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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-04-17 Cost of Government Commission MinutesCOST OF GOVERNMENT COMMISSION c/o Office of the Corporation Counsel, 101 Aupuni Street, Suite 325, Hilo, Hawaii 96720 MINUTES' Thursday, April 17, 2014 — 1:00 p.m. Hawaii County Council Room 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Commission Members present: Susan Maddox, Chair Douglas Espejo Glen Matsuda Delan Perry Linda M. Kelly (via videoconference from Kona Council Conference Room) John Mitchell (via videoconference from Kona Council Conference Room) Also present: Katherine A. Garson, Assistant Corporation Counsel Jennifer M. Kualii, Secretary 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chair Maddox at 1:03 p.m. 2. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC None. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (April 3, 2014) Motion and Vote: Mr. Espejo moved to approve the minutes of April 3, 2014. The motion was seconded by Mr. Matsuda and all commissioners present voted aye. 4. CORRESPONDENCE Motion and Vote (Comm. No. 2014 -063): Mr. Perry moved to file this communication. The motion was seconded by Mr. Matsuda and all commissioners present voted aye. 1 Minutes in italics are verbatim. Hawaii County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer Motion and Vote (Comm. No. 2014 -064): Mr. Matsuda moved to file this communication. The motion was seconded by Mr. Perry and all commissioners present voted aye. Motion and Vote (Comm. No. 2014 -065): Mr. Espejo moved to file this communication. The motion was seconded by Mr. Perry and all commissioners present voted aye. Motion and Vote (Comm. No. 2014 -066): Mr. Perry moved to file this communication. The motion was seconded by Mr. Espejo and all commissioners present voted aye. Motion and Vote (Comm. No. 2014 -067): Mr. Matsuda moved to file this communication. The motion was seconded by Mr. Perry and all commissioners present voted aye. Motion and Vote (Comm. No. 2014 -068): Ms. Kelly moved to file this communication. The motion was seconded by Mr. Espejo and all commissioners present voted aye. Motion and Vote (Comm. No. 2014 -069): Mr. Matsuda moved to file this communication. The motion was seconded by Mr. Mitchell and all commissioners present voted aye. Motion and Vote (Comm. No. 2014 -070): Mr. Matsuda moved to file this communication. The motion was seconded by Mr. Espejo and all commissioners present voted aye. Motion and Vote (Comm. No. 2014 -071): Mr. Espejo moved to file this communication. The motion was seconded by Mr. Perry and all commissioners present voted aye. Motion and Vote (Comm. No. 2014 -072): Mr. Perry moved to file this communication. The motion was seconded by Mr. Matsuda and all commissioners present voted aye. Motion and Vote (Comm. No. 2014 -073): Mr. Matsuda moved to file this communication. The motion was seconded by Mr. Espejo and all commissioners present voted aye. Motion and Vote (Comm. No. 2014 -074): Mr. Mitchell moved to file this communication. The motion was seconded by Mr. Matsuda and all commissioners present voted aye. Motion and Vote (Comm. No. 2014 -075): Mr. Perry moved to file this communication. The motion was seconded by Mr. Matsuda and all commissioners present voted aye. K Motion and Vote (Comm. No. 2014 -076): Mr. Espejo moved to file this communication. The motion was seconded by Mr. Perry and all commissioners present voted aye. Motion and Vote (Comm. No. 2014 -077): Mr. Perry moved to file this communication. The motion was seconded by Mr. Mitchell and all commissioners present voted aye. Ms. Garson pointed out that a section was missing from Mr. Lau's letter and that a complete letter was emailed to all Commissioners this morning. She recommended deferring Mr. Lau's letter until all Commissioners had a chance to look at the complete letter. Ms. Garson suggested that if the Commissioners had questions, that they wait until Mr. Lau or Mr. Kurohara are present at the meeting to discuss this letter and answer any questions from the Commissioners. Amended Motion and Vote (Comm. No. 2014 -077): Mr. Espejo moved to defer this communication at the call of the Chair. The motion was seconded by Mr. Perry and all commissioners present voted aye. Motion and Vote (Comm. No. 2014 -078): Mr. Matsuda moved to file this communication. The motion was seconded by Mr. Perry and all commissioners present voted aye. Motion and Vote (Comm. No. 2014 -079): Mr. Mitchell moved to file this communication. The motion was seconded by Mr. Espejo and all commissioners present voted aye. 5. DISCUSSION ON RESPONSES RECEIVED FROM DEPARTMENTS, EMPLOYEES AND BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS Ms. Maddox said the bullet points are items that were requested to be carried forward from the last meeting to be able to keep track of these particular concerns. She asked if there were any further discussion or if anyone would like to add to these items. She noted the items were pulled forward to get additional information when