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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-02-21 Merit Appeals Board MinutesSpecial Meeting of the Merit Appeals Board Department of Human Resources 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 102 Hilo, Hawaii February 21, 2018 (Wednesday) Call to Order (Item 1) The Special Meeting of the Merit Appeals Board, County of Hawaii, was called to order at 10:00 a.m. by Chair Julie M. Tulang, at the Department of Human Resources (HR) Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 2, Hilo, Hawaii, on Wednesday, February, 21, 2018. Roll Call — Present Ms. Julie M. Tulang, Chair Mr. William Chillingworth, Member Ms. Luahiwa Namahoe, Member Mr. Mitch Tam, Member Absent & Excused Mr. David K. S. Nahuina, Vice -Chair Also Present Mr. J Yoshimoto, Deputy Corporation Counsel, Ofc. of the Corp. Counsel Mr. William V. Brilhante, Jr., Director, HR Department Ms. Gabriella Cabanas, HR Manager II, HR Department Ms. Glynis Yamada, Secretary -Reporter, HR Department Merit Appeals Board February 21, 2018 Addendum to the Agenda (Item 2) There was none. Statements from the Public (Item 3) CHR. TULANG: And we have some statements from the public. The first up is Lincoln Ashida. MR. ASHIDA: Is it alphabetical? CHR. TULANG: I don't knowI have the numbers on the bottom here. MR. ONO: Wow, now I got to change my name. MR. ASHIDA: I sold my space to Mr. Ono. MR. ONO: A -Ono. CHR. TULANG: It says "Speaker Number 1" welcome. MR. ASHIDA: Thank you, Chair Tulang, Members of the Merit Appeals Board thank you for hearing my testimony this morning. It's much appreciated. I came here today unsolicited. Throughout this process Bill never asked me to come forward but, instead, when I read about some of the problems that the County was having, I decided I wanted to come forward. And today I come before you speaking in strong support of Bill Brilhante being appointed the next Director of Human Resources for the County of Hawaii. And to be very succinct, which is not characteristic of me but I will be today. I thought about the reasons why I support Bill. And it was down to two thingsI like him and I trust him. And the reason why I think liking him is important is because that translates to approachability. I've known Bill for well over 10 years. We hired him at Corporation Counsel. I recruited him from the Attorney General's office at the time, to come work at the Corporation Counsel's office. And one thing that I think that all of the staff will say at our office is that he is a likable guy. But I think as a human resource director—why that's an important quality is approachability. I mean, I think he's a guy that not only can staff talk to, not only can council or the mayor interact positively with—but, also, if you have—let's say, you have an employee down at a blue collar employee of the County—on a Sunday, sees Bill at Wal-Mart or sees him at HomeDepot. Bill is the type of guy that you can approach. You can come up and say, "Eh, Bill, you got a minute? I got I like talk to you about something." And that's how I see this role as being someone who is not only the director who's accountable to the Merit Appeals Board not only the director who's accountable to the County, to the Mayor, and the Council but accountable to every single employee of the County no matter what their rank or their file within the County. And I think that approachability, I think, is key. Page 2 Merit Appeals Board February 21, 2018 And I that's why I say—when I say, "I like him"—and when people say, "I like Bill"—I think that's a very positive quality that he has. The other reason, like I said is, I trust Bill. We wouldn't have hired him if we didn't trust him. And we trusted him enough that I see my friend, Duane Kanuha is here—Duane didn't really need a Deputy Director of Planning because he had Bill Brilhante. Tom Brown, when he was at Mass Transit doesn't have a deputy director but great—he didn't need one because he had Bill Brilhante. When we sent Bill out on client assignments, he would basically take that department—talk about have ownership over that department—and help lead that department. And that was a very reassuring feeling for me as the administrator because I would get feedback from the clients, from the department heads and said, "Hey, Linc, do me a favor." I said, "Sure, what is it?" "Never take Brilhante away from us." Yeah, as good to hear—and I heard that from two department heads—one who's here today—handsome bugga here today—and Tom Brown. But, you know, Bill is human. We—nobody's perfect. When there were issues concerning issues, like, for example—I'll always tell people couple things, yeah. When you're in the County Number 1, you got to be nice to everyone all of the time. And, Number 2, pretend everybody's watching all of the time because they are. And when there are perception issues, I said, `Bill, there's perception issues. I know you coach tennis, Waiakea High School. But instead of just going to your practice, it's okay to tell people you're on flex time that you've gone to coach the kids at Waiakea. It's okay to be open about that because the transparency is important." And he was very amenable to that. So, he's very—in that way, no pun intended but he's very coachable. He recogni—and when you confront him withI want to say shortcomings—but, issues like that, he receives it really well and he does something about it. And to that end, I've seen a lot of maturation on his part over the years. He's not the same guy that we hired. What is it, Bill—has it been, like, 13 years? 