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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-07-17 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 July 17, 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 (via videoconference from Kona Mayor’s Office 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 1:05 p.m. 2. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC None. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (06-05-14 and 06-19-14) Motion and Vote: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to approve the minutes of June 5, 2014. The motion was seconded by Mr. Espejo and all commissioners present voted aye. Motion and Vote: Mr. Espejo moved to approve the minutes of June 19, 2014. The motion was seconded by Ms. Kelly and all commissioners present voted aye. 4. DISCUSSION REGARDING SUBCOMMITTEE MEETINGS WITH VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES FOR THE PURPOSE OF GATHERING INFORMATION FOR THE FINAL REPORT Hawai‘i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer Mr. Mitchell reported the following on vehicle take home policy: · Hawai‘i Revised Statutes is specific to Government Motor Vehicles and the use thereof. · It is very specific, very clear reading and gives fine guidelines and exemptions for departments to follow. · In relation to the Police Department, research shows it is cost effective for police officers to have their own vehicles. Seventy-one percent of officers in a recent survey indicated it means a lot to them and gives them incentive to stay in a very high pressure job. There are no resources to have neighborhood police stations keep vehicles parked; this is confirmed in a 2002 article in the Honolulu Advertiser and a February 2012 article in the West Hawai‘i Today. · In relation to the Finance Department, Nancy Crawford and Deanna Sako were very helpful and genuine in saying they have a clear policy within their department; however, there are some issues they are revisiting. The department might have had a few instances where the policy may not have been followed but it probably was a unique circumstance. They are aware of the perception that there’s a problem and are dealing with it in-house. The Finance Department has a pool system and looks like they are trying to get more specific and revise forms to make sure they are updated. · In relation to the County Council and speaking with Dru Kanuha, he gets a $500 a month stipend for driving. Ms. Maddox noted that by Mr. Mitchell talking to the Finance Department, he had an opportunity to interface with multiple departments. Ms. Maddox and Ms. Kelly talked to the Police Department and will also have some input on vehicles. She noted that in talking to the Finance Department regarding vehicles, it crossed over into other departments Mr. Mitchell stated a key item in regards to his research on the vehicle use policy derived after talking to the Finance Department. Our County’s issue pales in comparison to Maui. Maui is in a difficult situation; several articles stated vehicles were not being used correctly. Maui recently visited this item in 2013 beginning in January through March – unmarked county vehicles were being used. They clarified their procedures and in doing so estimate a savings of $33 million; this is an issue being discussed on other islands as well. Maui is looking to have a surveillance system, a tracking system for their county vehicles. He would like to view the comprehensive county vehicle use program that Maui just brought in because they brought down the county vehicle usage by 52%, a savings of $33 million. The Maui Department of Water Supply thought this was really an issue because when there waterline breaks, employees need to get in their cars and access large parts of the island. Mr. Mitchell stated Hawai‘i County in April of 2012 bought five Chevrolet Volts, the electric hybrid vehicles. The Mayor wants everyone to use these vehicles, to test them, log where they drive, how the car drives and miles driven. These cars can get plugged in at the West Hawai‘i Civic Center and takes about three hours to charge; the installation station was paid for by a grant. The vehicles costs $47,000 each and the 2 County got a State credit of $4,500 per vehicle; there is a seven year warranty on the vehicles as well. Mr. Mitchell’s humble conclusion on vehicle usage with the legal aspect of using County vehicles specific to attorney’s and police officers seem to be in good shape. He stated our County is doing some proactive things to reduce the amount of money spent on County vehicles and the five electric vehicles are estimated to save approximately $5 million so the vehicles will pay for themselves in a short amount of time. Mr. Mitchell noted the program Maui is going through will give our County a good model to look at. They have twice the number of county vehicles so if they are estimating a savings of $33 million that would be half that amount for our County; he thinks it is a possible recommendation in the future. Mr. Espejo asked that specific to the Police Department, is it more cost effective for the officer to retain their vehicles? Mr. Mitchell replied, yes, use their private vehicles and continue to the stipend program; two different police chiefs literally ten years apart stating the same thing and again 71% of the police officers say it is significant to them. Mr. Mitchell reported the following on first responder policy: · Departments are to simply make sure they are enforcing the administrative rules that are in place; there might be some small adjustments in the