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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-11-06 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 November 6, 2014 – 1:00 p.m. Puna Conference Room, County Building 25 Aupuni Street, Suite 1501 Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720 Commission Members present: Ashley Kierkiewicz, Vice Chair Douglas Espejo Delan Perry Linda M. Kelly (via videoconference from Kona Council Room, Conference Room A) Susan Maddox, Chair John Mitchell 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 1:02 p.m. Chair Maddox called for a five minute recess to reconvene in the Liquor Control Conference Room on the second floor at the West Hawai‘i Civic Center. Meeting reconvened at 1:11 p.m. 2. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC No statements from the public. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (10-16-14) Motion and Vote: Mr. Perry moved to approve the minutes of the October 16, 2014. The motion was seconded by Ms. Kelly and all commissioners present voted aye. Hawai‘i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer 4. DISCUSSION REGARDING SUBCOMMITTEE MEETINGS WITH VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES FOR THE PURPOSE OF GATHERING INFORMATION FOR THE FINAL REPORT A. Immigration Office Ms. Kelly and Mr. Espejo met with Rose Bautista of the Immigration Office on July 17, 2014. Ms. Kelly read the mission statement of the Immigration Office. Ms. Kelly and Mr. Espejo reported the following on vehicle use policy & procedures: · Does have access to a County vehicle, but also uses personal vehicle. Ms. Kelly and Mr. Espejo reported the following on technology: · The website needs major improvement so forms can be accessed via the internet. Ms. Kelly and Mr. Espejo reported the following on staffing issues: · The office is understaffed. Ms. Rose Bautista, Immigration Information Specialist, is the only employee in the office. Would like two other helpers. · Services being provided can be improved if staffing is increased to at least two other employees. She is proving the best service she can to the public while being understaffed. · Over 2,000 people per year walk in to the office needing information on immigration. · Over 1,500 phones calls · Overwhelmed with walk-ins, phone calls and emails. · Office is closed when she needs to go out to meet someone. · Overworked and understaffed. · Would like to get the Mayor’s attention on a program called EB5, source of funding, partnership with private enterprise and the County for special allocation projects. Henry Leinbard with American Life did project with this concept. · Funding for an Immigration Assistant has been approved. In search of a qualified candidate that has immigration law background. Ms. Kelly and Mr. Espejo reported the following on land: · Office space is small, in need of bigger office space. Mr. Mitchell asked if Ms. Bautista is the only person that runs the Immigration Office and wanted to know what her job title was. Ms. Kelly replied yes, Ms. Bautista is the only employee in the office and her job title is Immigration Information Specialist. Ms. Kelly added that Ms. Bautista has a law degree with a specialty in immigration. 2 Mr. Mitchell wanted to know how the Immigration Office is funded, is it from federal, state and county government? Ms. Kelly said the office is funded only by the County. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if Ms. Bautista’s main concern was uploading files to the website. She also asked if there were any discussion on implementing an appointment calendar on the website so people could schedule an appointment via the website versus walking in. Ms. Kelly said the website did need improvements and there is a calendar issue. She also stated that none of the forms are available on the website. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if the location in Hilo was the only office or is there a location in Kona. Ms. Kelly replied there is only one office in Hilo to service the entire County. Ms. Kelly said another issue is people with immigration needs, a lot of times English is their second language and they don’t understand or need direction. Ms. Bautista has a list of agencies to help these people and refers them. Mr. Mitchell asked what the budget is for the Immigration Office. Ms. Kelly did not look into the finances of the department. Mr. Espejo added that Ms. Bautista has been working on getting an assistant since 2001 and it finally has been funded. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked who does Ms. Bautista report to and does she have any goals that she needs to meet. Ms. Kelly stated Ms. Bautista’s goals are to get funding for the County and improve the quality of services. She noted there are two goals: to improve the quality that the people need and second, she should be dealing with funds, how to bring funds for the County, not be at the clerical level; her quality of knowledge is much more superior. Ms. Maddox asked who does Ms. Bautista reports to. Ms. Kelly said to the Mayor and that the Immigration Office is an agency of the INS. Mr. Mitchell added the INS is a Federal agency and Federal law supersedes any County law. Ms. Kelly said Ms. Bautista works for the County. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked Mr. Espejo if it was his understanding that the Immigration Office is an agency of the Federal government. Mr. Espejo replied no, that was not his understanding. He understood that Ms. Bautista works with the immigrants at the County level and provides them information. If they need further assistance, then she would point them in the right direction. Ms. Maddox asked if Ms. Bautista is offering legal advice or representing people. Ms. Kelly replied no. Ms. Kelly stated Ms. Bautista helps the immigrants understand the law, helps them with the forms and refers them to other agencies if necessary. Ms. Kelly stated Ms. Bautista is a liaison; she doesn’t make recommendations and does not process the forms. B. Office of the Legislative Auditor Ms. Kelly and Mr. Espejo met with the people at the Legislative Auditor on July 17, 2014. Ms. Kelly read the mission statement for the Office of the Legislative Auditor. She stated the office is separate from the County and they report to the County Council and Chairman of the County Council. 