This has happened in prior administrations. What triggered this for me was I had Council Members phoning staff and effectively intimidating them, "I'm going to phone you everyday unless I get what I want." I mean, really, do we need to have that kind of relationship? I didn't think so. So I actually brought this forward to the Mayor's attention, and it was kind of a reminder that this has a kind of historic precedent. My intent here is not to shut down communication between Council and staff Obviously, you can communicate with staff on general questions anytime to get clarification; but when it comes to work requests, please direct those to me or to Allan. In fact, I think I talked with each of you about, perhaps every bi-weekly that we either face-to-face or over phone, have a conversation. And at that time, we can talk about your needs and your priorities. In fact, I welcome that. I apologize for not doing this earlier. Just six months into this I have to admit that I've been kind of busy, bad excuse but kind of reality of where I'm at. So if I offended any of you, I apologize. It was not my intent. I'm trying to improve our communications and meet your needs. But doing it through staff and the way that I've seen, I mean, that is not the way to do it. Please, if you have work information, by all means, talk with them. Work request, let's work together on this, because we have all kinds of priorities and I want to make sure your request fits in those priorities, and hearing what you have to say will result in Page 2 PWPRC-4 June 6, 2017 adjusting our priorities, as well. I don't know if that makes sense to you or acceptable to you. I hope so. MS. POINDEXTER: Okay, so you said that—for clarification we can call your staff So I want to give you an example of what—recently I got a call from a constituent that was concerned about the park that is right where the singing bridge is. As you come, they call it the "singing bridge," as you come—the metal bridge, is when you come into Hilo, and concerned about no crosswalk there, and people running across the road, and traffic. If this was—about a month ago, I called Ron Thiel and say, "Hey, I got this," or email him, "I got this complaint, are we planning a crosswalk in that area, what are the plans for the safety for pedestrians," or whatever. But in this case, now I would have to go to you first and then go to Ron, so it puts one more layer of work and then filtering to Ron. Is that how it works? I mean MR. DEMARCO: That might be a good example. I mean to reach out to Ron and generally ask, "What is the status, are you planning on doing anything in terms of crosswalks at that location," I'm comfortable with that. But at the point where it becomes a work request, I'm not comfortable with that. Please bring that tome. Does that make? MS. POINDEXTER: But then it would probably goI mean if he would determine whether it's a safety hazard or a priority that should be put on to (inaudible) or from that point, when the conversation gets to that point, then he needs to transfer it to you? MR. DEMARCO: Yes. I mean the idea is there are lots of complaints and lots of request coming in to this department as you can imagine, the hundreds of miles of roads that we have. Anyway, the idea is to set priority. To engage Ron or any of our staff to kind of redirect them to a different priority is problematic. MS. POINDEXTER: But he—okay, how it worked before, which was pretty smooth. Because he is the chief of that division, right, he prioritizes, or do you do all the prioritizing for him, that's why I have to go to you. But I thought—before it worked smoothly because we would give him what the complaints were, what we thought was our safety priorities, and he would determine himself when it should be moved up on the list or whatever. Going out there, checking it out to see the danger. Even if I had contingency funds, "Can you go with me on a road tour; let's look at this area that is very dangerous, where it needs to be paved; can I put some contingency funds into that?" So with that kind of stuff now we don't go to him, we come to you, right? MR. DEMARCO: Yes. Now, you can ask him the question. Yes, he's the division chief but I'm the director, so the idea is I direct that work. So the idea is he would come to me. Page 3 PWPRC-4 June 6, 2017 MS. POINDEXTER: So, okay MR. DEMARCO: We meet regularly, and we review our priorities. MS. POINDEXTER: So all my—so if I need to take somebody on the road trip I wouldn't take him, I would take you. MR. DEMARCO: You might go with him, but bring it to me first; we could talk about it. MS. POINDEXTER: And then you will determine if he can handle that? MR. DEMARCO: Yes, based on the priority, because