enforcement of these rules. Ms. Garson asked Mr. Mitchell if he has a copy of the Maui vehicle policy. Mr. Mitchell said he would like to get a copy of that report from Maui and offer it to the commission as evidence it’s something the commission can work off of. Ms. Kelly asked Mr. Mitchell if he covered the topics of energy, technology and land? Mr. Mitchell replied, absolutely. Mr. Mitchell reported the following on real property tax exemptions: · In 2012, there were a lot of complaints regarding real property assessments and people felt it was uneven, not applied equally across the board. The people on the west side feel like they have been paying a high tax burden whereas not the all services are being supplied as might be on the east side. · Through a multitude of compliance, real property tax division was asked to reassess how they assess properties; a Real Property Tax Stakeholders Task Force was put together in March 2012. A 99-page report was issued by the International Association of Assessing Officers; there were 40 changes recommended and 13 of these 40 changes have been completed or nearly completed. It’s definitely a great tool to have this profession association look at things in regards to the cost and effectiveness of this program in this department. · Stewart Hussey, property appraiser from the east side and member of the Task Force is quoted as saying, “that much has changed, that in three years 3 more training has occurred, more clarity has occurred and team work has occurred”, he also said, “it’s amazing progress very impressed with the lack of defense posturing, that once these complaints came in, and they were brought forth, people decided to be transparent and not hide a thing”. · Mr. Sitko said employees are getting 30 hours of IAAO training, they have individual specialty classes, the geographic systems are being reassessed and how employees are being trained a little more across the board. · Hawai‘i is joining three other counties in regards to the Hawai‘i IAAO Chapter; Hawai‘i County will work with other neighbor islands to put more professionalism in assessing properties. Mr. Sitko said that by having the professional audit, hopefully it will have time and not duplicate efforts. · Their computer system has been upgraded; took three years for the upgrade. · According to a July 2014 West Hawai‘i Today article from the Task Force, basically the people don’t have to file state tax claims or a tax report to keep their exemptions. · The complaint received is that older people and people who do not speak English well or able to read well are going to have a problem complying with the tax exemption. · Mr. Mitchell feels a recommendation is these tax exemptions not hurt the poor and the elderly and the people who do not speak English well; those tax exemptions are for people who literally are claiming dead people. There were 1,200 cases of people getting the exemptions by claiming dead people. · The poor and elderly will need help filing out these state tax forms and tax files; they are the ones getting harmed by this change. Mr. Mitchell does not think this tax exemption was meant to hurt the poor and elderly. Ms. Maddox asked if what Mr. Mitchell is concerned about is the recommendation that people have to file new tax forms that they may not have had to file in the past in order to maintain the exemption; that particular mechanism may be onerous. Mr. Mitchell replied very much so. He does not believe the intent of this updated issue is to harm the elderly and poor; likely, these people are not trying to protect properties that have very high value but people who have simply made a mistake, a misunderstanding and not trying to defraud the state for large amounts of money. Ms. Maddox understands that at the moment, the County is going to move forward with this recommendation. Mr. Mitchell replied yes, he thinks this is a little onerous to the people who are really going to have a struggle and does not believe they are looking to defraud anyone. Ms. Kelly stated that not to discriminate against the public but should there be an age bracket where if you are over a certain age, you are not required to be filling out these forms for an exemption. Mr. Mitchell replied that is a possibility; he stated the elderly people simply don’t understand the material and some form of help should be provided. They will have to be careful on the wording so that it is not discriminatory. Ms. Kelly brought up an example with TSA at the airport; there is bulletin that states if you are over 75 or born before a certain date, you are not required to take off your shoes. 4 Ms. Maddox thinks they are trying to verify those people who are receiving exemptions that are not entitled to them. She stated that in terms of lots zoned agricultural decades ago may or may not be actively in Ag today, they may have houses and other things on the property but that exemption has continued to follow the land unless someone steps forward and asked why I have this exemption when they are not farming. Mr. Mitchell stated that it could be if the person who owns the property has been dead for a while and nothing has changed, the people are still getting the exemptions and they might be doing different things with that property. Ms. Kelly clarified that it may not have been conveyed to a new owner but within the family it passed on and the people presently managing the property are still benefiting from the exemption of the parent. Mr. Mitchell replied yes. