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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-06-15 Merit Appeals Board MinutesHilo, Hawaii Tuesday, June 15, 2010 The regular meeting of the Merit Appeals Board, County of Hawaii, was held in the conference room of the Department of Human Resources, 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 2, Hilo, Hawaii, on Tuesday, June 15, 2010. Present: Mr. G. Rick Robinson, Chair Mr. Gary Yoshiyama, Vice Chair Mr. Brian J. De Lima, Member Mr. Ronald K. Takahashi, Director of Human Resources Ms. Sharon Toriano, Deputy Director of Human Resources Ms. Diane Noda, Deputy Corporation Counsel Ms. Velma Y. Menezes, Secretary- Reporter Ms. Yumi Nakamura, Clerk III Excused: Mr. Henry "Hank" Silva, Member Mr. Kenneth Rowe, Member Chair Robinson called the meeting to order at 10:19 a.m. upon the arrival of Mr. De Lima who had been detained. MINUTES OF MARCH 16, 2010 MOTION: Mr. De Lima moved that the minutes of March 16, 2010 be approved as circulated. The motion was seconded by Vice Chair Yoshiyama and unanimously carried. NEW BUSINESS A) Communication No. 10 -02, petition of appeal, received June 1, 2010, from Robert J. Crudele, Esq., and William B. Heflin, Esq., on behalf of Terence Hawaii County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer. S. Ignacio, appealing Mr. Ignacio's termination as a probationary Police Officer from the Hawaii County Police Department. The Board scheduled Mr. Ignacio's appeal hearing for July 20, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. Mr. De Lima noted for the record that he will recuse himself from the appeal hearing. His participation at today's meeting was to ensure that the hearing be scheduled, as there would not be a quorum without him. There were no objections to Mr. De Lima participating in the scheduling of the date for the appeal hearing. Chair Robinson noted that Mr. Silva is also recusing himself from the hearing, as he is related to the appellant. Therefore, only Chair Robinson, Vice Chair Yoshiyama, and Mr. Rowe remain to hear the appeal. It was noted that Ms. Menezes received the email from Mr. Silva notifying parties of his recusal. B) Motion to Dismiss the appeal filed on behalf of Terence S. Ignacio due to a jurisdictional issue, filed by Brandon Gonzalez, Deputy Corporation Counsel, County of Hawaii. Chair Robinson stated that at the appeal hearing (scheduled for July 20, 2010 at 10:00 a.m.), the Board will hear the motion to dismiss. The Board will go ahead and hear the merits of the appeal depending on the action it takes on the motion. Mr. Gonzalez stated that his preference would be to have an evidentiary hearing scheduled later; however, he's flexible to having it all in one day. Ms. Noda informed Mr. De Lima that the Kona jury trial in August, that he is involved in, will be with Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Joyce Seelen, one of the witnesses in the Botelho appeal. Mr. De Lima responded that it does not bother him; he has no personal stake in the matter. C) Stipulation to Advance Hearing Date in the Matter of the Appeal of Teri Botelho, Appellant. Ms. Menezes noted that the Chair had signed the stipulation to advance the hearing date of the Botelho appeal to August 2, 2010, with a continuation date of August 16, 2010 for the remaining witnesses to testify. oil Ms. Noda noted that witnesses, Jay Kimura and Dale Ross, were unavailable to testify at the August 16 hearing, as they would be on the mainland; thus she had requested the August 2 date. Ms. Noda asked whether the Board would have any objections to having more than those two witnesses testify on August 2 if time permitted. Chair Robinson stated that they have no objections if Ms. Noda puts more witnesses on the stand. DIRECTOR'S REPORT 1) At its hearing on June 7, the County Council approved the department's budget, which was submitted with an overall 11% reduction from the current budget. 40 amendments were submitted by Council, four of which affected the department in reducing the budget in areas of workers' comp, overtime, travel, and other operational items. The amendments were defeated and the budget was approved as submitted. It is awaiting the Mayor's approval for final action. The Mayor identified a number of vacation positions he was planning to unfund (take money away from to use as savings). Those positions can be funded again in future years, but for next fiscal year, they will be unfunded. Mr. Takahashi has one position currently unfunded in his department, one of the workers' compensation claims specialist positions (the employee had resigned), which was reallocated to HR technician and unfunded thereafter. Thus, Ms. Kamaka's staff is working with one less. 2) The department is continuing to spearhead the County's efforts in implementing its furlough plan. The "general" population of the County's workforce will be furloughed the first and third Friday of every month beginning July 2010 through June 30, 2011. There are a number of exceptions to that because of facilities that need to remain open and will thereby have staggered furlough days so that operations can remain open. A different furlough plan has been agreed upon for UPW where employees do not have any scheduled furlough days off. Instead, when employees take any vacation leave, sick leave, CTO, authorized leave without pay or is suspended during a month, the first two days of those types of leaves will be charged to furlough. The County will automatically deduct 8 hours pay for 24 pay periods from paychecks. If leaves aren't taken, the furlough days go 3 into a bank, which can be used later. If at the end of June 30, 2011, there are remaining days in the bank, the employee will have an additional year till June 30,2012 to use up the days in the bank. This plan will allow County operations, primarily the 24/7 operations, to remain open. However, for sake of uniformity, all UPW employees will be on this different plan. Fire fighters and police officers have contracts through June 30, 2011, which calls for pay increases. They are not involved in any furlough plans. The Chiefs will decide on furloughs for the managerial staff in Police and Fire. This plan originated with IIHSC for nurses,who were not able to be placed on furloughs; and it's being used in all jurisdictions in various places. 3) Due to absences of a couple of Board members, the report from the Health and Safety division head will be deferred to the Board's next meeting. Mr. Takahashi will bring in a staff person to every meeting to orient members on the operations of the divisions, how they do things, and give an update on current activities. 4) Mr. Takahashi introduced Ian Takashiba, the new HR manager in labor relations,who started on June 1, 2010. The department is currently fully staffed. Mr. Takashiba is primarily involved in contract negotiations, grievances, advising departments on contract, labor relations matters, etc. Collective bargaining is already starting up again. Mr. Takashiba was previously a business agent for HGEA for eight years. NEXT MEETING DATE The Board's next meeting was scheduled for July 20, 2010 at 9:30 a.m., followed by Mr. Ignacio's appeal hearing at 10:00 a.m. The meeting adjourned at 10:17 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Ronald K. Takahashi Secretary 4 APPROVED: IgrAnlir G. Rick Robinson Chair vym 5