12-13 years ago—he's not the same man. And to his credit, he'sI think he's a better man. Like I said, I don't know how else but to say that I like him and I trust him. And I was telling my friend, Glynis, that since I left the County 4 years ago, I've, kind of, laid low—haven't come out. But this was one time where I felt—Bill doesn't owe me anything and I don't owe him anything. But, when I saw it playing out in the newspaper, when I knew that he was going toI contacted him and asked him if he was putting his hat in. He said, "Yes"I told him that I would come out because I wanted to come out, because it's the right thing to do. And I think with that I thank you for your attention. It's much appreciated. I wanted to commend the other applicantsI don't know who they are, but for them to come forth and put their hat in the ring. I just wanted to congratulate them also. And, most importantly, thank you for your dedication, your hard work. Thank you very much. Page 3 Merit Appeals Board February 21, 2018 CHR. TULANG: Thank you, Lincoln. We now have the handsome Director, Duane Kanuha. MR. KANUHA: Good morning, everybody. My name is Duane Kanuha. I've had the pleasure and the honor of serving as either Planning Director or Deputy Planning Director for 3 different administrations. So, I've been familiar with HR directors and 3 different administrations. And, Hilo is a small town. You, kind of, get to know everybody. I never really met Bill until I joined the Kenoi Administration in 2000—in June of 2013. And he was assigned to the Planning Department. And we hit it off really, really well. When you are in a position like we are and you spend a lot of time with your staff, with your advisors, like, people like Bill—either travelling to Kona early in the morning and coming back late at night—and all the prep. discussions for the different issues that come up and so on and so forth. And Lincoln is very on point. I had a deputy and at that time, Mayor Kenoi wanted equality in both East Hawaii and West Hawaii. So, I had a deputy that was working out of West Hawaii even though most of the administrative work and a lot of things that going on, happened out of Hilo—well, I really didn't need a deputy all the time because I had Bill. Okay. What I wanted to mention to you because it's really specific to what he's being considered for—is that inI think it was May of 2014. The Mayor convened a Cabinet retreat up at the Volcano. And the whole purpose of that retreat was to try and find a way to make the permit processing process more efficient, more accountable, and just an overall improvement to that system. Well, little did I know that at that meeting after the discussion went around the table, the Mayor says, "Okay, you know what, this is what we're going to do. We're going to take all of the permit processing from Public Works and give it to Planning." Bill wasn't there. I was and I'm going, "This is going be fun." So, for the next maybe two -and -a -half years, that was one of our big tasks. And, of course, you know merging functions of two departments together there's a tremendous amount of logistical issues but, certainly, paramount to all of that is a lot of human resource issues. Okay. And there was also—when something like that happens, there's a lot of anxiety among the staff—"What's going to happen to me? Where am I going to go? I've been here so many times. I'm comfortable" that kind of thing. So, throughout that process Bill and I became even closer and it was during that time that I was able to really, clearly recognize his affinity for dealing with people and employees and their different considerations their different concerns. He's been everything. I mean, he's been rank and file, he's been an EM, he's been an appointee. And throughout that process, I could see that there was a lot of value to him having been in all of those different employee/employer situations. Okay. Page 4 Merit Appeals Board February 21, 2018 They that process kept on going. We went through probably gazillions of alternatives, yeah, how to do it. And, I think, what we ended up doing in the long run was to, basically, transfer assignments rather than moving bodies around. I mean, it just got too much of an issue and the return for the physical movement of people and, actually, thein a lot of cases, the clear disruption of folks who've been doing things for so long. We decided—it ended up being—let's just figure out a way how to transfer duties and assignments without people being involved with. So, that's my story of how I think Bill has shown to me that he truly appreciates the employee/employer system. Okay. That we've all had to deal with. Finally, in