he might have other priorities he needs to work on that is not necessarily that. MS. POINDEXTER: But I would think that he would know. If he has to work on something, he would tell me, "I don't have time for this, Val, maybe can we look at blah, blah, another day or another month that looking atcan I come out, have someone check it out, if that's an emergency," or whatever. I mean he was the one who kind of led the way and set the pace, because he's the chief of Traffic. So, now it's changing. I just need to know because then it puts additional steps, takes additional time, and I have to let my constituents know that it may take longer because this is a different process now. MR. DEMARCO: It may take longer. MS. POINDEXTER: Right. MR. DEMARCO: Or it may take less time. I mean depends on what your request is, your work request. MS. POINDEXTER: Okay. MR. DEMARCO: It may move it up in priority, in which case Ron and I will discuss that— MS. POINDEXTER: Right. MR. DEMARCO: within our priorities and then decide where it fits. MS. POINDEXTER: Yeah. MR. DEMARCO: Again, it may Page 4 PWPRC-4 MS. POINDEXTER: June 6, 2017 Because another one was when I was working with Bryce, and he was sending emails back and forth and we were doing the O`6kala Dairy and the grub and grading thing. And then when I sent him an email to check on the status, all of a sudden an email comes back, I'm blocked fromI need to go through you. So, it's just—it's a different process? MR. DEMARCO: Yeah. MS. POINDEXTER: If it's going to be your way to do it, of course I will have to respect that, I just to have let my constituents know that this may be a longer time to respond. I'm just concerned about emergency situations that we need to address; and if you're not here, I mean when you weren't here, I had to call Bryce and then Allan. It was a little difficult just not having to deal with the person I was dealing with, but had to wait for a superior other than himself to be there to make the decision. So, I just want to make sure that I understand your process. I let the constituents know it may take longer, in some instances you say it may be faster. But it's a different process that adds additional time and steps, for me anyway. MR. DEMARCO: I would say for the example of Bryce, we're just asking for the status. I mean that would have been appropriate in my mind. We're just adding or asking for a status request. MS. POINDEXTER: From? MR. DEMARCO: From Bryce, you were asking about. MS. POINDEXTER: Yeah, I've got to look at the emails. And then his email came back and then that's why I ended up calling you to get the information on what is going on. MR. DEMARCO: See, that sounds like an informational request as opposed to MS. POINDEXTER: Yeah. MR. DEMARCO: redirecting work, like a crosswalk. MS. POINDEXTER: Well, he may have to, I don't know, he may have to have permission from you to respond to me. I don't know what—on the status because it's an environmental type of case. I don't know what the situation was in-house. But, I just want to understand this. I'm going to yield at this time because I want to hear from the other Council Members and what their concerns may be. Thank you, though. Thank you for Page 5 PWPRC-4 June 6, 2017 MR. DEMARCO: You're welcome. I would like to make one comment, though. There's also the aspect of dealing with staff and their comfort level with dealing with Council. So if they feel more comfortable directing it to me then I'm fine with that, even if it's an informational MS. POINDEXTER: Yeah. And I've been nice, right, to your office? MR. DEMARCO: As far as I know, they love you. MS. POINDEXTER: Okay, thank you, and thank you for being here to answer the questions. Thank you. MR. DEMARCO: You're welcome. CHR. RUGGLES: Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. I guess I'll jump in the conversation, as well. I think I'm understanding what Director DeMarco was saying. Again, running crews for myself in the past, having kind of a clearing house for the redirection of work, and I think if I'm—and explain to me, Frank, if I'm missing this here, but if we need to have, and just take a sidewalk, not a sidewalk, a crosswalk in place, so we say, "Hmm, I think I need a sidewalk here," contact your office and say, "Hey, can we get Ron out to have a look at this?" He comes out, has a look at it and says, "You have to communicate directly to Ron," and then you're the one who will say, "You know what, Ron, this is a lot more important than these other four projects that you're working on. I want you to knock this to the top of the list, which can speed things up." So, that's your call and I get that part. I can appreciate what you're trying to say here, is run