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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-10-16 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 October 16, 2014 – 1:00 p.m. Hawai‘i County Council Room, County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720 Commission Members present: Susan Maddox, Chair Ashley Kierkiewicz, Vice Chair Douglas Espejo Delan Perry John Mitchell (via videoconference from Kona Council Room, Conference Room A) Also present: Katherine A. Garson, Deputy Corporation Counsel Jennifer M. Kualii, Secretary Shanell Sarsuelo (assisting/observing) 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chair Maddox at 1:05 p.m. 2. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC No statements from the public. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (09-04-14) Motion and Vote: Mr. Perry moved to approve the minutes of the September 4, 2014. The motion was seconded by Mr. Espejo and all commissioners present voted aye. 4. CORRESPONDENCE Motion and Vote (Comm. No. 2014-087): Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to file the correspondence. The motion was seconded by Mr. Perry and all commissioners present voted aye. Hawai‘i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer 5. DISCUSSION REGARDING SUBCOMMITTEE MEETINGS WITH VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES FOR THE PURPOSE OF GATHERING INFORMATION FOR THE FINAL REPORT A. Office of the Corporation Counsel Mr. Mitchell reported the following on vehicle use policy and procedures: · Hawai‘i Revised Statutes is the guideline for vehicle use. Vehicle use and guidelines are clear. · Attorneys and support staff use their private vehicles and it’s cost effective. · Irregularities are rare, but if there are any it’s because of unique circumstances in which an employee would need to take a vehicle home or needed to adjust their shift. · Sometimes they rent cars. Mr. Mitchell reported the following on overtime policies and procedures: · Overtime is through collective bargaining and budgeted. Each department head is in charge of distribution, awarding or use of overtime funds. Shifts are adjusted or modified in a practical manner to reduce overtime. · Overtime occurs but on a fairly limited basis; a lot of their own personal time is given up. Mr. Mitchell reported the following on energy: · Human Energy: Budget of $2.5 million supports 15 attorneys and 12 support staff. They handle close to 1,900 requests for legal assistance; in addition, they review over 1,200 documents. A lot of work for a relatively small number of people in that department. · Physical energy: Has a huge HELCO bill. Increasing the use of electronics; getting rid of books and things and are going paperless. Did bring up use of photovoltaic. Will follow up with Ms. Stebbins on a couple items. Mr. Mitchell reported the following on finance: · They serve over 20 departments, over 20 boards and commissions, and over 2,500 employees. The average salary is $99,000 for experienced litigators compared to the average $113,000 salary of a three-year litigator on the mainland. The Director’s salary is $113,000 and the salaries are implemented via the Salary Commission. The deputies can reach not more than 90% salary rate of the director. A lot of quality work being done. Mr. Mitchell reported the following on technology: · Implementing paperless programs. The old books and periodicals are used as reference. Concern by some staff members about going paperless or getting rid of some of the books/subscriptions as some research might be lost. Trend is using computer database such as Westlaw, Law Desk, Find 2 Law which is becoming common, but is expensive. They understand the cost and time spent on Westlaw is very valuable time. · Perception is that as law offices go more automated, old books, periodicals and digest or journals might not be used as much in the past. It is more common to cite using electronic resources versus using the book resources. · Feels the need to modernize and improve but may be cost prohibited. Expensive to align programs and updating subscriptions so trying to find similar platforms. Security and confidentiality in using technology is enormously important. · Tickler serves/prompts to inform of violations. Increase technology and the ability to communicate between different departments, for example communicating with DEM and on their tipping fees. · Many employees exceed the standard workweek hours in fulfilling their positions. · Pleased and surprised at the amount of work and the level and quality of work being done – the department serves the County extremely well. · Pleased by the cost effectiveness of the department. · County is slow at times to file, compel or force payment to collect on delinquent accounts. For example, the County operates on $400,000,000 per year, but delinquent accounts only brought in $92,000 – this is an area of concern. Ms. Kierkiewicz requested clarification on ticklers and violations. Mr. Mitchell explained that the departments don’t have the ability to communicate between each other when an issue arises. They need the ability to provide notice or a tickler to prompt someone that an action needs to be taken. In order to find information on one matter, employees have to log in to more than one location. Ms. Maddox asked if the filing of lawsuits is the job of Corporation Counsel. Ms. Garson responded yes, but the collection of revenues is handled by each individual department. For example, the Department of Water Supply, if someone doesn’t pay their water bill the water gets shut off and that department takes care of collecting the payment. The case is referred to the Office of the Corporation Counsel for legal action after the department completes its process and is unsuccessful in collecting