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if these records are maintained in a paper system or scanned into forms and able to use technology to streamline the process. Mr. Mitchell replied they are going to electronic files. He thinks as they are going through the files, they often see nothing has changed in 15 years on the property and still getting the tax exemption; at some point all the files will be electronic with a hard copy backup. Mr. Mitchell stated it’s the first time the group is able to go through this and see how far they can take it, how much can be addressed and talking about things the public can be a party of. He stated that going back to Ms. Kelly’s comment about covering technology and energy, he covered all those areas. When interviewing the departments, he wants to be very transparent and wants them to know exactly what he’s going to ask. Ms. Kierkiewicz reported the following regarding the Mayor’s Office: · Ms. Kierkiewicz and Ms. Maddox met with Wally Lau and Randy Kurohara on June 12, 2014. Mr. Lau and Mr. Kurohara explained that running the County is like running a business, there are stakeholders relationships to maintain. · The most expensive cost for the County is labor so they need to prioritize projects with that in mind. · This year they asked each department head when submitting their budget for next fiscal year to reduce their budget by 5%. · The Building Department experienced a severe backlog in terms of building permits. In order to alleviate the backlog from a system that is bogged down by lots of paper work to use technology to their advantage. The Planning Department is working with IT to restructure the permit process and have everything online so the public can track the progress. Mr. Kurohara also talked about having different tracks depending on how big a project is, that way smaller project don’t have to wait behind the large projects in terms of getting reviewed. · Ms. Maddox stated Mr. Kurohara commented generally about it being very complicated in trying to find a common platform for technology because each department has such different needs. She stated that looking across all departments, which are all very independent, and to 5 bring technology and integration to find a single platform to work across all department’s needs are more daunting that one would have thought. · Ms. Kierkiewicz said there is no one size fits all solution. Ms. Kierkiewicz and Ms. Maddox reported the following on increasing energy: · Mr. Lau and Mr. Kurohara talked about having an energy efficient tip sheet that was developed and are hoping to re-visit that making it more visually appealing and stress the importance of shutting down your computers at the end of the day, etc. · There was also a suggestion of doing a County-wide competition to engage departments in being more energy efficient. · Another suggestion was purchasing tracking devises that could be plugged into the different energy sockets to see how much each piece of equipment is using in terms of energy. · Street lights are being transitioned to operate with photovoltaic panels and the goal was 5,000 lights. Ms. Maddox stated they are replacing streetlights with LEDs; there are 10,000 streetlights on the island and they retrofitted 5,000. In doing that, they need to ensure they don’t interfere with the observatories notion of clean light, dark skies. Ms. Kierkiewicz stated the dark sky system requirement must be met and the goal is to install the remaining streetlights by the end of the Mayor’s term. Mr. Espejo asked what the tolerant level for the dark sky requirement is. Ms. Maddox commented that new section of highway in Kona feels like there are hundreds of streetlights and cannot figure out how that meets the dark sky requirements; someone said it’s further away from the observatory so it does not have an impact. Mr. Mitchell commented it should be under lumens. There are lot of codes of federal regulations and state regulations about how many lumens a light can emit. · Currently in the process of doing a cost analysis of all County facilities for retrofitting them for photovoltaics starting with the highest priority which if Fire and Police; part of that study also has to be whether or not those existing structures could handle the photovoltaic system. Ms. Kierkiewicz reported the following on renewable energy projects: · The Lalamilo wind farm is going to be used to serve the Department of Water Supply. Ms. Kierkiewicz reported the following on vehicle policies: · They are replacing gas guzzling vehicles and want to integrate more energy efficient vehicles like the electronic vehicles. Ms. Kelly asked if they have a plan or schedule for the replacement of vehicles. Ms. Kierkiewicz was not sure but will ask as a follow up question. 6 · Each department was their own policy so there is nothing across the board in terms of how many vehicles are out, if employees are allowed to take them and how they can be used while they are at work. Ms. Kelly asked if people take home an electronic vehicle, do they have to install a charger at home and who is going to pay for that. Ms. Kierkiewicz doesn’t think electric vehicles can be taken home. Ms. Maddox understands the electronic vehicles in West Hawai‘i is a vehicle pool and are available for employees to use during the course of their work day for County related business. Mr. Mitchell commented it is not intended to be taken home. Ms. Kelly stated at a recent blessing at Mauna Lani shops, the head of the Electric Association for the Big Island was saying there isn’t enough charging stations because the island is so big and an electric vehicle could not go around the island