it through you so you can get things done and re -prioritize so we don't have chaos within the department. I think that's what I'm hearing, and I can work with that. That makes all the sense in the world to me. Except I've sat in your shoes in another situation and it's problematic. So I appreciate you bringing this before us. And again, thanks. MR. DEMARCO: You're welcome. For clarification, that would be a highway maintenance for sidewalk repair. But anyway (inaudible). MR. RICHARDS: Sorry. CHR. RUGGLES: Mr. Chung. Okay, or would you like to wait until—okay, Council Member O'Hara. Page 6 PWPRC-4 June 6, 2017 MS. O'HARA: Oh, sorry. Thank you. I haven't had that experience of not receiving information from your staff but my staff has, and so it kind of works its way down the ladder. It was a bit problematic because we were trying to work on some CIP (Capital Improvement Project)—it was a long day yesterdayCIP requests and needed some specifics on cost estimates and stuff like that. When my staff called around, she was told, "No, you can't talk to" we can't talk to you without getting your approval, and to be honest, Frank, you're hard to catch up with sometimes. You're a busy guy. So that was a little off-putting, especially when we have a window of about this big in order to get those things in a timely manner. So I'm just conveying from my staff it was not appreciated, because my Legislative Assistant has worked for the County for years and years and has a good relationship with everybody and has never had that problem before. So it kind of caught us off -guard. When I talked to the Chair, I found out that there was this reason behind it. I guess you sent that out, by email, and so it was available to us all, but it wasn't interpreted by your staff in the same way that you seem to interpret it because we talked about it. I hope that your staff had that conversation with you. So, they now understand what you mean by the memo? MR. DEMARCO: Well, let me just sit down with the division chief and go over this one more time. But it's not that you can't get ahold of me, I mean I start before six every morning and I'm there until five every evening, at least. So I'm there. So if you're not able to get ahold of me, I don't understand that. MS. O'HARA: Meetings. You're in meetings. Sorry. MR. DEMARCO: Well, actually I am. That's true. That's true, but I can be reached, yeah. Talk with Sharon, let her know. And, thank you. MS. O'HARA: Thank you. Thank you, Frank. And there is one outstanding issue with a work order that's been pending for six months. MR. DEMARCO: And which one would that be? MS. O'HARA: A sign, a sign for the Pdhoa office. MR. DEMARCO: Yeah. Let's talk off-line on that one. MS. O'HARA: Okay, thank you. CHR. RUGGLES: Mr. Chung. Page 7 PWPRC-4 June 6, 2017 MR. CHUNG: Thank you. Frank actually went with me on a site visit and then informed me about this new policy; of course I immediately called the Chair, "Hey, Val, you heard about this new policy from the department?" First of all, I want to dispel any notion that I tried to intimidate any of your guys, right? MR. DEMARCO: I didn't name any names. MR. CHUNG: Alright, okay, okay. I don't think I did anyway. MR. DEMARCO: I guess I got you thinking about it. MR. CHUNG: But I'm going to tell you how I feel about this. MR. DEMARCO: Yeah. MR. CHUNG: I don't really like this new policy or protocol. And I understand where you're coming from, from a managerial standpoint, and I listened to what Mr. Richards said. But let me take you back a bit. You've never had to sit here on the Council, obviously, and we've never had to do what you do. But ever since the Council became single -member districts, people come to us, yeah? It's not like before, when you had four-year terms and people ran island -wide. There was a different kind of policymaking responsibility that people knew the Council had. Now, all of a sudden, for better or for worse, and I actually think it's for worse but we're willing to do it, we're stepped into the—we're placed into the roll where people would call us when things happen in the district, so we've got to be able to respond in order for us to fulfill our responsibilities. That's just the nature of the beast. I have to believe everyone here is going to agree with that. It wasn't like that a long time ago, but it is like that now. It's morphed into that. So, I'm hoping that you can at least either reconsider your policy as it relates to us. Because I promise you I will not intimidate any one of your division heads, and it wasn't me, it cannot be me. I get intimidated by your division heads. It's not the other way around. Particularly with, like Traffic, very important. Highways, I don't bother