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Home My WebLink About2024-12-19 Salary Commission Minutes REGULAR SESSION Salary Commission Hilo Council Chambers Hawaiʻi County Building 25 Aupuni Street, First Floor, Room 1401 Hilo, Hawai‘i December 19, 2024 (Thursday) Call to Order (Item 1) The regular meeting of the Salary Commission, County of Hawaiʻi, was called to order at 10:00 a.m. by Chair Steven Pavao, at the Hilo Council Chambers, Hawaiʻi County Building, 25 Aupuni Street, First Floor, Room 1401, Hilo, Hawaiʻi, on Thursday, December 19, 2024. Roll Call – Present Mr. Steven Pavao, Chair Ms. Donala Kawaʻauhau, Vice-Chair Mr. Jules Dudoit, Member Ms. Judy Greenbaum, Member Ms. Luahiwa Namahoe, Member Mr. Sam Nelson, Member Mr. Dennis Riordan Member Ms. Sommer J. Tokihiro, Ex-Officio Member Also Present Ms. Dakota “Cody” Frenz, Deputy Corporation Counsel, Office of the Corporation Counsel Ms. Michele Lamkin, Human Resources Program Specialist, Human Resources Department Ms. Glynis Yamada, Secretary-Reporter, Human Resources Department Salary Commission December 19, 2024 Call to Order (Item 1) CHR. PAVAO: Okay, we’ll call the meeting to order. We can start by taking rollcall—we can start on this end. th MR. DUDOIT: Jules—Commissioner Jules Dudoit, 7 District. MR. RIORDAN: Mr. Riordan. MS. NAMAHOE: Commissioner Luahiwa Namahoe. CHR. PAVAO: Commissioner Pavao. MS. KAWAʻAUHAU: Commissioner Kawaʻauhau. MR. NELSON: Commissioner Nelson. MS. TOKIHIRO: Ex-Officio Member, Sommer Tokihiro, Department of Human Resources. CHR. PAVAO: And on Zoom. MS. GREENBAUM: Commissioner Greenbaum. CHR. PAVAO: Good morning. MS. FRENZ: Good morning, everyone—Deputy Corporation Counsel Cody Frenz, on behalf of the Salary Commission—and I believe Glynis Yamada, our Secretary, is also present. CHR. PAVAO: Yes. And we have from the office of— MS. TOKIHIRO: Also, from the Department of Human Resources—Michele Lamkin from our Classification and Pay Division. CHR. PAVAO: Thank you. Okay, so we’ll go ahead and get started. Statements from the Public (Item 2) CHR. PAVAO: Any comments or “Statements from the Public?” Page 2 Salary Commission December 19, 2024 Approval of Minutes (Item 3) July 31, 2024; August 27, 2024; And September 24, 2024 CHR. PAVAO: Hearing and seeing no one here, we’ll move on to the “Approval of the Minutes.” The minutes have been circulated and posted. Any corrections, or additions, or st deletions to the July 31 minutes? If not, Chair will entertain a motion to accept the minutes. MS. NAMAHOE: I so move—Namahoe. st CHR. PAVAO: And a second? We—making a motion to accept all three—the July 31, thth August 27, and September 24? MS. NAMAHOE: So moved. MR. DUDOIT: Second. CHR. PAVAO: Okay—been moved and second. And comments? Any corrections, deletions— anything to the minutes? If not, we’ll go ahead and take a vote. All those in favor of approving stthth the minutes of July 31, 2024; August 27, 2024; and September 24, 2024—signify by saying aye. All opposed? The voice vote was as follows: AYES: Commissioners Dudoit, Greenbaum, Kawaʻauhau, Namahoe, Nelson, Riordan, and Chair Pavao – 7. OPPOSED: None. ABSENT & EXCUSED: None. CHR. PAVAO: The motion carried. Communication(s) (Item 4) CHR. PAVAO: Okay, next item on our agenda is “Communications”—we have none. New Business (Item 5) CHR. PAVAO: “New Business” for discussion/appropriate action—none. Page 3 Salary Commission December 19, 2024 Unfinished Business (Item 6) Communication No. 24-06.01: Proposed Findings Of Fact By The 2024 County Of Hawaiʻi Salary Commission, Dated August 27, 2024 : Pursuant To Section 13-28 Of The Hawaiʻi County Charter (2022), As Amended, The County Of Hawaiʻi Salary Commission Makes Its Findings In Support Of Its Decision To Set The Salary Of The New Administrator Of The Office Of Sustainability, Climate, Equity, And Resilience (OSCER) At $162,540.00 Which Is An Increase Of 53.92 % From The Initial Interim Salary Of $105,600.00 Set By The Department Of Human Resources And The Office Of The Mayor, To Be Effective At The Start Of The Next Full Pay Period Following Formal Action By This Commission. (Note: The Above Matter Was Discussed At The Salary Commission’s Meeting Held On September 24, 2024. On November 14, 2024, A Public Hearing Was Held In Hilo Where Members Of The Public Were Given The Opportunity To Participate In-Person Or By Videoconference Or Via ZOOM. The Commission May Adopt Its Salary Of The New Administrator Of OSCER Proposal At Its Meeting Scheduled For December 19, 2024.) CHR. PAVAO: “Unfinished Business” for discussion. So, the unfinished business is the Findings of—the Proposed Findings of Fact from the Hawaiʻi Salary Commission, dated August 27, 2024, in regards to the salary