because there is not enough charge stations to make sure a vehicle can go around the island. If the County was to have a pool of electric vehicles, would they be running out of charge for not being able to fuel because there are not enough charging stations? Mr. Mitchell said that was a great question; the electric cars can only go about 30 miles on a full charge. He said the good news is the charging stations are being paid for by grants; the charging station at the West Hawai‘i Civic Center was paid via grant by Better Place, Inc. Two vehicles can be charged at a time and it take 3 ½ hours to charge. Mr. Mitchell agrees that the County needs to get more grants for more charging stations. Ms. Kelly asked that if the County is being more proactive on the electric vehicle pool, it would be wise to have a study that for so many miles to have a charge station in different County buildings. Mr. Mitchell stated the Better Place, Inc. got a chunk of money and looking to help not only our island but other islands. Mr. Mitchells agrees with Ms. Kelly that the County will need more charging stations. Mr. Espejo asked what a County employee does for the 3 ½ hours while the car is being charged. Ms. Kierkiewicz stated that’s a good question; she thinks if the Commission is going to suggest the County invest in more charging stations, it should be the 3S because those charges a car in less than an hour but the investment is very significant, $60,000 per charger. Ms. Maddox stated that’s probably a question for Will Rolston, the County’s Energy Coordinator. She does not think it’s the Commission’s kuleana to be able to talk about that kind of cost benefit analysis and how it plays into any plans the County may or may not have. Mr. Mitchell commented the federal government didn’t start buying electric cars until 2011, they bought 116, Kauai bought some in 2010 so this is still really new; Hawai‘i County is sort of at the forefront, the public can charge their cars for free during regular business hours. Ms. Kierkiewicz and Ms. Maddox reported the following on overtime issues: · Recognizes there are overtime issues. They meet with a Personnel Review Committee every week to discuss and figure out next steps or ways to cut back. 7 · It is necessary for first time responders like Police, Fire and Department of Environmental Management employees. · Trying to figure out a balance between lots of overtime and does that justify creating new positions and hiring someone; they are constantly looking at the recommendations from Human Resources. · Overtime is a collective bargaining issue so they have to balance between collective bargaining and budgets; once budgets are approved, it is the department head’s discretion to approve overtime. · They scrutinize the budget very closely and no department can unilaterally hire, they have to go through this weekly meeting process if they want to hire in a position regardless of what it is and justify that within the department’s funding. Ms. Kierkiewicz reported the following on cost savings: · Would like a cost analysis and whether or not Pacific Biodiesel is able to provide the level of fuel that the County vehicles require before considering using biodiesel for their vehicles. · They also have a fleet association where if a number of employees need to go to Kona, instead of taking separate vehicles, they carpool to save on fuel. Ms. Maddox reported the following on technology: · The Mayor convened a half day meeting specifically to look at ways the County can use technology or increase it’s use of technology. Ms. Maddox reported the following on how could the Mayor’s Office serve the public better: · Things like community meetings that the Mayor’s team went on. · Talking to the community and hearing from the community. · The Mayor is adamant about County employees being of service to the community and not be stumbling blocks. · Look for ways to answer community members’ questions. · Having a regular presence at the West Hawai‘i Civic Center for people on the west side to be able to access various departments and services Ms. Maddox reported the following on how to serve employees better: · The economy is slowly improving so furlough days are no longer part of the formula. · Long delayed purchases and deferred maintenance that were put on hold are slowing coming back on-line so hopefully that can make employees’ jobs easier and making them more efficient. Ms. Maddox stated one of the things that came to mind when she looked at things like vehicle policy and overtime policy, is it is up to the department head’s to administer and be able to justify within their own needs and that you cannot provide 8 enough education and awareness for employees about why policies are in place and what are their intentions. She did ask if there was a concerted effort to put that information out whether it was in newsletters or internet postings. Ms. Maddox reported the following regarding Research and Development: · Ms. Maddox and Ms. Kierkiewicz met with Laverne Omori, the Department Head, and Donn Mende, the Deputy. · They have a clear vehicle policy in writing and they also have a vehicle assigned to Research and Development. · Encourages staff to use the County vehicle during County business whenever possible as opposed to mileage reimbursement. No staff members take vehicles home. · The Department has a clear overtime policy and it requires overtime approval in advance. The Department rarely incurs overtime and Ms. Omori’s preference is that employees use flexible scheduling; she also has approval over that. Ms. Kelly