the engineering guys. Really, with regard to Highways and Traffic, I have to believe, prior to that protocol, I met with Ron Thiel maybe twice, and one time it was just to get to know him. Fresh took me over there. With regard to highway maintenance, maybe twice during the last administration. Page 8 PWPRC-4 June 6, 2017 Back in the day—and it's funny, you said this procedure or protocol was put into place in a prior administration. When you say prior, is it immediately prior or two terms removed? Like, in Harry's old term or in Billy's term or terms? MR. DEMARCO: I'll just say prior. In the past. MR. CHUNG: As far as I can tell, that wasn't in place during the past administration. Can anybody tell me that? I don't think that was the case. So if it was put into place during Harry's previous term or terms, I don't recall that either because I had a really good working relationship with Stanley Nakasone. And whenever I needed him to fix a pothole or address issues on the roads, it was done like that. He never informed me, like saying, "Hey, Aaron, I just want to let you know the protocol is that you have to go and talk to Bruce McClure" or whoever was the Public Works' director. So, it makes it very difficult for us. At the same time, people from the public are generally going to call the divisions, too. So, it's going to wreak havoc on that kind of system because your division heads are now going to have to tell them, "Hey, sorry, you're going to have to make all of your requests go to the boss." And we're trying to promote customer service here. And I think to have people to go all of these different ways doesn't achieve that, in my opinion. We've got to follow whatever you say because you're the boss, basically, I mean we can't do anything against what you're arranging. But I would ask you if you could have some sympathy or empathy towards us, as guys who are on the frontline, and maybe making accommodation. Maybe just change your protocol somewhat. I'd like to go straight to those guys. Maybe make it this way, we go straight to those people but we also let you know. But, that's only my thoughts. Hopefully you can consider that. Thank you. CHR. RUGGLES: Ms. David. MS. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Because I was wondering—that was one question in my mind—and the department—your department heads, they've always been very helpful. Whoever calls, most likely sometimes, I would call, but would you be akin to establishing like an exemption for Council Members? Because having to wait for—and I know you say you're in there every day, but sometimes we just need to get somebody to give us an answer right away. To speak to Ron Thiel's credit, I understood that if there is anything having to do with a sign at a traffic, he was the one to call. If there was a problem, he would tell me, "You know what, I have to discuss this with the director" at that time, and that worked. So I'm not sure whether having a, like a chain of command now, especially for us when we, like Mr. Chung said, some of the things that we have to deal with is like immediate. I don't think we're like the general public, that might be calling your office 24/7, or constantly call your office for one thing or another. I kind of agree with Mr. Chung, that we as a body might need an Page 9 PWPRC-4 June 6, 2017 exemption from your protocol for some just ato make things run more smoothly, when we have to deal with issues that our constituents call us. So, just food for thought. When I read the protocol, my first reaction was did we do something to generate this lengthy instructions on how to get in touch with people from your department? We don't have that situation with any other department. That's why I was wondering whether we've done something wrong. I'm paranoid now, maybe because I'm not sure, and this has just come out of the blue. So, I'm concerned because it does put us in a difficult position. I yield and I just want to hear from the rest of my colleagues. CHR. RUGGLES: Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. I think actually was me who was the irate Council Member. MR. DEMARCO: No names. No names. MS. LEE LOY: No names. I'm just going to own it and take everybody off the list. Yeah, I'm thinking about it. When I saw this, I was a little confused. It was it didn't make sense to me. I don't know if it's because I kind of followed the protocol without even realizing there was a protocol, or that most of the individuals that I do know and have to work with I copied on the email strings. So this has actually been very enlightening to me, everybody I've dealt with at your department they've been gracious and kind. I know some of the information take a long time in