meeting with the various departments. Ms. Garson said these items were added to the agenda in case the Commissioners wanted further discussion. When the subcommittees meet with their departments, these are items to consider. She stated if there will be no further discussion on these items, it will not be pulled forward on future agendas. Ms. Maddox was of the understanding that the group expressed some kind of interest in these items and were interested in getting more information from the departments. K3 Mr. Matsuda said that after reviewing the letters, a lot of the letters have the same concerns. He asked if the Commission wanted to devise a questionnaire or template that would be applicable to all the departments. Ms. Garson said this could be addressed under agenda item #7. 6. DISCUSSION REGARDING "THEMES" FOR REPORT Ms. Maddox stated that at earlier meetings, discussion was held regarding overarching themes that would be appropriate to all departments. Originally, the themes were identified as energy, finance and technology. She asked if there were any additional themes to add. Mr. Mitchell thinks two parts are missing: serving the land and serving the people. He wants people to know they are here to serve the people on both sides of the fence. Mr. Perry stated other frequently mentioned themes are employees and vehicles. Ms. Kelly agreed. Mr. Matsuda noted from the letters that some employees are allowed to take home vehicles because of their position and he's not sure if that is union oriented or not. Ms. Garson replied that when the subcommittees meet with their departments, they can ask the departments if they have a vehicle take home policy, does it need to be changed and how do they handle that. She also noted another concern expressed in the communications regarding vehicles was the lack of vehicles available for use in the pool. It is something to look at and make suggestions if there is a more efficient way the County can handle this. Mr. Matsuda wanted to know who they could ask to find out if there is an excess amount of vehicles, how many are assigned to various departments and how many vehicles are made available in case of emergency. Ms. Garson replied that Public Works would be the primary department. Ms. Maddox stated it would be one of the themes that would go across all departments, the Commission may find some things related to consistency or inconsistency from one department to another. Ms. Maddox stated they've talked about Mr. Mitchell's concern to make sure all departments are there to serve the people whether it's employees or the public and caring for the land; each department may or may not have a direct connection but in general, we're all here to take care of this place. The other notion was of vehicles and the standing three themes: energy, finance and technology. She asked the Commissioners if those were universal themes to be able to have consistent questions and gather information from the departments. Mr. Mitchell stated vehicles could come underneath technology and finance as a secondary item within the large umbrella of technology and finance. Mr. Perry said he E sees that as one of the things to add to the list of questions when talking to the departments. 7. DISCUSSION REGARDING FORMATION OF SUBCOMMITTEES TO MEET WITH VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES FOR THE PURPOSE OF GATHERING INFORMATION FOR THE FINAL REPORT Ms. Maddox brought up Mr. Matsuda's notion of developing a frame work or consistent questions so all subcommittees are asking the same questions of all the departments. She asked Ms. Garson if they could use a script. Ms. Garson replied they could do what they wanted and suggested making a chart to list the common areas of concern, that way everyone could come back with the same format as opposed to some coming back with a narrative and others coming back with a sentence or two. Mr. Matsuda, Mr. Mitchell and Ms. Kelly agreed. Ms. Maddox clarified that in terms of vehicles, the questions to the department should be on the ability to use vehicles and what is their take home policy. Mr. Mitchell noted that it should be whether it is a clear policy, fair policy and an enforced policy. Mr. Espejo brought up the concern regarding overtime. Mr. Mitchell stated there are a lot of problems with overtime but we have to understand there are some situations where overtime is needed. He noted some of the letters stated overtime is taken out of context and there is no consistency. Ms. Maddox feels that Mr. Mitchell's suggestion: is there a policy, is it clear, is it fair and is it enforced, should go across both overtime and vehicles. Mr. Perry and Mr. Matsuda agreed. Mr. Perry said after the first set of interviews, they may want to revisit that but that's a good place to start. Mr. Mitchell stated he is curious about the public purchase program Mr. Lau made note of which is tied to another program, the Cooperative Purchasing Program. Ms. Garson said the Finance Department takes care of most of the purchasing for the County so whoever has Finance