asked how they track their flex schedule. Ms. Maddox replied they didn’t’ not talk about that. Ms. Kelly commented that when departments open during County hours and if there are four or five employees in that department what are on flex schedule, how do they communicate to know who is in. Ms. Kierkiewicz remembers that during the interview, there was a white board with everyone’s name with magnets showing who’s in or out and other columns. Ms. Kelly is interested in knowing about the accountability of the working hours for each person. Ms. Kierkiewicz said she would follow up. Ms. Kierkiewicz and Ms. Maddox were both surprised to learn that there were 14 positions within the Department and 11 were filled so 11 people do the work that is required of Research and Development and many of them go above and beyond a 40 hour work week. · The Department is responsible for the County Agricultural Program, the Business and Community Economic Development Program, the Community Capacity Building Program, the Energy Program, the Film Office, funding and grant resources, the County’s Health Care Initiative, the Tourism Program as well as providing information resources. · In the process of addressing their efficiencies and staffing by undergoing a Department organization which they have been working on for a couple of years, this also requires union approval. · Developing more community available resources in the Resource Center. Beth Dykstra is the single grant writer from the department and also serves as a resource to other departments within the County; she not only writes grants but looks out for grants and channel to those departments. Ms. Maddox reported the following on energy projects: · Lalamilo wind farm project moving forward. 9 · They are now issuing the RFP to hire a contractor to do the inventory of all County facilities for the cost analysis related to photovoltaic; it will take one year to do that assessment. · Hawai‘i Energy offering workshops for employees on tip sheets for simple ways of looking at saving energy. Ms. Maddox reported the following on finances: · They have a very small budget. · The Film Office is really the only portion of the Department that has a measureable budget for state travel. Any out of state travel requires committee approval, therefore, there is not out of state travel in the Department’s budget. Ms. Maddox reported the following on technology: · Working on County data book which is very labor intensive and currently in manual form. Looking for ways to streamline this and have technology replace that. · Upgrading their website significantly; needs to be more dynamic and content rich. · Trying to better us social media to educate the public as to the type of work they do. Ms. Kierkiewicz reported the following on the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney: · Extreme backlog of cases. · Use volunteers like senior citizens and members of the community to come in and handle non-sensitive information as well as shred documents for their department as well as other departments. They have about 30 volunteers that have contributed a total of 3,000 hours last fiscal year. · The department has 112 employees and three offices; if a deputy prosecuting attorney needs to go to court, there is a possibility of handling up to 80 cases. · There are clerical positions that are extremely overloaded; they often times eat at their desks and are there into the late hours of the night just to keep pace with the level of cases that are coming in. · Hoping to transition to a more paperless system and use computers within the courts. · Working to develop software in collaboration with the state so that the state and county can share information more easily. · Establish partnerships within the community to get to the root causes of the cases coming in in order to prevent people from engaging in unlawful activities. The Zonta Club of Hilo works with the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and supports programs like Domestic Violence and building awareness around rapes and those types of things. 10 · The office has a different phone system from the rest of the County so often times its very cumbersome and hoping to get one that is in line with the rest of the County. · The information system within the office is fragmented. · There are a lot of physical files in different places within the office so if they could have an online platform that integrates all that information in one place where everyone can access the files that would streamline the work the Department does. · Upgrading all the systems are going to cost $180,000 but it is absolutely necessary because sometimes it takes minutes for a page to load on a computer which makes work very frustrating. Mr. Espejo asked if there is a time schedule to complete the upgrades. Ms. Kierkiewicz replied 2015; they are hoping to get these computers this year. Ms. Maddox commented that it is a multi-tiered project; bringing in hardware and then software that goes with that but underneath all that is to have an operating platform that can work across all departments. Ms. Maddox stated the Research and Development staff is among those getting some of the 900 computers coming in. Mr. Mitchell stated according to his notes, there are five separate IT organizations within the County not including the Department of Water Supply, so that’s six different IT entities. Ms. Maddox said some systems are very sophisticated in meeting their own department needs. Ms. Maddox stated she didn’t hear anyone come out with a solid issue they felt adamant about a