coming, but I think it has a lot to do with what I used to have to deal with privately. So some of those long lead items I'm able to identify really quickly and ask. Knowing that I need that within three or four weeks, I'll ask. But, I do hear the rest of my colleagues. I think there are some times, where "Go check on this sign, it broke." Even when I'm driving to work I see stuff and I, like, "Oh, I've got to call Neil or text Neil," but I do come in and follow-up with kind of an email string. Having said that, I thinkI tend to agree with Ms. David, that maybe there are some exemptions we could get because we're just trying to respond in a timely manner to our constituents. But I also know what would be helpful, as a freshman, is like all the division heads, like you, Mr. DeMarco, and then Allan, but copy Ron for Traffic or Neil for roads. I think that would go a long way for maybe some of the other freshmen around here because there are different districts. Just something. Page 10 PWPRC-4 June 6, 2017 It's been a pleasure working with you and your staff. Sharon's been very responsive with her emails, and sometimes they come in at seven o'clock at night or five in the morning. But I appreciate all of the hard work that you folks do, so thank you. CHR. RUGGLES: Mr. Richards, did you still want to talk? MR. RICHARDS: You can go first round. I'm on the second round. CHR. RUGGLES: Yeah, first round. So go ahead, Mr. Kanuha. MR. KANUHA: Mahalo, Chair. I'm glad to have this conversation. I just always trying to figure out how what's the most efficient way, like everybody is saying, to get information out to the public? Who are the ones coming into our office and calling every single day? Especially for Public Works, I'm an extremely needy Council Member when it comes to Public Works. Not only do me, I mean, don't get me wrong. Because a lot of the concerns was my constituents. We built good relationships with a lot of the division chiefs and everybody, so it was— for myself, in the past, it was extremely efficient to just, "Hey, Ron, hey, Neil," you know what, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast. I have no problem with doing your protocols of how you feel is the most efficient way for you to run your department. I'm not going to tell you how to run that. I just want to make sure that things come out—can come out in a timely manner. I have no problem giving you a call. But I just want to make sure that we can be efficient in how we do things. I agree with a lot of what everybody was saying. Well, Mr. Chung was saying that what we have is a unique—we're in a unique position. You never said those exact words. I just don't want to lose the relationships that we built, yeah? So if I don't lose those relationships, I'll be good. But I hope it doesn't turn like that because it did work really well. I'm okay with however you move forward with it. I'll work harder to call you every 10 minutes, no I'm just kidding. But no, I'm not here to blast you right now. It's just conversation. So, thanks. CHR. RUGGLES: Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, I think it is a great conversation. But I think, also, everybody wants to be sure we can get things done in a timely fashion, which is the concern. I actually see this as the best way to get things done in a timely fashion. Page 11 PWPRC-4 June 6, 2017 What I'm hearing is that, "Got a question for Ron Thiel, call Ron." "Ron, I got a broken sign." "Oh, you're going need to get Frank because PD tells to go fix that." "Ron, if I wanted to put a sign, what should I do?" You need to do this, this, this. So if we need to detail the change and efforts, it's not answer questions, it's just a redirect work order essentially is what it comes down to. From an efficiency standpoint, I mean I get it because I've managed a lot of people. If someone doesn't know what we're doing and redirecting priorities, as you said, Councilman Kanuha, you're a needy, what if I'm needy too? So then you and I are going to argue? I don't think so. We'll let him decide who gets service rendered. That's what I'm talking about. So I get what Frank is trying to say here, and he wants to be very upfront about how he wants to manage it, and I think we need to support that and embrace it because I think it'll actually be faster rather than slower. Now there's going to be stuff that, on a priority basis, and that happens. That's just prioritizing. I like this conversation; I like the way it's going. Is it a little bit different? Perhaps, I don't know, I'm a freshman, but it doesn't matter. The point is to be efficient and we take care of our people; and if we're taking care of them better because of a new system—and no one likes