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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-12-17 Merit Appeals Board MinutesHilo, Hawaii Thursday, December 17, 2009 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 Thursday, December 17, 2009. Present: Mr. G. Rick Robinson, Chair Mr. Gary Yoshiyama, Vice Chair Mr. Henry "Hank" Silva, Member Mr. Brian J. De Lima, Member Mr. Kenneth M. Rowe, Member Mr. Michael R. Ben, Director of Human Resources Mr. Michael Udovic, Deputy Corporation Counsel Ms. Velma Y. Menezes, Secretary - Reporter Ms. Yumi Nakamura, Clerk III Chair Robinson called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. ADDENDUM TO AGENDA The following communications were received: Letter dated December 15, 2009, from Paul Tsukiyama, Vice President and Director of Human Resources, Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, supporting Mr. Ronald Takahashi as Hawaii County Director of Human Resources. Letter dated December 16, 2009, from Lynn G. Krieg, Director of Personnel Services, County of Maui, recommending that the Hawaii County Merit Appeals Board consider Mr. Ronald K. Takahashi as Director of Human Resources. Ma-wail County is an EquaCOpportunit y Provider and EmpCoyer Letter dated December 16, 2009, from Brandon Gonzalez, supporting the appointment of Mr. Ronald Takahashi as the next Director of Human Resources for the County of Hawaii. Letter dated December 17, 2009, from Mr. Ivan M. Torigoe, Deputy Director of the Department of Environmental Management, supporting the appointment of Ronald K. Takahashi as Director of Human Resources. MOTION: Mr. Yoshiyama moved that the above communications be added to the agenda under Communications. The motion was seconded by Mr. Rowe and unanimously carried. The communications were assigned nos. 09 -18 through 09 -21 respectively. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC Mr. Tim Rees testified on certain communications that the Board received regarding the appointment of Ron Takahashi and on the appeal filed by Stanley Nakasone, see Communication No. 09 -16. Mr. Ivan Torigoe, Deputy Director of the Department of Environmental Management, testified in an official and personal capacity on the Board's consideration of Mr. Ronald Takahashi as the next Director of Human Resources. (See Communication No. 09 -21.) MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 4, 2009 MOTION: Mr. De Lima moved that the minutes of November 4, 2009 be approved as circulated. The motion was seconded by Mr. Rowe and unanimously carried. COMMUNICATIONS MOTION: Mr. De Lima moved that Communication Nos. 09 -07 through 09 -15 and Communication Nos. 09 -17 through 09 -21 be received and filed. The motion was seconded by Mr. Rowe and unanimously carried. loo� 100N NEW BUSINESS A) Communication No. 09 -16, petition of appeal received December 2, 2009, from Stanley S. Nakasone, appealing the decision of Public Works Director Warren H.W. Lee to allow a Laborer II in the Highways Division to continue to work even though he does not meet the minimum qualifications of his position when he lost his driver's license. The hearing was scheduled for January 19, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. B) Approval of amended position description for Director of Human Resources. Mr. Ben explained that the purpose of amending the position description was to incorporate the additional responsibility that the department had assumed in 2003 when the equal opportunity function was transferred to his department from the Mayor's Office. MOTION: Mr. Yoshiyama moved to accept the position description as amended. The motion was seconded by Mr. De Lima and unanimously carried. C) Consideration of appointment of Ronald Takahashi as Director of Human Resources effective December 31, 2009. Chair Robinson allowed Mr. Takahashi the opportunity to make any statements he wished, followed by any questions from the Board regarding Mr. Takahashi's ability to fill the position. Mr. Takahashi first thanked Mr. Ben for his guidance and assistance throughout the years, mentoring Mr. Takahashi while under his direction in the department, as well as for his supportive recommendation of Mr. Takahashi as his successor. Mr. Takahashi also thanked the organizations and individuals who came forth to offer words of support for him. He thanked the Merit Appeals Board for considering him for the appointment. Mr. Takahashi's resume, as submitted, essentially summarizes 30 years of HR experience in public service. 20 years have been in this department, which K has given him invaluable experience in human resource management, allowing him to understand the State and County civil service system and how State and County governments operate, which he believes is very key in knowing the job. Mr. Takahashi has had six years of top level administrative experience, two years as the Deputy Director of Public Works, and the last four years as the Deputy Director of Human Resources. Throughout the years, he has developed a good working relationship with the staff, which will be key in tackling the hard work coming up to assist the administration through these tough economic times. The relationship he has developed with the staff will enable him to guide them through all of this. He also believes he's developed good relationships with other departments throughout the County and strong relationships with the unions to work through the tough issues that face them in collective bargaining. More recently, he has developed a working relationship with Mayor Kenoi and Managing Director Takaba in dealing closely with them in the recent HGEA negotiations and as they currently go through the UPW negotiations. He meets the qualification requirements of the position as outlined in the position description and is very confident that he's capable of carrying on the duties of the position. MOTION: Mr. De Lima moved that the Board appoint Mr. Takahashi as Director of Human Resources effective December 31, 2009. The motion was seconded by Mr. Silva. Discussion: Chair Robinson asked Mr. Udovic whether there was anything in the Board's rules that would require them to take any other action, such as advertising or seeking other resumes. Mr. Udovic responded that there were none. The Board is perfectly capable of performing this function as they are doing so today. Vice Chair Yoshiyama stated that he would like to solicit comments from Mr. Takahashi on his vision, mission, and strategic plans for the department. 