recommendation other than Mr. Mitchell’s concern related to the tax exemption. She asked Mr. Mitchell is he was at a point where he felt that was really a recommendation. Mr. Mitchell replied it’s the wording; it has to be fair to everybody so the end result is that no one is harmed by this which is the original purpose. He also noted he would like to get a copy of the new vehicle policy from Maui. Ms. Kelly wanted to clarify the commissioners agreed that the process of making a recommendation was going to be based on the commission as a whole and not individually. Ms. Maddox stated it has to be that way (the commission as a whole), but if someone has a recommendation coming out from a department, the commission has a chance to hear the recommendation and discuss it. Ms. Kelly asked Ms. Garson what format was done in the past. Ms. Garson replied the commission needs to come up with recommendations either individually or as a group, agendize the recommendations and discuss whether or not the group wants to go forward with that recommendation. Once that decision is made, it will go into the report and the form of the report is something the group needs to decide on. Ms. Maddox said upon hearing the information from Mr. Mitchell, it changed some of her thought process. She stated each time information is shared, it will help inform the group about information they may or may not have collected before. 11 Ms. Kelly stated everyone is doing such great work in sharing their notes in gathering information from the departments. She asked if there is going to be a summary to be reviewed. Ms. Maddox replied she is counting on the minutes which will capture everything. 5. ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA Ms. Kierkiewicz asked to have as a standing item the discussion on the format of the final report. She also asked to have the Mass Transit Agency on the agenda for discussion. Ms. Maddox would like to add the Department of Human Resources on the agenda for discussion. Ms. Kierkiewicz clarified that if she would like to make a specific recommendation it would be placed on the agenda for discussion. Ms. Garson replied yes, that way it will give the department notification that the commission will be discussing it and if they have any problems with it, they can show up at the meeting. It also gives the public notification. Ms. Kierkiewicz told each department head she was going to summarize their discussion that way it would be a surprise when it is placed on the agenda. Ms. Kelly would like to add the Office of Aging and Police Department on the agenda for discussion. Mr. Mitchell would like to add the Department of Parks and Recreation on the agenda for discussion, specific to West Hawai‘i, new parks, maintenance of parks and the fire ant issue. Ms. Garson suggested having the Director of Information Technology, Don Jacobs, present at a commission meeting as it seems there are a lot of questions regarding IT. Ms. Maddox also suggested a discussion regarding subcommittees that involved Mr. Matsuda as he has not been able to attend meetings; options on how to proceed with the departments he is connected to. Ms. Kelly asked if the interviews can be done by phone. Ms. Garson replied yes. Ms. Kelly requested if the meeting time could be changed to 10:00 a.m. because the meetings will be quite lengthy and she does not want to drive when it’s dark. Ms. Kierkiewicz stated the group agreed to set a time limit of two hours for their meetings for that reason. Ms. Garson said if all items on the agenda are not covered, the items can be deferred to the next meeting. 12 6. DISCUSSION REGARDING LOCATIONS/DATES/TIMES OF FUTURE MEETINGS/VIDEO CONFERENCING Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if Will Rolston, the County’s Energy Coordinator, will be able to do a presentation for the Commission. Ms. Garson replied he has not responded. Ms. Kierkiewicz said she would email Mr. Rolston. thst Ms. Kualii said the next two meetings, August 7 and August 21, will held at The Hilo Council Room and Kona Council Conference Room. The September 4th, thnd September 18 and October 2 meetings will be held at the Puna Conference Room and the Kona Council Conference Room. Ms. Kiekiewicz asked when the last meeting is. Ms. Maddox said a preliminary th draft should be available by November 6 so the Commission can finish before the end of the year. She would like to keep pushing for that date. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked that if the group wanted to review the draft report does that become public record. Ms. Garson replied yes. Ms. Maddox said it makes it awkward because the draft is just that, it’s a preliminary working document for the group to have an ability to review the contents and language. Ms. Kelly asked if there was another way to call it a draft and verbally discuss the report. Ms. Kualii stated it will be in the minutes. Ms. Maddox stated it has to be agenized and give enough information that a person could reasonably understand what the Commission is talking about. 7. ANNOUNCEMENTS The next meeting of the Cost of Government Commission will be held on August 21, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. at the Hilo County Council Room, 25 Aupuni Street, Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720. 8. ADJOURNMENT Motion and Vote: Mr. Mitchell moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Ms. Kelly and all commissioners present voted aye. Meeting adjourned at 2:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted: Jennifer M. Kualii Jennifer M. Kualii, Secretary 13