change, but it doesn't matter, we're going to do it anyway. And if doesn't work, in a month or two months, we have this conversation again and see if we need to massage it and change it. We can't change something we haven't started yet. We work on it if we need to; if not, we let it work. So, I think conversation is great. Thanks. CHR. RUGGLES: Council Member O'Hara. MS. O'HARA: Thank you, Chair. I know you were discussing the Mayor's directive to you as kind of an incentive to put this memo out. MR. DEMARCO: Before you begin, I originated this. MS. O'HARA: Well, it says "the Mayor directed me to issue clarifying MR. DEMARCO: I brought it to his attention. He directed me to follow through. MS. O'HARA: Here's the director. MR. DEMARCO: I just want to make sure that— MS. O'HARA: Oh, okay. Yeah, no. MR. DEMARCO: If you have any discontent here, you direct it to me. I originated this. Page 12 PWPRC-4 June 6, 2017 MS. O'HARA: Okay, you initiated it and the Mayor directed you. Well, I can share this. MR. DEMARCO: Follow-up. MS. O'HARA: In my very first minutes of my meet and greet with Harry, and it's not that I hadn't met Harry before but as a Councilperson in December, he spent quite a few moments, probably 45 minutes, instructing me on not to contact the workers in the County. If I had any questions about any operational issues, they needed to be directed either to him or to the heads of the department. Now, this is in people are asking. This is kind of a paramilitary approach. I mean this is about what the police would follow. That's a paramilitary organization. That's what he told me at the meeting, and I listened, kept my mouth shut, and listened. When there was finally an opportunity to go over the list of operational issues that I have for my district that I wanted to bring up with him, I brought up the first one and I was told not to bring operational issues because that was kuleana and he would take care of it. So it was a little distressing, okay? So I have a problem then, who can I not talk to because he is our CEO, Operating Officer, so I was a little confused by that. But I did make an attempt to meet and develop rapport with all the heads. Those that I didn't know, I reached out and went and had meetings with. And some of them I already know, I still met with them. So, I tried to establish that relationship. I will take as much responsibility as Sue for causing this because we had some really special needs in my office. You might remember, initially when it was robbed, and we needed it to be re -keyed immediately and we needed other things to secure it for public, health, and safety. It wasn't forthcoming in a reasonable manner, so I did make—it was a joke because we have, at this point, developed a very friendly back and forth relationship. It was with one of your inspect—what do you call, supervisors, one of your supervisors because they were the person directing activities. Oddly enough, those activities started coming, like baboom, baboom, baboom, baboom, baboom. So when the squeaky wheel does get the grease, you kind of wonder. I needed to do it because of my situation and because my employees were suffering. And I needed to get some certain things done, and it got done. I really, really appreciate all of that work. Norberto, number one guy, I mean he really takes care of business, and I was fortunate to get down there and meet him. He works in a very cave -like situation, but he produces a lot of work. I understand some of the situations. I know where Traffic works. I was in that same building for a few years. It's kind of cockroached. These are not the best working conditions, but that doesn't mean that we can't have a good working relationship. I'm just going to finish by saying, "How is Ron, is he back at work?" Page 13 PWPRC-4 June 6, 2017 MR. DEARCO: Not yet. Hopefully, he'll come back soon. MS. O'HARA: Yeah, okay. Thank you. MR. DEMARCO: I just want to make a comment. The reason why your office improvements moved forward so quickly is I directed that work to be moved forward quickly. MS. O'HARA: Thank you. MR. DEMARCO: Yeah, so MS. O'HARA: Thank you so much. MR. DEMARCO: It's not my intent to stall things out. I just want to be able to prioritize our work. Tim spoke to it eloquently, thank you. MS. O'HARA: And please get our Pahoa town back because those barricades are just eating up the downtown. That one I've already talked.. MR. DEMARCO: Well, we just talked as well. MS. O'HARA: Yeah, I know it's a tricky situation. I can help you to what extent I can. MR. DEMARCO: Appreciate that. MS. O'HARA: Yeah. CHR. RUGGLES: Ms. Eoff. MS. EOFF: Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. DeMarco, I think I'm understanding this to mean