a lot of the discussions we've had—and when you're dealing with Planning, there's just all kinds of different controversial issues. And this is, kind of, a sidebar that I'm going to use to close to, kind of, give you one of the basic reasons that I feel that Bill is the best guy for any job of this nature that you can have. Okay. And that is, when there—when we have—had a lot of confrontational situations in the process of deciding what to do in these confrontational situations—and, basically, what it comes down a lot of the time is personalities. It comes down to personalities. Well, when we—when Bill and I got to the point in the discussion about, well, how should we do this and how should we do that—and the personnel issues got involved. We get to a certain point and we both had what we felt was the way to go for whatever reason it was. But before we made any kind of a commitment to where we would goI recall very clearly—Bill would tell me, "But you know, Duane"—he says, "Even `a – h – o - I's' have rights and they need to be heard as well." So, with that I just give my total endorsement for Bill as a great selection for the County of Hawaii and for all of its employees as your Director for Human Servi—Human Resources. Thank you. CHR. TULANG: Thank you. Last but by no means, Mr. Hugh Ono. MR. ONO: Thank you. Thank you very much, Chair Tulang, and Members of the Merit Appeals Board. A while ago I found out that Bill was an applicant for the position and when I learned that, I contacted him and says, "Let me know how I can support you." This is based on our working relationship at the Salary Commission. By right, I should just have Lincoln and Duane testify in my behalf because they nearly covered everything perfectly. But just let me add to some of the stuff that I have previously mentioned. Without doubt, but Bill brings with him is very, very reliable performance on the job and you can just count on him—all the time. He does the job very, very well. Basically, I want to support his appointment to be the permanent director and to continue to work with him as the Salary Commission Chair. Page 5 Merit Appeals Board February 21, 2018 When I first mentioned to some of the other members of the Salary Commission that I was lending my support to Bill, there were many others who did the same thing, some of which may have submitted written testimony. I don't know who submitted written testimony and who did not. But, my general feeling—and we didn't pass a resolution in the Salary Commission or anything like that, but I feel the overall support from the group as a whole. Some unique things as some others had mentioned—having had been a firefighter for all those yearsso, he is rank and file. If you come from that you understand that. Now, he's also been in management position—and so, he certainly understands that also. That attorney background is just so invaluable. Many of the activities involved in human resources and personnel involve understanding of the legal implications to include state law, County Charter, the ordinance. So, in short, I personally, selfishly want to continue working with Bill in—as the permanent Director of the Department of Human Resources. And with that I just thank you for this opportunity. Nice seeing all you folks, all again. CHR. TULANG: Thank you. Thank you, all three of you, for your input. Approval of Minutes (Item 3) (There were none.) Communication(s) (Item 4) (There were none.) CHR. TULANG: Our "Unfinished Business" is the selection of the new director for Human Resources. New Business (for discussion and appropriate action) (Item 5) Selection of New Director of Human Resources: Candidate(s) Interview/application review, and the selection of the Director of the Department of Human Resources Position. CHR. TULANG: We've already done the interviews and we are now ready to start working on a decision. So, the Merit Appeals Board anticipates convening an executive meeting regarding the above matter pursuant to Section 92-5(a)(4) for the purpose of consulting with the Board's attorney on questions and issues pertaining to the Board's powers, duties, privileges, immunities, and liabilities; and Section 92-5(a)(2) to consider the hire of a County officer where consideration of matters affecting privacy will be involved. A two-thirds vote pursuant to the Hawaii Revised Statutes, Section 92-4 is necessary to hold an executive meeting. I will entertain a motion at this time. Page 6 Merit Appeals Board MR. TAM: I move that the Board enters into executive session. CHR. TULANG: Second? MR. CHILLINGWORTH: Second. CHR. TULANG: All those in favor? Opposed? AYES: Members Chillingworth, Namahoe, Tam, and Chair Tulang — 4 NOES: None. ABSENT: Member Nahuina -I EXCUSED: None. CHR. TULANG: Same sign. Thank you good people. MS. NAMAHOE: Thank you very much. MR. TAM: Thank you. February 21, 2018 Recess: The Chair called for a recess at 10:17 a.m. to convene an executive session. Reconvene: The open session reconvened at 12:07 p.m. CHR. TULANG: We are back in general session. MS. YAMADA: Do you want to take a recess or anything like that? CHR. TULANG: No, I think