payment. If the delinquency is small, such as $50, the departments will deal with them internally and it would not be something the Office of the Corporation Counsel would file a lawsuit on. Ms. Maddox asked if Mr. Mitchell’s comment was that the timeline between filing or the time allowed to go on before it becomes a suit could be shorter. Mr. Mitchell said yes, specifically with the Department of Environmental Management. They had unpaid fees of over $2.9 million in 2009 with delinquent accounts that are over 90 days at $1.5 million. Mr. Mitchell stated Ms. Stebbins has an open door policy, she does “temperature checks” with staff and likes to be hands on. The Office of the Corporation Counsel has reduced travel and training, and for the legal profession, they have continuing education for the bar. The department adjusted their travel and training to be more cost effective. They trained 380 employees across all departments. 3 Ms. Garson clarified the HELCO bill issue and stated that the Office of the Corporation Counsel is located in the Hilo Lagoon Centre and she believes the electricity is included in their association fees. Ms. Maddox asked for a progress check from the Commissioners on where they might be in scheduling meetings. Mr. Espejo stated that he and Ms. Kelly will be reporting at the next meeting on the departments they have together. He will also be contacting the County Clerk’s office and might have it ready for the next meeting. Mr. Espejo and Mr. Perry have not had a chance to schedule a meeting with the Planning Department. Ms. Maddox stated the Commission has six more meetings before the report is due to the County Council. It was agreed at the last meeting that those who shared a department with Mr. Matsuda would schedule directly with the department to move things along. Mr. Mitchell stated he contacted Ms. Santos at Parks and Recreation and will be sending her the questions to guide and prepare them for the October 27, 2014 meeting. He will contract Public Works close to Thanksgiving. Ms. Maddox encouraged everyone to move things forward as they can and if they are unable to get a response back from a particular department, then to look back at the correspondence received from that particular department. Ms. Kierkiewicz stated she and Mr. Mitchell have Housing to meet with. 6. DISCUSSION/ACTION REGARDING FORMAT AND CONTENTS OF FINAL REPORT Ms. Maddox took Ms. Garson’s suggestion from the last meeting to pull some recommendations out of the various communications received in response to the letters the Commission sent out. Ms. Maddox made a spreadsheet listing all the correspondences received from various departments for reference. She asked the commissioners to review the list for possible recommendations and to contact Ms. Kualii to have them placed on the agenda for the next meeting as well as any recommendations they might have from their interviews. Mr. Mitchell has five recommendations he will get to Ms. Kualii to be agendized. Ms. Maddox stated all potential recommendations need to be submitted to Ms. Kualii by October 29, 2014 to be placed on the next agenda. Ms. Maddox asked the Commissioners if they are willing and able to meet longer at the next meeting, if required, as opposed to scheduling additional meetings. All commissioners agreed to have longer meetings. Ms. Maddox stated that a couple meetings ago, she shared a basic framework of the final report and hoped that would give the Commissioners a bit of a jump start. She will continue to work on the framework and will bring it to the next meeting for the Commissioners’ feedback and input. She is willing to share this duty with others and thinks this would help keep them on track for the January 20, 2015 submission of the report. 4 Mr. Mitchell asked if they could discuss the formatting of the report at the meeting today. Ms. Garson said yes. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked how the last commission did the writing of the report. Ms. Garson replied they pieced it out, one person did the introduction, different people did different sections and when it came to the recommendations, they did it the same – the recommendations were agendized. Mr. Mitchell stated he noticed a fundamental difference between the report from the prior Commission and what is current being discussed. He personally feels as though he’s missing something because this Commission is very focused on the departments, but he didn’t see that was the prior Commission’s concern or at least that wasn’t their big issue. The prior Commission’s viewpoint was more County-wide which they devoted 3 ½ plus pages to with a large amount of work on revenue, whereas the current Commission is department specific. He wants to make sure that they are not missing anything. Ms. Garson said this Commission is not missing anything. She explained that the prior Commission had common, County-wide recommendations and the formatting ended up breaking down the way it did versus a specific recommendation. They focused on revenue because of the situation the County was in at that time. Ms. Maddox stated each commission is a function of who the commissioners are and the state of the County government or the economy in general. She doesn’t believe there is a right or wrong way to proceed in terms of a report. Ms. Maddox stated this commission can include the research and recommendations from department heads in their responses related to revenue in the current report if the commissioners concur. Mr. Mitchell again compared the prior Commission’s report to what the current Commission is doing. He likes what the current Commission is doing because it’s more specific and less about trying to involve the State and collective bargaining issues. Ms. Garson suggested the Commissioners look at the County