that Council Members and their staff are free to call different chiefs or staff in your office regarding updates, or timelines, or maybe to report something; but if we actually want something done, that would be considered a work order, then we just call you? MR. DEMARCO: That's correct. Yes. MS. EOFF: So I don't know how that would make things stalled out. I think if that's your system, then if we followed that, to me I think that would work or does work because I can talk to you about the project that --or get consensus that this should become a priority at some point and we're going to move on it. But when Page 14 PWPRC-4 June 6, 2017 I want to know if a contract's been awarded or somebody's getting out there for some reason, I would call the appropriate staff? MR. DEMARCO: Yes. And Allan, as well, is available. If I'm not around, you can phone Allan. MS. EOFF: Thank you. MR. DEMARCO: He's aware of this. MS. EOFF: Thank you for clarifying. CHR. RUGGLES: Mr. Chung. MR. CHUNG: Thank you. While we were talking, my aide texted me and said, "That protocol was actually in place during the last administration." Nobody gave me the memo on that one. It's not like I'm a real needy guy. I'll tell you, every term I might go, and not any more obviously, but I might see a division head at the Public Works' department, maybe three times, four times max. Maybe I'm not doing my job. I'm really not a needy person, but I do have a lot of needs. And if that's how it's going to be—and first of all, let me understand this, if I need information, I can call him directly. If I have a request, I go through you. Okay, but what about Ms. Poindexter's situation, where she had a meeting set up? I'm sureI don't know what it was for, but thing was cancelled after waiting for a long time. How does that play into all of this? MR. DEMARCO: Well, the way it would play out is if you have a meeting request and it involves staff, that you would notify us of the meeting so we could schedule it. I mean, if that's the request of a Council Member, that they want MR. CHUNG: So what's the difference between request and a phone call for information, I mean if my meeting is to get information? MR. DEMARCO: Alright, so if you're asking staff to participate in a meeting, I mean they may have other commitments. So, you're suggesting that we just— MR. CHUNG: No, I'm just MR. DEMARCO: Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're asking here. MR. CHUNG: See, my understanding here is that if we're trying to get information then it's okay to call the division heads directly. Is that correct or incorrect? MR. DEMARCO: Yes (inaudible), for information. Page 15 PWPRC-4 June 6, 2017 MR. CHUNG: I'm just wondering what happened with Ms. Poindexter's situation, when she had a meeting all set up and it was cancelled because of this. Unless it was a meeting to request something, but MR. DEMARCO: Yeah, I think that was probably a timing issue. I mean this policy came out probably about the time you set up the meeting. As we move forward, this shouldn't be a problem. I wouldn't anticipate MR. CHUNG: So if we want to have a meeting, if we want to request a meeting to get information, now we have to go through you; but if we just want information, we can call them on the phone? MR. DEMARCO: I think you're over -exercising here. MR. CHUNG: I've got to understand this thing very clearly because it's all new to me. You have to understand, too, the way I've been operating all of these years, first with Yamashiro, then Harry, then Billy, it's I go straight to the division head and I ask them. MR. DEMARCO: Again, if you have general questions, definitely go directly to staff, but if it's a work request, please come to me so we can make sure it fits within our priorities. I don't know how that's complicated, but MR. CHUNG: I'm not very complicated, but I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page because it doesn't comport—what I've heard here doesn't comport with what happened to Ms. Poindexter. MR. DEMARCO: Well, again, I believe that was probably a timing issue. MR. CHUNG: Yeah, okay. Well, that being the casethough, I recall when I first got into office my aide asked me if I wanted to have these periodic or regularly scheduled meetings with the Public Works' chief, like my predecessor had, and I said, "Nah, it's not really necessary. I don't want to bother them. If I need something, I'll either call them or the division head." But that being the case, I'm going to ask now that we have regular meetings, yeah? And if, I've got to forewarn you too, though, if my things are placed on a lower priority for some reason and I'm not seeing results like I have in the past with my few requests, then we're going