4 Mr. Takahashi stated that without going into too much detail because things haven't been discussed yet with staff, as Mr. Ben pointed out in the last meeting, their department has been tasked with what is now being referred to as the personnel evaluation ad hoc committee where their staff is meeting with every department in the County to help them look at their organization and streamline their organization. The HR department was included in that review. Again, without going into too much detail, the HR department will be tasked with reducing its staffing levels. All departments are being asked to look seriously at reducing staffing levels. Mr. Ben has allowed Mr. Takahashi to submit his reorganization plan to this evaluation committee, which is a three - year plan to reduce staffing levels by five positions through attrition. Part of the reorganization is to consolidate the support staff work and do a lot of cross - training so that employees will be able to work in more than one divisional area. That will be key as they are facing, through attrition, the loss of bodies, and they won't be able to fill the positions. They will need employees to step in, and he will be working very hard towards getting staff to understand that they need to help each other, be able to do each other's jobs. That's one area he will be concentrating on. It's always been Mr. Takahashi's opinion that their department, along with the Corporation Counsel's Office and the Finance Department, are three key support agencies in the County who support the line agencies that provide direct services to the public. In these tough times, he believes that Human Resources, Corporation Counsel, and Finance are going to be key in how they advise and support other departments. One of Mr. Takahashi's visions is to strengthen the ties between these three departments so that they work closely together to provide one unified message to the departments instead of providing conflicting information. He's not saying that's not going on now, but they do need to work together through these tough times. The budget situation is tough, they have a lot of legal questions that come up through collective bargaining, and these three departments need to work closely together. He would like to continue what Mr. Ben has started as far as believing that they are a department that people want to come to for answers, not because they have to, but because they want to. Mr. Takahashi wants to continue that and strengthen that goal so that they deliver the best service they can. A few years ago when the departments were extremely busy in the "boom" years, they went towards being more of a paper - processing agency, processing recruitments, transactions, etc. Things have settled down a bit so he wants to go 5 10"*N I-kk back to being a more professional organization stressing once again strategic and analytical thinking so that they can, again, go out and help the departments through these tough times. Vice Chair Yoshiyama asked for comments on the future of civil service and collective bargaining, noting that times are changing. Mr. Takahashi stated that he doesn't see too many changes in civil service. Civil service is built on the merit principle where the County hires openly through merit based on qualifications, and people are retained because of demonstrated performances. They are promoted through a system of career ladders. First and foremost, he thinks it is the responsibility of the department to maintain the integrity of the merit system, and he doesn't see that system changing even through tough times. In fact, it may have to be tightened up a little more to make sure they hire the right people. Mr. Takahashi believes there will be a large movement by the governor to change collective bargaining, resulting in more autonomy within the counties to negotiate their own separate contracts. It was difficult this year trying to negotiate one contract with all the different counties and all the different needs; therefore, he sees the governor going in to the Legislature this year in an attempt to have the jurisdictions negotiate their own contracts. Mr. Rowe asked why, with all these shortfalls and cutbacks, Mr. Takahashi still wants to become the director. Mr. Takahashi responded that he looks upon it as a challenge at this time. It has been his career goal to become the director. He didn't choose for the economy to be bad in this time, but he feels that Mr. Ben has interned him to deal with these situations. Mr. Silva commented that he knows the political side, the union side, and the citizens of the community. Mr. Takahashi is a highly respected man. If Mr. Silva didn't think that Mr. Takahashi's employees cared about him, and if he didn't have a recommendation from Mr. Ben, or if he thought that the department needed someone new to play a different game, he wouldn't have been quick to second the motion that Mr. De Lima made. Mr. Silva believes that Mr. Takahashi will do a good job; he's well respected in the community and, most importantly, inhouse. R Mr. De Lima commented that he supports Mr. Takahashi because, as Mr. Takahashi had indicated, this is his career, and he invested so much energy and time in this department. It's only right that the Board appoint someone who has put in that time and energy to know the job and is prepared to take over when called upon. This is Mr. Takahashi's time, and they should appoint people who are in their community who have the education and experience to do the job. Mr. Takahashi has always been someone who worked hard, and he deserves this appointment. Mr. Rowe commented that he knows Mr. Takahashi is qualified, but he wanted to hear in his voice compassion for the job, and he did hear that. He believes Mr. Takahashi will do a good job. Chair Robinson stated that he has three questions he'd like to ask. First of all, he asked to hear Mr. Takahashi's thoughts on filling the deputy director position, inasmuch as they heard about the budget shortfall and the need to cut back on staff. Mr. Takahashi responded that he would like to fill that position. He believes the department needs a deputy director to assist him in these challenging times ahead. He will, of course, respect the administration's wishes, and he will check with them to see if they will allow him to fill the position. Chair Robinson's second question was on Mr. Takahashi's stance toward workers' compensation. Years