we'll just truck on through. MS. YAMADA: Okay. Do you want me to go out and announce to the nobody's out there, I think. CHR. TULANG: Oh, okay. MS. YAMADA: Do you want me to announce to the HR staff that they're going to make a decision CHR. TULANG: Yes. MS. YAMADA: And if they want to be present? CHR. TULANG: Yes. Sure. Page 7 Merit Appeals Board February 21, 2018 MR. CHILLINGWORTH: Yeah. MS. YAMADA: Okay, you guys ready? MS. NAMAHOE: Yes, Ma'am. (At this time, Ms. Yamada left the conference room to inform the Human Resources Department that the Board had made their decision concerning the new Director of Human Resources.) CHR. TULANG: In the meantime, Board Members, if you could look at your blue calendar to identify a date for a meeting in MR. YOSHIMOTO: We're not—we're not on record, yet, right? MS. YAMADA: We're still on record— MR. YOSHIMOTO: We're—okay, thanks. MS. YAMADA: We originally had reserved March 21 for the hearing, but then that hearing ofMakaio—got postponed till later. CHR. TULANG: Okay. MR. CHILLINGWORTH: I'm going to be off -island on the 15'h to the 26h. CHR. TULANG: Okay. So, we're looking at the week prior MR. TAM: March 7h? CHR. TULANG: Some of this not good for me but 6h or 8h - MS. NAMAHOE: I'm in Honolulu on the 8h and the 9h. CHR. TULANG: Okay, so MS. NAMAHOE: And the 15'h and 16''. CHR. TULANG: Okay, is the 6h good or 13''? MR. CHILLINGWORTH: Either one works for me. Page 8 Merit Appeals Board February 21, 2018 MR. TAM: Either one will have to work for me. Usually, I have reference calls. CHR. TULANG: Mitch, is there a preference for you? MR. TAM: No, at this point, either one. CHR. TULANG: Okay. Jun-ken-po. I'm on the 6th. MS. NAMAHOE: Let's do the 6th. CHR. TULANG: Okay. Have we got everyone? MS. YAMADA: I think so. CHR. TULANG: Okay. Welcome, nice to see all of you. At this point, the Merit Appeals Board has made a decision and I will entertain a motion to appoint our HR Director—and the motion is to appoint William Brilhante, Jr., effective start date March 1st, 2018. I'll entertain a second. MS. NAMAHOE: Second. MR. YOSHIMOTO: So, you're going to request the motion from the Board and then—so someone should make the motion. CHR. TULANG: Motion as statedI need someone to make— MR. CHILLINGWORTH: Madam Chair, I move that Mr. William Brilhante be appointed as the Human Resources Director for the County of Hawaii, effective March 1st, 2018. MS. NAMAHOE: I second that. CHR. TULANG: All those in favor? Opposed? AYES: Members Chillingworth, Namahoe, Tam, and Chair Tulang – 4. NOES: None. ABSENT: Member Nahuina – 1. EXCUSED: None. CHR. TULANG: Same sign, motion carried. Congratulations, the Board Members would like to say something, if you'll come forward. Yes, please. Page 9 Merit Appeals Board February 21, 2018 MS. NAMAHOE: The process to fill these shoes left vacant at the end of 2017 was painstaking and thorough. I'd like to, on behalf of the Board, thank Ms. Cabanas for the work that—and advisement that you have provided us. Ultimately, the shoulder lifting or the heavy lifting was upon us. Mr. Brilhante, there were questions that were probably easier for someone outside of this office to answer then what you had to do. So, whereas, others might think that it would have been easy for you because you were already TA'ing into this position, we tried to make it to the contrary to put any filling of these shoes above—what's the word— CHR. TULANG: Reproach. MS. NAMAHOE: Thank you very much—and above being second guessed. We are very grateful that you've applied for the position. Thank you. MR. TAM: Mr. Brilhante, I was very impressed with your thorough knowledge of the task that's put upon you. There's no doubt in our mind that you'll be able to move the Human Resources and the County forward in a great position that we're headed into. So, thank you very much. MR. BRILHANTE: Thank you. Will I be able to say something CHR. TULANG: Comment. MR. CHILILNGWORTH: Go ahead. CHR. TULANG: You? MR. CHILLINGWORTH: No. CHR. TULANG: Man of few words. I just want to say that I am pleased and excited that you decided—decide to put your name into it and that you did present us with nice, thoughtful options in what you see and what you envision for County of Hawaii, for the employees that are working here or will be working here. And we wish you the best—and the best (inaudible) forward. The bar was set pretty high, `cause we had—for all of you to knowa really good group of talented, educated, and experienced people who had applied for the job. So, that made it a challenge to go through. And each one had different ideas and different thoughts—if we could put everyone into one person, then we'd have the ideal, ultimate director. But, we can't do that. So, we are very pleased to nominate, or should I say, select Bill Brilhante William Brilhante, Jr. Page 10 Merit Appeals Board February 21, 2018 MR. BRILHANTE: Is it okay if I CHR. TULANG: Yeah. MR. BRILHANTE: —say some words? I'm very humbled by this opportunity and I thank each and every one of you for the many hours of dedicated work that you've placed personally and collectively in regards to this process, in