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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-01-18 Merit Appeals Board Minutes Hilo, Hawai‘i Wednesday, January 18, 2012 The regular meeting of the Merit Appeals Board, County of Hawai‘i, was held in the conference room of the Department of Human Resources, 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 2, Hilo, Hawai‘i, on Wednesday, January 18, 2012. Present: Mr. Gary Yoshiyama, Chair Mr. Brian De Lima, Member Mr. Jubilee “Jube” Kuewa, Member Mr. Ronald K. Takahashi, Director of Human Resources Ms. Diane Noda, Deputy Corporation Counsel Ms. Velma Y. Menezes, Secretary-Reporter Excused: Mr. Kenneth Rowe, Vice Chair Mr. Henry “Hank” Silva, Member Chair Yoshiyama called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m. MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 16, 2011 MOTION: Mr. De Lima moved that the minutes of November 16, 2011 be approved as circulated. The motion was seconded by Mr. Kuewa and unanimously carried. NEW BUSINESS A)Elect Chair and Vice Chair for Calendar Year 2012 MOTION: Mr. De Lima moved to elect Mr. Yoshiyama as Chair and Mr. Rowe as Vice Chair. The motion was seconded by Mr. Kuewa and unanimously carried. HawaiÓi County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer. DIRECTOR’S REPORT Mr. Takahashi reported the following: A) Update on collective bargaining. They have master agreements and supplemental agreements with HGEA and UPW. County of Hawai‘i’s supplemental agreements with both HGEA and UPW are practically identical, where they have a furlough of one day a month and are maintaining the 60/40 EUTF contributions. The UPW furloughs went into effect in January but because they have to catch up by 12 days for the fiscal year, UPW employees will be taking two furlough days a month from January to June. When the next fiscal year starts in July, they will revert to one day a month. For the most part, the furlough day will be on the first Friday of every month. The second furlough day will be staggered depending on the department’s operations. For HGEA, there were two furlough days a month for the last two years. They are basically doing the same thing for this fiscal year, except it’s one furlough day a month. Negotiations are ongoing and progressing slowly with the Hawai‘i Fire Fighters Association (HFFA) and SHOPO. Mr. Takahashi has a meeting scheduled tomorrow and Friday with HFFA. B) Office reorganization. Effective January, Mr. Takahashi implemented their new office organization whereby a pool was created of generalists to work in all areas across the department. The division heads will still maintain their own divisions; however, their support will now come from the pool of generalists. Mr. Takahashi has been moving toward that direction for a year now. They do have one key vacancy, the division head for Employee Relations Division, which is in charge of employee relations and labor relations. That was actually Ian Takashiba’s old position that Mr. Takahashi restructured into a larger division to take over more things. He has recruited someone and has a commitment from that individual to fill that position, but cannot announce it until he has officially finalized the selection. There will be another unexpected vacancy at the end of the month. Yumi Nakamura will be leaving the department for personal reasons. They will miss her tremendously. Mr. Takahashi is hoping to get approval from the 2 administration to fill the position. The training position is still vacant; however, he is hopeful they can get Ms. Nakamura’s position filled. The Board wished Ms. Nakamura well and thanked her for her services. Chair Yoshiyama asked how many people were in the generalist pool and their classifications. Mr. Takahashi responded that there are four generalists in the pool. Their classifications are HR Specialist and HR Technicians, professional and paraprofessional, at the SR-17, 20, and 22 levels. They’re still in training, but the end goal is to have these generalists assigned to departments whereby the departmental reps could call their designated generalist with any questions or assistance they need in the functional areas. If more specialized assistance is required, the division heads of the functional areas will be notified. The career ladder includes the generalists with their career path (SR-17, 20, 22) and there are specialists in employee relations and classification (SR-24). The division heads are EM-03s, and there is one EM-05. B) HR Quarterly Report. Ms. Toriano noted that this is the second such quarterly report that the department is providing. NEXT MEETING DATE The Board scheduled its next meeting for Wednesday, February 15, 2012, at 9:30 a.m. The meeting adjourned at 9:52 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Ronald K. Takahashi Secretary 3 APPROVED: Gary N. Yoshiyama Chair vym 4