to be back here again, and then we've got to think of something else, okay? MR. DEMARCO: No, fair enough. MR. CHUNG: Yeah, thank you. Page 16 PWPRC-4 June 6, 2017 CHR. RUGGLES: Ms. Poindexter. MS. POINDEXTER: Yeah, it may have been the timing issue. And it was, again, called so that we could sit in my office, go through documents, and get information or status update. So, I've just got to understand this now. Because in my district I have a lot of requests on roads and issues and safety concerns on the roads, so now I have to go through you before I ask Neil if he can come out with me to look at the safety concerns. Because what has happened in the past, is we have a Safety Council in Hamakua and they let me know what the areas of concern are. I will call Neil and ask him, "Can we set up a date to go out and do a road tour of these areas that the Safety Council feels are problem areas?" He will come out, and he will take photographs of the place and whatever. How he prioritizes that is his business and DPW's (Department of Public Works) business. I will follow-up to see what the status is and where the priority is. And if it is of a health and safety hazard, of course there's times it moves up on the priority list and gets done immediately because of the liability. So on those cases, can I still contact Neil because he has schedule looking at if he can come out with me? Or if I can meet with him to show him, maybe pictures I've taken. That has happened before in the past, where I have gone with the Safety Council and took pictures and all, and then I submitted it to Neil and then asked to sit down to review what I sent him. Can I still do that or do I need to go through you with that? MR. DEMARCO: As far as sharing the pictures with Neil, that's fine. As far as redirecting him out into the field, to drive about and look at issues, yeah, I'd like to know about that to make sure that he's meeting his other obligations. MS. POINDEXTER: Okay, so it's going through you first? MR. DEMARCO: Yes, please. MS. POINDEXTER: Okay, I just need to understand that because that's just another extra step. That is what I'm talking about, the extra steps. However, this is your protocol and I will respect that. So, thank you. MR. DEMARCO: Thank you very much. CHR. RUGGLES: Okay, is there any other discussion? Okay, great. So, I from my understanding is that you're setting forth this new policy because some of your employees maybe felt intimidated at one point. MR. DEMARCO: Yes, they did. Page 17 PWPRC-4 June 6, 2017 CHR. RUGGLES: And that directly calling them for specific tasks distracts them from their immediate obligations MR. DEMARCO: Correct. CHR. RUGGLES: —from the goals of the department. And that for information request, we can contact the person directly? MR. DEMARCO: Yes. CHR. RUGGLES: Okay. And for anything having to do with actual work we go through you and that person or just you? MR. DEMARCO: Just me, first. Yes, please, thank you. CHR. RUGGLES: Okay. After we submit that work request, what can we expect? MR. DEMARCO: Well, we meet with the division chiefs regularly. They'll be bringing forward their activities, and I'm going to be bringing forward the request from Council and from the public, and we'll set our priorities based on that. Also again, I'd like to meet with you or have regular discussions with you bi- weekly. Or whenever you have a need, give me a call so that we can discuss our priorities and how it fits within yours. We can work together on this. CHR. RUGGLES: Okay, great. We appreciate that. And I really appreciate Council Member Poindexter bringing this to the table. With that, all those in favor of filing Communication 311 please say "aye." Vote on Comm. 311: The motion to close file on Comm. 311 was carried by the Filed following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Eoff, Lee Loy, O'Hara, Poindexter, Richards, and Chair Ruggles - 7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Chung and Kanuha - 2. Excused: None. ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. (There were none.) Page 18 PWPRC-4 June 6,2017 BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances. (There were none.) CHR. RUGGLES: May I have motion to adjourn? ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 3:05 p.m., Ms. David moved to adjourn MENT: the meeting. Seconded by Mr. Richards and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members David, Eoff, Lee Loy, O'Hara, Poindexter, Richards, and Chair Ruggles - 7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Chung and Kanuha- 2. Excused: None. CHR. RUGGLES: We are adjourned. Approved: Ms. J i er Ruggles, Chair (Date) Publi, orks and Parks and Recreation Committee JR/na Page 19