should explore that. Mr. Espejo said once everyone gets into the interview process and follows up with the responses, they'll come up with the necessary questions as it pertains to that particular department. Ms. Garson said the Commission has decided on their themes as energy, finance, technology and to better serve the public. She suggested adding a common question, for example, for energy, does your department practice efficiency, do you have any suggestions regarding energy, how do you use technology, do you have any suggestions about that. She could add these questions on the chart as well as Mr. Mitchell's questions about serving the people and serving the land. Ms. Garson said the subcommittees could ask what they wanted but she would put it on the chart so it wouldn't be forgotten. Ms. Maddox stated it becomes a general question within each department. N7 Mr. Mitchell stated the County sold off 2003 bonds and got a new lower interest rate which is how the County balances its budget. He finds this very important. Ms. Maddox said for technology, she would like to hear what the departments think about how the implementation plans are going or how they feel that's going to improve productivity by having new equipment. She understands there were a 1,000 units that were going to be purchased. Ms. Garson said right now there are eight themes: vehicles, overtime, energy, finance, technology, how do you serve the people, how do you serve the public, how do you serve the land. The Commissioners are each authorized to go to the departments to gather information and bring that information back to the group. 8. DISCUSSION /ACTION REGARDING APPROACH TO TAKE TO TIMELY ACCOMPLISH MANDATE OF THE COST OF GOVERNMENT COMMISSION Ms. Maddox stated at the last meeting Ms. Kelly wanted a timeline established and asked Ms. Kelly for suggestions on when she thought would be reasonable times. Ms. Kelly suggested that by early September the subcommittees should be done with their reports and start working on gathering their information. By the end of October a draft of the recommendations should be done to get it out by November. Ms. Maddox said she understands the report to be due in January. Mr. Matsuda said to be mindful that if they want to get everything done by September, there are only 10 more meetings left. Ms. Garson said according to her calculations, the report is due on January 20th Ms. Maddox said that is a big difference. Ms. Kelly was under the impression that November was the end of their function for the Cost of Government Commission. Ms. Garson clarified that their first meeting was February 20th so eleven months from February 20th makes the report due on January 20th to the Mayor and Council. Ms. Kelly was under the impression that 11 months from January, which would be November, was the end of the committee and they needed to get their task done by then which is why she was emphasizing to have a guideline to achieve their goals. Ms. Maddox said they would certainly work towards that goal. If the report is done by November 1St that would be fabulous, if not, the group knows they still have a bit of time to finish up and be done by January 10th. Ms. Maddox asked if that process works for everyone. Everyone agreed. At 1:56 p.m., Ms. Maddox announced the arrival of Randy Kurohara. He's the Deputy Managing Director and representing the Mayor's Office. Ms. Maddox called back Communication No. 2014 -077 under agenda item #5. Mr. Kurohara arrived at 1:56 p.m. and elaborated on responses related to previous recommendations. [.1 Mr. Kurohara: First off,/ want to thank all of you for again, for your time and service, Glen, it's your second time, but thank you again, Doug, Rusty and for those in Kona, John and Linda. Anyways, before 1 get started with that, 1 just want to say this, 1 mean, the work that you do is really important and 1 know that often times, at this point of the process, looking at all that you have to do within a short period of time seems very daunting. Glen, you've been through this process before, all l can say is that it is very important work, the recommendations put forth last time, which we have a response, if you folks all have, if you look at it, a lot of them are being worked or have been implemented, were possible, so you know, there's some areas where obviously from a County perspective, we don't have the jurisdiction or ability to implement some of those, but where we could, we have, in some cases where it wasn't something we could do right then but we're moving towards it, so we're in the process, if not, already doing most of what was recommended, so again, the work is important and we really appreciate it. So things to know too is that, we've been through several years of really tough economy and when you look at the budgets and what the Mayor has asked of every department, is that outside of your payroll and salaries, those other expenses which is your travel, office supplies, equipment costs, things of that nature, we've had to, every department has had to cut every year, you know, 