ago when they had worked on the Charter amendment to get workers' comp transferred to the Human Resources department, there had been a fairly substantial amount of workers' comp that Mr. Ben and Ms. Charmaine Kamaka worked hard on reducing. Chair Robinson asked whether Mr. Takahashi would continue as aggressive a stance toward workers' comp to ensure that it's reduced. Mr. Takahashi stated that he will continue to support Ms. Kamaka. Ms. Kamaka is doing a fantastic job. It's through her efforts and the changes she's made in that area that have resulted in a significant reduction in workers' comp. Chair Robinson noted that the Board received a lot of letters from the unions supporting Mr. Takahashi. He knows Mr. Takahashi's job entails negotiating with the unions on behalf of the County. Does Mr. Takahashi think VA it's strange that while he's negotiating with the unions to reduce the cost of government, at the same time the unions are saying "Ron is a nice guy ?" Mr. Takahashi stated that key to any involvement with negotiations is establishing relationships to the point where they can "agree to disagree," and he believes that he has developed working relationships with them so that if he calls upon them, they will open their door and listen to what he has to say. He does not believe he's obliging to any one person or organization, but while he's pleasantly surprised that they came forth with their letters of support, he's also not surprised that they support him because he has established a relationship with them and is able to talk with them. As Mr. Torigoe testified previously, Mr. Takahashi does tell management when they're wrong, and he will support management with the unions when they are correct. They will address grievances through the proper procedures. Vice Chair Yoshiyama spoke to the above. Having sat across Mr. Takahashi for all of his 30 years with the County, the point is not whether the unions like or don't like Mr. Takahashi. It's a matter of professionalism, knowledge, respect, and trust. Trust meaning can they take this person's word as time goes on, and Vice Chair Yoshiyama believes that's where the unions are coming on. There has to be some kind of relationship built over time. There's a lot of respect for Mr. Takahashi. The motion was voted on and carried unanimously. Mr. Takahashi was appointed Director of Human Resources effective December 31, 2009. DIRECTOR'S REPORT Mr. Ben reported the following: 1) As the Board may recall, Mr. Ben had been reporting that with the governor's and mayors' involvement in collective bargaining, collective bargaining had been out of their (directors') hands. There is only UPW remaining at this point. The mayors have now decided that Hawaii County will take the lead in collective bargaining, and Mayor Kenoi has asked Human Resources to handle it, so they're back to functioning normally again as the lead agency for collective bargaining. They've been instructed to once again gather 0 with their counterparts in all the other jurisdictions and negotiate like they have done before where the HR directors represent the various executive officers. They are now working on setting meetings with the one remaining union, the United Public Workers. 2) The department wasn't asked to cut a specific percentage from its budget, but they were asked to cut as much as they could. Therefore, in that process, the department trimmed its proposed budget for the next fiscal year by 10 %, which amounted to approximately $200,000. The 10% cut was from the department's total budget as opposed to this current budget where they were asked to cut 10% of their operating costs. The cut is a significant amount and leaves the department with a "bare- bones" budget given the fact that about 76% of the total budget is for salaries and wages. The biggest item that was reduced came from money allotted to the equal opportunity officer to make modifications. That budget was originally $100,000, but the court order was a minimum of $50,000, so they went with what the court ordered and reduced it by $50,000. The other big money item was the advertising budget of $90,000, which they reduced. They will continue to fill key, essential positions such as Fire and Police, but as they are on a restricted hiring order from the administration, they don't expect to be filling that many positions. The travel account was cut by $15,000 or $20,000, although that may be difficult with collective bargaining proposals coming up. The other cuts were small amounts taken from different accounts. The 10% cut did not include the workers' comp budget. 3) The personnel evaluation committee has completed all interviews with departments and are finalizing their recommendations to the Mayor. 4) The Board had noted, at the last meeting, the increase in accidents from Fire and Police in 2005 and 2006 on the report from Ms. Kamaka, and the Board inquired into that. Ms. Kamaka found that there were no external factors on why the numbers increased. Basically, she found that those accidents were pure carelessness on the part of the drivers. More importantly, as her report states, Fire and Police now have effective programs in place, and that's why in 2008 and 2009 there was a tremendous drop in the number of accidents. Police are now taking sterner action against police officers who are careless and 6 n are now requiring them to get retrained, take defense driving courses, etc. Their numbers should be reduced as well through positive action. In regards to his retirement, Mr. Ben stated that he's enjoyed his time here and has no regrets. Like their discussion about the relationship with unions, they may fight and battle, but at the end they're still family, and he thinks that's reflected by what's seen in their department. They're a diverse department, with different kinds of individuals, but they were able to work through everything. He believes they have a great department. done. Vice Chair Yoshiyama offered his appreciation for all that Mr. Ben has NEXT MEETING DATE The Board scheduled its next meeting for January 19, 2010 at 9:30 a.m. followed by Stanley Nakasone's appeal hearing at 10:00. a.m. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Vice Chair Yoshiyama moved that the meeting be adjourned. The motion was seconded by Mr. De Lima and unanimously carried. The meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Secretary, Merit Appeals Board APPROVED: G. Rick Robinson Chair vym m