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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-06-05 Cost of Government Commission Minutes COST OF GOVERNMENT COMMISSION c/o Office of the Corporation Counsel, 101 Aupuni Street, Suite 325, Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720 MINUTES Thursday, June 5, 2014 – 1:00 p.m. Puna Conference Room, County Building 25 Aupuni Street, Suite 1501 Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720 Commission Members present: Susan Maddox, Chair Ashley Kierkiewicz, Vice Chair Douglas Espejo Linda M. Kelly John Mitchell Delan Perry 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 (04-17-14 and 05-01-14) Motion and Vote: Mr. Perry moved to approve the minutes of April 17, 2014. The motion was seconded by Mr. Espejo and all commissioners present voted aye. Ms. Maddox noted for the May 1, 2014 minutes, Glen Masuda was listed as being present and he was not at the meeting. Motion and Vote: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to approve the minutes of May 1, 2014 with the correction noted by Ms. Maddox. The motion was seconded By Mr. Perry and all commissioners present voted aye. Hawai‘i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer 4. DISCUSSION REGARDING SUBCOMMITTEES’ MEETING WITH VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES FOR THE PURPOSE OF GATHERING INFORMATION FOR THE FINAL REPORT Ms. Maddox stated she had an opportunity to meet with Human Resources Director Sharon Toriano and Deputy Director Nick Hermes. She has a lot of notes and will be prepared to provide a report at the next meeting. Ms. Maddox asked if any other commissioners were able to meet or schedule an appointment with their departments. Mr. Mitchell said he will be meeting with Nancy Crawford from Finance on June 6, 2014 at 2;30 p.m. He will also be meeting with Ms. Jennifer Kualii because he has questions regarding Corporation Counsel and County functions. Mr. Mitchell said he is looking forward to meet with Ms. Stebbins very soon. On Monday, he will be meeting with County Council Chair J Yoshimoto. The other council members he will meet with are Dru Kanuha and Valerie Poindexter who is the Chair of the Finance Committee. Ms. Kierkiewicz and Ms. Maddox have appointments with Laverne Omori from Research and Development and Wally Lau and Randy Kurohara from the Mayor’s office on June 12, 2014. Ms. Maddox and Ms. Kelly have tentative appointments on June 19, 2014 with Aging and the Police Department. Mr. Espejo and Ms. Kelly will need to schedule their appointments when Ms. Kelly gets back from Canada. He did not want to schedule any appointments and she wouldn’t be able to attend. Ms. Maddox said that Ms. Kelly will be back before the next meeting. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked Ms. Garson if departments would get annoyed if the commissioners kept pushing for meetings. Ms. Kiekiewicz stated she has called and emailed, but no response and feels that they are not interested. Ms. Garson said she doesn’t think it’s too pushy and to let her know which department so she can call them. Ms. Garson stated that if anyone has reports to be placed on the agenda for the next meeting on June 19 that they should submit it to Ms. Kualii by June 13. Ms. Garson informed the Commissioners that once the reports are provided to other board members, they become public record. She also stated that reports maybe emailed to her and cc Ms. Kualii for review. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if there is a special format that needs to be followed. Ms. Garson reminded her of the matrix that they agreed upon. Ms. Maddox asked Mr. Perry when he would be available in early July so they can meet with Civil Defense. Mr. Perry said Monday mornings or Tuesday afternoons is good for him because he’s already in Hilo. Ms. Maddox said she will set something up for the first or second week in July. 2 Ms. Maddox asked if anyone knew when Mr. Matsuda would be back. Ms. Kualii stated that she received emails from him stating that he was injured, but no return date. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if Mr. Matsuda’s assigned departments should be given to other Commissioners in case he is not able to return within the next month or two; a plan should be in place in case he is not able to rejoin the group. Ms. Maddox stated Mr. Matsuda is paired with Ms. Kelly to cover the Fire department and with Mr. Mitchell to cover Parks & Recreation. Ms. Garson stated if anyone is having problems with getting responses back from the departments she could ask Mr. Lau to email the departments that are not responding. 5. ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA Ms. Maddox asked if reports shared at the next meeting would be placed under item #4 or becomes a new item. Ms. Garson replied the reports become a new item number and it needs to be agendized to give sufficient notice to the public. She also stated that if a report is not on the agenda, the Commissioners would not be able to discuss it because full notice was not given to the public. Ms. Maddox stated that items 1 thru 4 and any subsets with details, along with additions, will be carried over to the next agenda. Mr. Mitchell addressed his concern of Mr. Matsuda’s absence because September is the deadline for interviews. If Mr. Matsuda is not back by then, interviews will need to be conducted in October. Mr. Mitchell has a week off and once that window closes it will be hard for him to follow up on any additional committees. Ms. Kierkiewicz agreed and summarized that Mr. Mitchell wants to get the department meetings done before September or October so he has enough time to get the reports together. Mr. Mitchell agreed and added he has a few committees with Ms. Kierkiewicz and Mr. Matsuda. He went on to say that as a teacher, they sometimes get together and have what is called a basic temperature check which is what is being done within the commission right now. Mr. Mitchell did a basic research on the Finance Department and found they have a report of the internal international association of assessing officers of the tax division and will be sharing it with others in the commission. He asked that if anyone finds other reports for different departments that it be shared with the other commissioners. Ms. Maddox agreed. Ms. Garson acknowledged there was an audit on the entire Real Property Tax system and apologized to Mr. Mitchell because she knew of the audit. She also stated that the Legislative Auditor has done audits on the Department of Environmental Management, the Department of Water Supply and other departments that are online. She asked the commissioners if they would like links to these audits. Ms. Kierkiewicz said that would be helpful. Ms. Garson said she assumes the reports are on the department’s website and that the commissioners should ask the departments about audit reports done. Mr. Mitchell’s concern is that they will be missing the most obvious questions such as when was the last audit, do we have a report, was there a cost 3 analysis done and are copies available. Ms. Garson stated the County Charter mandates financial audits every year. The external auditor also does an audit when County programs receive federal funds. There are also a performance audits done by the Legislative Auditor’s office. Mr. Perry stated that Water Supply has an outside auditor that comes out with a report around February. Ms. Garson acknowledged that is the financial audit and stated the Legislative Auditor also did an audit and made recommendations. Ms. Maddox said the County website has a lot of information and was able to get a green report from the website which she took to her meeting with Human Resources. The report sparked a fair amount of conversation and they offered a lot of information when meeting with them. Ms. Maddox thanked Ms. Garson for any additional links that can be provided to help with the reports. 6. DISCUSSION REGARDING LOCATIONS/DATES/TIMES OF FUTURE MEETINGS/VIDEO CONFERENCING Ms. Maddox asked Ms. Kualii if future meetings have been scheduled. Ms. Kualii replied the June 19 meeting will be held at the Office of Aging Conference Room and no video conferencing will be available. The July 3 and July 17 meetings will be at the Puna Conference Room with videoconferencing to the Kona Council Conference Room. Ms. Maddox stated she will not be able to attend the July 3 meeting as she will be off island. 7. ANNOUNCEMENTS The next meeting of the Cost of Government Commission will be held on June 19, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. at the Office of Aging and Disability Resource Center, 1055 Kino‘ole Street, Suite 101, Hilo. 8. ADJOURNMENT Motion and Vote: Mr. Perry moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Mr. Espejo and all commissioners present voted aye. Meeting adjourned at 1:23 p.m. Respectfully submitted: /s/ Jennifer M. Kualii Jennifer M. Kualii, Secretary 4