5 %, 10 %, you know, so every year we've had to trim those areas, so we've been running really lean out of those areas, so in regards to some of the things like travel, and those kind of expenses, 1 think every department shown cuts throughout the past few years. One of the things 1 wanted to address here today that's not in our response here, is that a lot of areas where we've had to cut or we had to defer may be popping up, so like in areas such as (inaudible), you know, the purchase of any vehicles for many years, we've held you know, a lot of agencies haven't purchased a lot of office equipment and things of that nature that have been breaking down so we may see some of those areas having to be addressed, again, it's been several years of pushing these costs to the next year or the following year, not doing sort of the maintenance and the replacement, things that we should be, so that being said, 1 kind of wanted to share with you going forward so when you look at, when you talk to the different departments this year, you may see the need for some of those things having to be addressed. In terms of the report that Wally had submitted, it's all pretty much in writing but do you folks have any questions on that? I'm pretty sure it's pretty self explanatory about that response, you know 1 can always come back if you do have specific questions on any one of those. What 1 would like to say also is that 1 think from my perspective when 1 think about cost of government, it's the cost of delivering a certain level of service, what is the cost associated with that level of service and as a County government we've been asked to deliver more services cause again we have a growing community with a lot of needs, transportation to roads, parks, gyms, we've actually in the last years, you know, actually done a lot more with less but at some point in time, the upkeep and maintenance of a lot of these, added roads, added facilities, added parks, things of that nature may be something that you may need look at because, again, we cannot keep going along trying to cut, cut, cut but yet, trying to also at the same, trying to do more, more, more too, so 1 think in some cases we need to find some kind of balance in all of that but when it comes to travel, cost of meetings, maybe, just thinking off the top of my head, but some areas may be use of overtime, expenses, things of that nature, these are areas where 1 think we should be able to really look further at, how we can better manage these costs, but then again, you'll see that every department had made cuts every year. rA Mr. Matsuda asked how does he plan to implement the consolidation and coordination of the inspection and enforcement response of Public Works? Mr. Kurohara: I'm not ready to really elaborate too much on that right now. All l can say is this, is that as an administration, we've worked with these departments to really look at, before we look at this stage, we wanted to make sure we are doing everything we can with their present set up to make it as efficient as possible, one was software, the new software that they have with the building permit and sort of that review committee that meets once or twice a week and reviews plans and (inaudible) those sort of steps were done to try and make the current system better. Given that though, the administration is at a point where we're looking into the legalities of what's involved with moving down this road, towards some sort of consolidation of that process. Mr. Matsuda said initially looking at it; it's the IT aspect of the consolidation of the information. He said he has questions on the inspection and enforcement responsibilities. Mr. Kurohara: 1 think it involves beyond IT. Mr. Matsuda said it may involve legality issues. Mr. Kurohara: So right now that's, we're in that process. Ms. Maddox said there are a lot of references to new software in the responses and presumes that ties in to the recently announced hardware purchases coming on line. Mr. Kurohara: Yes, this is all part of IT, sort of their lag going forward involved the purchasing of new computers to update all of the different departments right now that have a lot of their computers that are operating, the old computers are operating off of very old platforms, so that was something that was built into the Mayor's budget even from this year already, so going forward that was part of the whole plan to upgrade the County's IT capacity so it will be involving new computers, new software, things to make IT or the efficient use of the information or the, between departments so we can function better together, we're all on the same page but also between the County and the public as well, so it's for two purposes. Ms. Maddox thanked Mr. Kurohara. Mr. Kurohara: Again, 1'11 be available at your future meetings, Wally or myself, if you have any more questions. Ms. Maddox said individual department heads are also responding and the group is trying to figure out broader perspectives that may come from the Mayor's Office. She thanked Mr. Kurohara for making the