ensuring that the people of the County of Hawaii are properly served by a director who can satisfactorily complete the requirements of the job. I'm honored and humbled to be placed in that position. I look forward to the challenge ahead. And, as we move forward, the key word that resonates in my mind which I had prior meetings with the mayor and the like as it deals with issues that arose within our office. And the key word that keeps coming back to me is the—he—continuous use of the word "trust." And I want to focus on that word just for a minute or so that I know you don't have a crystal ball. You made a decision based on what's the you made a decision based on the information that's in front of you—whether it be my application or the answers I gave to the interview questions or an evaluation of the assessment exercise that I completed. You trust that based on all that information, I'll be able to perform the job well. I appreciate that trust. I'm going to—my goal is to take that trust and to extend it out so that moving forward I'm able to gain the trust from my staff and gain the trust from the Administration and, ultimately, gain the trust from the County employees and the public at -large who we serve in various capacities. Whether it be through our hiring of new employees, whether it be we're just preparing for a new employment orientation with HPD, serving our current employees, and the like. And I think if I can perform in a professional matter—manner above reproach, I think this staff is so wonderful, the staff is so outstanding. I have confidence that I know they'll be more than happy to perform at that same level, and through that we can start chipping away and re- establishing ourselves as an incredibly outstanding division or department within the County of Hawaii. And along the way I'm going to report to the MAB and I'm going to seek response, an interactive process with the MAB to make sure that we're following a proper track and we're ensuring that the needs and the concerns are sufficiently and adequately raised going forward. So, with that, I'll ask each of my staff members for their commitment to this Administration moving forward and I appreciate that, and I give you my commitment that I will do the best and I'll work the hardest to ensure that this department does a good job for the people of the County of Hawaii. Thank you. CHR. TULANG: Thank you. Going forward, all applicants will be notified via NeoGov and through a letter from the Chair. So, that's how we'll get the word out to everyone. Okay. Moving on to setting the next date—our next meeting. Thank you everyone. Page 11 Merit Appeals Board HR STAFF: Thank you. February 21, 2018 CHR. TULANG: Mr. Brilhante, congratulations from the MAB. And good luck to you and we trust and transparency and good things. (Note: At this time, a lei was presented from the Chair to Mr. Brilhante.) MR. CHILLINGWORTH: Congratulations, Mr. Brilhante. MR. BRILHANTE: Thank you. MR. CHILILNGWORTH: Glad to have you on board. MR. BRILHANTE: Thank you very much. I appreciate all those things that you did. I don't know if I should thank you or throw darts at you. (Note: Mr. Brilhante directed this comment to Ms. Gabriella Cabanas.) CHR. TULANG: Let me tell you, she worked hard for us. MR. BRILHANTE: I know she did. Thank you very much. CHR. TULANG: Okay, the MR. YOSHIMOTO: Go ahead. We're done right? Yeah. Schedule Next Meeting Date (Item 6) Chair Tulang announced that their next regularly scheduled meeting would be held on Tuesday, March 6, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. at the Department of Human Resources Conference Room, 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 2, Hilo. Adiournment (Item 7) There being no other business, Mr. Chillingworth moved to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Ms. Namahoe and carried by the following vote: AYES: Members Chillingworth, Namahoe, Tam, and Chair Tulang — 4. NOES: None. ABSENT: Member Nahuina — 1. EXCUSED: None. Page 12 Merit Appeals Board February 21, 2018 CHR. TULANG: The motion carried. Thank you. Respectfully submitted, r (dWata/4-) 44 0 Glynis Yamada, Secretary-Reporter APPROVED: Julie M. Tulang, Chair Merit Appeals Board Page 13 PUBLIC STATEMENT REGISTRATION FORM MERIT APPEALS BOARD COUNTY OF HAWAII HILO, HAWAII Date: -° l- /'9 (Please print clearly) / Support Oppose Comment Please list the item(s)you will be speaking on: ' r l ♦ . . or Subject/Topic: 14PPi?i0 t/hC'1/ or L r((t air Name: 4/t7Ccr//`J rnhi14. Representing: `Se 1r (P - _ - indicate whether Self or Organization) ***For official use only: Speaker No. ON PUBLIC STATEMENT REGISTRATION FORM MERIT APPEALS BOARD COUNTY OF HAWAII HILO, HAWAII Date: : PUBLIC STATEMENT REGISTRATION FORM MERIT APPEALS BOARD COUNTY OF HAWAII HILO, HAWAII Date: ..z ' 21 - I S (Please print clearly) cSupport Oppose Comment Please list the item(s) you will be speaking on: Communication No. '0\,-)1Y-- or Subject/Topic: ' cum tT i ) 1-2(r-- 2-2:=T651--=----- Name: cP 65t--=-- Name: -41,111- (271`• O Representing: (PI 2 .ndicate whether Self or Organization) ***For official use only: Speaker No. 03