set for the Director of OSCER—the Office of Sustainability, Climate, Equity, and Resilience at $162,540.00. th So, the above matter was discussed at the Salary Commission meeting held on September 24. On November 14, the public hearing was held in Hilo where members of the public were given the opportunity to participate in-person or by videoconferencing via Zoom. The Commission may adopt its salary of the new administration—Administrator of OSCER proposal at its meeting today on December 19, 2024. Any further discussion? If not, the Chair will entertain a motion to accept the proposed salary for the position of the OSCER Administrator at $162,540.00 annually. MS. NAMAHOE: Commissioner Namahoe—I motion for that. CHR. PAVAO: Okay, is there a second? MS. FRENZ: Chair, if I—so sorry, Chair, if I may. So, I think, just to clarify—I think maybe Commissioner Namahoe’s motion would more appropriately be motion to adopt the Findings of Fact— CHR. PAVAO: Okay. MS. FRENZ: —that this Commission—the proposed Findings—so we’d be adopting them and then implementing the OSCER salary to begin January of 2025. CHR. PAVAO: Thank you. Yes, so amend your motion. Page 4 Salary Commission December 19, 2024 MS. NAMAHOE: All right. So, this is Commissioner Luahiwa Namahoe. My motion is to adopt the proposed Findings that were originally—or listed in Communication number 24-06.01 st for the salary adjustment to be effective January 1, 2025. CHR. PAVAO: Okay, is there a second to that amended motion? MR. RIORDAN: Commissioner Riordan. I second that. CHR. PAVAO: Okay. It’s been moved and second. Any discussion? Hearing none, we’ll go ahead and take a vote. All those in favor of accepting the motion, signify by saying aye. All opposed? The voice vote was as follows: AYES: Commissioners Dudoit, Greenbaum, Kawaʻauhau, Namahoe, Nelson, Riordan, and Chair Pavao – 7. OPPOSED: None. ABSENT & EXCUSED: None. CHR. PAVAO: The motion carried. Okay. Announcements (Item 7) CHR. PAVAO: We can move on to the next item on the agenda, is “Announcements.” I don’t have any announcements myself. Schedule Next Meeting Date (Item 8) CHR. PAVAO: Our Salary Commission’s next scheduled meeting date is Thursday, January th 30, at 10 a.m., here in the Council Chambers, 25 Aupuni Street. MR. NELSON: So, I’d like to discuss that. I’d like to see if we—I think we should move our next meeting date out till June or July or sometime after the contract negotiations for the rest of the salaries (inaudible) are figured out because, basically, we shouldn’t be setting a salary higher than what the other regular workers are going to be getting—the union negotiators going to get. So we—I don’t—I think we need to wait until we see how that contract negotiation happens. Basically, everybody got a raise effective beginning of July, so I think we can hold off until—at least until then, until we do the next—review it again. So, I would propose that to the group that we move our next meeting out to June or July. CHR. PAVAO: Yeah—Commissioner Pavao. I agree with that. I think most of the collective th bargaining contracts that are currently in effect, end June 30, 2025. And the State and the counties are now all in active collective bargaining negotiations—so I think it’s a good idea. I Page 5 Salary Commission December 19,2024 think there would be little—if anything,that we would discuss in January because it's unlikely that negotiations would be done by then. They start with negotiations—come out with proposals from really close to the end of the legislative session because the legislature needs to approve all of the collective bargaining settlements. So, yeah, I think it's a good idea to wait till maybe June or late May, or early June for the next meeting. MS.NAMAHOE: Commissioner Namahoe—then I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for how we have served on the Salary Commission. My term expires at the end of 2024, so I would have a three-month rollover. I will not be here in June. Aloha,to each and all. CHR. PAVAO: Thank you. Thank you for service and your mana`o— MS. GREENBAUM: Thank you. CHR. PAVAO: —very helpful. Thank you. Okay. So,we—I guess,if everybody's in agreement that we would try to schedule a meeting sometime in June, I think, is probably the best(inaudible) at this point. MS. GREENBAUM: Agreed. CHR. PAVAO: Okay. So, we'll—Glynis will send out tentative dates and we'll schedule a date. MS. GREENBAUM: Perfect. Thank you. CHR. PAVAO: Anything else to discuss? Adjournment(Item 9) CHR. PAVAO: If not,then the meeting is adjourned. Thank you all. Happy Holidays. (The meeting adjourned at 10:07 a.m.) '��pec�ly subm},tted, Gly s Y ada, Secretary-Reporter APPROVED: Steven P v o, Chair Salary C *ssion Page 6