time to come. Mr. Mitchell asked Mr. Kurohara if there is an audit program for overtime as it's a concern in a couple of letters. E:3 Mr. Kurohara: That's a good question. I'm not sure 1 have the answer for that right now but 1 do know that certain overtime is budgeted in certain departments and probably not so in others. I'm sorry, 1 think it is budgeted in all. Ms. Garson said all departments have overtime budgets. She said there is an annual external audit that is required by the Charter. Ms. Maddox said Mr. Kurohara offered to comment on the recommendation for the centralized grant writing efforts; this was the page missing from the original letter from the Managing Director. Mr. Kurohara: Basically, the response to that is that within the Department of Research & Development, there is a grant specialist that resides there. What I've seen, because 1 was in that position before, 1 used to work there before, is that the grant specialist is basically a facilitator, someone that helps other agencies or other departments with questions about how to write grants, how to look for grants and so forth. Grant writing in itself is a very difficult, and Susan you know, process that requires many people to write many grants, so to have, every departments has, most departments that are writing grants, have their own grant writers there, so they have staff that's assigned to writing grants, so the grant specialist role is to really facilitate finding the matching of these grants with the needs of the department. So in addition to that there's also a grant search engine that we work with that helps not only all of our departments but outside agencies can become a member as well and they can log in and they can do these searches for grants that would match what their looking for. Ms. Maddox commented that as a non - profit organization, her organization participates in the grant service Mr. Kurohara talked about and it's a very powerful internet based search engine. She said you can add criteria for what you're looking for and it will search public foundations, private foundations, federal and state funding sources. She said that to have a single grant writer who would have the expertise to write across all the department needs is not realistic but to have someone who is sophisticated in understanding on how to search and match funding sources to department needs is a strong function. Mr. Matsuda asked how many departments have a grant specialist. Mr. Kurohara: Most of, Police, Fire, Mass Transit, 1 mean you know, some of the agencies that are often writing for grants, Civil Defense, they may not have a so called grant writer as a position but their staff, they have trained staff that's what they do, that's part of what they do. There were no more questions for Mr. Kurohara. Ms. Maddox thanked him for taking the time to come. Mr. Kurohara left at 2:13 p.m. Ms. Maddox said that in the Police Chief's letter, he asked if he could see a draft of the recommendations before it was finalized. She asked Ms. Garson if that was within the protocol. Ms. Garson replied the group's discussion are all public, the group 141,11 will discuss recommendations for the Police Department at a meeting before doing the final report and at that point, a draft can be sent out and ask the department for comments. Mr. Matsuda asked if the department heads could come to their meeting when they are discussing the recommendations. Ms. Garson said you can ask them. Ms. Garson said as the group is doing their report, she anticipates the subcommittees will have a working relationship with the department personnel they are working with and would be able to ask them if they have any comments or would like to change anything on the report. Ms. Maddox stated her concern would be to confirm her understanding of the information received and give the department an opportunity to review the draft and be able to add information or make changes. Ms. Garson said some subcommittees might have two meetings with their departments; one for information gathering and the next to do a little more research once the information is received. Mr. Perry agreed. Ms. Garson said she would send out a chart for the subcommittees to use for their meetings as well as send an email out the departments, ccing the respective subcommittee members, informing the departments to expect a call or email from the subcommittee member to schedule a meeting. Ms. Kelly asked if acknowledgment letters were going to be sent out for the correspondence received. Ms. Maddox said yes. Ms. Maddox asked if they needed to go back to Communication No. 2014 -077 since she requested it to be pulled forward. Ms. Garson replied that it is back on the table. Motion and Vote (Communication No. 2014 -077): Mr. Matsuda moved to file this communication. The motion was seconded by Mr. Espejo and all commissioners present voted aye. Ms. Maddox said as soon as the emails to the departments are sent out, the Commissioners have the ability to make contact with departments. Those who are going as a team need to make contact with one another and coordinate their schedules. Ms. Espejo asked if the Commissioners were going to ask the department heads when they were available and then schedule from there. Ms. Garson said yes, they can ask for the department head's availability and maybe give them a two week window, whichever is convenient. She said the email to the departments will come from Ms. Kualii who will introduce the subcommittee members and they can start communication from there. 9. ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA Ms. Maddox noted there are a couple more responses that came in that will be on the next agenda. Items #1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 will be placed on the next agenda. Ms. Garson said not to include item #5 as it can be discussed in the communication. Ms. Maddox asked the status of having the energy coordinator present. Ms. Garson ii to] replied we have not gotten a response but will continue to try. Ms. Maddox said once we hear from him, it can be put on the agenda. Ms. Maddox stated she would like the group to consider the possibility of not having a meeting on May 1St and spend the next three weeks trying to get meetings scheduled. The next scheduled meeting would be on June 15tH Ms. Kelly asked that once the subcommittees meet with their designated departments, how can it get on the agenda to be discussed. Ms. Garson said to notify Ms. Kualii or if the Commission wants, put on the agenda something similar to agenda item #7, to discuss the progress of subcommittees' reports and any problems that was encountered. Ms. Maddox reminded Commissioners that Ms. Kualii needs to have any items to be added to the agenda at least seven days prior to the meeting date. Ms. Kualii said she will need the items to be place on the agenda by May 8tH Ms. Maddox asked Ms. Garson if there is anything else the Commission should be considering at this point. Ms. Garson replied no. She said the meetings are really going to be sort of a periodic check in and the Commission will eventually have to discuss how the put the whole report together, but that will come later. Mr. Matsuda asked what to do for those departments that haven't responded. Ms. Garson said for communications that are received in between meetings, Ms. Kualii will send those to the Commissioners but it is not to be discussed as a group. Ms. Garson said Ms. Kualii will have a running list of departments that have responded. She said for the boards and commissions, they had a difficult time meeting the April 7th deadline because they also need to comply with Sunshine Law. Some inquiries came in about meeting the deadline and they were informed to send in their responses as soon as they could. Ms. Garson said emailing each board and commission to introduce the subcommittee member will be a bit more difficult. The subcommittee could meet with the chairperson on an individual basis but whether or not that chairperson can speak or make recommendation on behalf of the board or commission is something else. She said some of the commissions already responded and they don't have anything in and of themselves, it's the departments. Ms. Garson asked the Commissioners if they wanted to wait until May 15th to see how many responses come back and then at that time, make a special effort to contact those that haven't responded. Ms. Maddox, Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Matsuda agreed. Ms. Garson clarified that the emails will be sent to the departments only. 10. DISCUSSION REGARDING LOCATIONS /DATES /TIMES OF FUTURE MEETINGSIVIDEO CONFERENCING Ms. Maddox brought back the notion of not having a meeting on May 1St as there will be no videoconferencing available and everyone will have to commit to being in person to Hilo. The May 1s meeting will be held at the Office of Aging and will require at leave five commissioners to have a quorum. Ms. Kelly and Mr. Mitchell committed themselves to be in Hilo for the meeting. 11 Ms. Garson wanted to clarify that up to this point, the May 1St meeting was going to be canceled to give Commissioners time to do their reports and the next meeting would be on May 15t ". Mr. Mitchell stated either way is fine with him. Mr. Matsuda said he thinks they should have a May 1St meeting to get the ball rolling and to make sure everyone is on the same page. He said everything will be solidified in writing as to the template of the questions to ask the departments and to add questions if needed. All commissioners agreed to have a May 1St meeting. 11. ANNOUNCEMENTS Ms. Maddox announced the next meeting will be held in Hilo on May 1St at 1:00 at the Office of Aging. There will be no videoconferencing available for this so everyone will need to attend in person. The next regularly scheduled meetings will be on May 15t" and June 5t" 12. ADJOURNMENT Motion and Vote: Mr. Matsuda moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Mr. Perry and all commissioners present voted aye. Meeting adjourned at 2:41 p.m. Respectfully submitted: /s/ Jennifer M. Kualii Jennifer M. Kualii, Secretary Ii VJ