Charter to see what should be included in the report. She said the Charter does not state that recommendations on generating revenues need to be included in the report. She reiterated that the prior Commission included revenues in their report because of the situation the County was in at the time the report was done. She stated this Commission is not missing anything if they do not include a section on generating revenues. Ms. Maddox stated the responses received from the department heads can be included in the appendices of the report. These are the letters that were sent out to the department heads with the recommendations given by the prior commission and shared what has been implemented or the progress on the recommendations and any suggestions. Ms. Garson stated the format of the report is up to the Commission as long as it answers the fundamental questions that are in the County Charter. 5 Mr. Mitchell stated he feels it’s his duty to bring issues that might not have been brought up four years ago because there was no representative from the Leeward side of the island at the last of Cost of Government Commission - to be specific, the Mass Transit busing subsidy issue. Ms. Kierkiewicz offered to help with sections of the report. 7. ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA Ms. Maddox stated to carry over the standard agenda items. Ms. Garson said to email Ms. Kualii specific recommendations and subcommittee reports to be agendized. If there’s a draft report, that would be agendized under item 6. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked about the amount of detail to be included in the recommendations for the agenda. Ms. Garson responded by saying it can be more generic and general, don’t use acronyms or short cuts so members of the public know what you’re going to talk about. Ms. Maddox asked if it was better to have the agenda with generalization even if a commissioner has specific language they would like to bring forth. Ms. Garson said it’s up to the commission, but best to have it written down. Ms. Maddox asked if a presentation was going to be made by Mr. Rolston. Ms. Kierkiewicz said Mr. Rolston was unable to make it this week. She asked if he could make the November 6, 2014 meeting, but has not received a response. Ms. Garson stated if Mr. Rolston does respond, his presentation will be agendized. Ms. Garson asked the Commissioners if they needed her assistance in requesting the presence of a particular department head. Mr. Mitchell and Ms. Maddox suggested the Department of Environmental Management. Ms. Garson stated the departments may or may not be able to attend, but we can ask and say that the Commission does understand if they are unable to attend. Ms. Kierkiewicz suggested a letter be sent with specific questions to the departments such as Department of Environmental Management, Civil Defense, Parks and Recreation and Fire. Ms. Maddox stated a letter could be sent, but an answer to that letter would not be one of the department head’s top priorities at this time, which is not intentional, but more a function of the demands on their time with the lava flow. Ms. Maddox stated that if anyone would like to invite someone to make a presentation to let Ms. Kualii know so she can issue the invitation. Mr. Mitchell said it’s really helpful to have department heads come to make a presentations. He stated that Mr. Jacobs from Information Technology gave a wealth of information in his presentation. Mr. Mitchell really wants a presentation done by the Department of Environmental Management because as the other departments were reducing their budget by 5%, the Department of Environmental Management did not, their budget gone up. The fees the department was supposed to be bringing in is going up by less than 1%. 6 Ms. Maddox asked to send an invite to Ms. Leithhead-Todd to make a presentation. Ms. Garson said it will be made clear that the Commission does understand if she is unable to make it. Ms. Garson suggested having a designee to represent the department and Commissioners agreed with the suggestion. Ms. Maddox stated the next meeting will be extended longer if Ms. Leithead- Todd is able to do a presentation in addition to discussing possible recommendations. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if the Commission has not gone through the entire agenda and it’s 7:00 p.m., could they stop. Ms. Garson said yes, the commission can continue to another date or defer to the next meeting. Ms. Kierkiewicz said she will contact Mr. Rolston to do a presentation. 8. DISCUSSION REGARDING LOCATIONS/DATES/TIMES OF FUTURE MEETINGS/VIDEO CONFERENCING Ms. Kualii pointed out that January 1, 2015 is the first Thursday of the month which is the Commission’s regularly scheduled meeting day; however, that date is also a holiday. Ms. Maddox suggested having the meeting on January 8, 2015 instead of January 1, 2015 and to meet on January 15, 2015, if needed. Ms. Maddox asked if the Commission is relieved of their duties when the written report is submitted to County Council Chair and the Mayor or is there a personal presentation that needs to be done. Ms. Garson does not recall any personal presentation being made by the last commission, but when the report is done the Commissioners are relieved or their duties. 9. ANNOUNCEMENTS The next meeting of the Cost of Government Commission will be held on November 6, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. at the Puna Conference Room, 25 Aupuni Street, Suite 1501, Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720. 10. ADJOURNMENT Motion and Vote: Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Mr. Perry and all commissioners present voted aye. Meeting adjourned at 2:04 p.m. Respectfully submitted: /s/ Jennifer M. Kualii Jennifer M. Kualii, Secretary 7