3 Ms. Kelly and Mr. Espejo reported the following on vehicle use policy and procedures: · There is no policy, policy enforcement or abuse because all work is done within the office. Ms. Kelly and Mr. Espejo reported the following on overtime polices & procedures: · There is no policy, policy enforcement and very little any overtime. Ms. Kelly and Mr. Espejo reported the following on energy: · The office space is efficient and they monitor the usage of lights and a/c. Ms. Kelly and Mr. Espejo reported the following on technology: · They currently have requisitions for laptops with docketing stations so they are able to work at various locations. They are not allowed to work from home. · The IT person felt electronic scan or field audit was something that was getting difficult because of the accessibility of information. They have only one shared computer to access the different County departments, which also has limited accessibility. This computer is very archaic. One of their requests was to have some sort of facility where they can have access to all the departments. Ms. Kelly and Mr. Espejo reported the following on staffing issues: · They would like to have flex schedules. This would help in cases when they have family situations. · There are four people in the department – all are part time. Ms. Kelly and Mr. Espejo reported the following on land: · They moved from an oversized office space to an efficient size space which cut back on rent expense. · By County regulation, they have to store documents for seven years and storage space is a concern. They would like to go electronic and paperless. Ms. Maddox asked if there’s only a single computer workstation in the office that four people share. Ms. Kelly and Mr. Espejo said yes. Ms. Kelly went on to say that each employee has their own computer to compute information, but the one and only computer that can do payables and invoicing is very slow. Mr. Espejo added that in some cases, it takes an hour for a page of information to download. He said IT is working on upgrading the office in two to three years. Ms. Kelly said the office is having issues with the speed of the network and the outdated computers. 4 Mr. Mitchell asked Ms. Kelly and Mr. Espejo if they spoke to the acting Director, Lane Shibata, or with the permanent Legislative Auditor. Mr. Espejo said there is a permanent Legislative Auditor and Lane Shibata is still currently employed with the department. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked who they met with. Mr. Espejo said they met with Bonnie Nims, who has six months on the job, and Lane Shibata. He said a lot of the questions were deferred to Mr. Shibata. Mr. Mitchell asked who has the office audited recently and how often do they do audits. Ms. Kelly said they do audits when a complaint is filed. Ms. Garson stated the department is required to have an audit plan and that there is an existing plan. A survey was done and the departments were prioritized based on certain criteria for the audit plan. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if County workers or the Council was surveyed. Ms. Garson stated the survey went out to all departments and the audit plan should be on their website. Ms. Maddox asked if the audits are internal management audits and not an independent financial audit. Ms. Garson replied correct, the financial audit is required by the County Charter to be done by an outside firm. The Legislative Auditors do audits on the departments’ programs and fiscal areas. Ms. Kelly stated the Office of the Legislative Auditor goes through a peer review once every three years to determine if the office’s internal quality control system is suitably designed and operates effectively. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if the department mentioned any other upgrades they needed besides technology. Ms. Kelly stated a new employee will be joining the office, which she feels is a waste of County money. She stated they have enough employees to run the office and their approved funded position has been vacant for over a year and should be given to the Immigration office that needs more employees. She thinks the department is very well staffed. Ms. Kelly noted the urgency for that department is the shared computer because there is a great waste of time and energy spent for certain documents and interconnecting with other departments. C. Office of the County Clerk Mr. Espejo shared the responsibilities of the Office of the County Clerk. There are six different divisions: Elections Division, Council Services, Committee Services, Administrative Services, Support Services and the Legislative Research Branch. Mr. Espejo reported the following on vehicle use policy & procedures: · There are two vehicles assigned to this office, but has access to other vehicles if needed. · No one takes home the vehicles. · They have a new vehicle on order to replace an older vehicle. Mr. Espejo reported the following on overtime policies & procedures: · The overtime policy is clear, fair and enforced. 5 · Overtime is on an as needed basis with supervisor approval. For example, if the council meetings go longer than expected. Mr. Espejo reported the following on energy: · The lights and air conditioning are turned off when not in use. Mr. Espejo had no discussion with Mr. Maeda on finances. Mr. Espejo reported the following on technology: · They currently use Skype and internet to communicate with different personnel. · They do videoconferences; the videotapings are contracted to qualified companies. · They currently use Polycom for videotaping, but would like to switch to an internet based product. · There are six different videoconferencing sites – Pāhoa, Ocean View, Kohala, Waimea, Hilo and Kona. · They would like to start live streaming. Mr. Espejo reported the following on staffing issues: · The supervisor meets with each employee once a month. · The administrator meets with the supervisor once a month. · The supervisor meets with the staff once a month. · There are over 40 employees. · Employees are generally very happy. Ms. Kelly asked if the once a month meeting with the supervisor and staff is for internal issues or to improve. Mr. Espejo said it’s to discuss any and all issues that may arise or ways to improve. He said it appears the staff there was efficient, happy and willing to do the work asked of them. Ms. Garson stated Mr. Maeda’s professional background is in social work. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if there were other things that Mr. Maeda would like for his department besides internet based products for videoconferencing. She also asked if they have enough employees. Mr. Espejo stated staffing is fine and Mr. Maeda is happy with the efficiency of his office. 5. DISCUSSION/ACTION REGARDING PROPOSED RECOMMENDATIONS AND FORMAT AND CONTENTS OF FINAL REPORT A. Develop and implement a computer tracking system for County vehicles within significant departments and/or County-wide. Mileage reports are to be mandated and timely. 6 Mr. Mitchell stated the public is concerned about the County usage of vehicles. His recommendation is to have Hawai‘i County use a GPS vehicle monitoring system, which Maui and other agencies on the mainland are currently using. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked how much it would cost to implement the GPS vehicle monitoring system. Mr. Mitchell stated he does not know the exact cost, but will research it. He seems to think there is new software, cutting edge GPS programs that small police forces are using and seems there might be a new GPS program to investigate. Ms. Maddox asked if this would be implemented for all County vehicles. Mr. Mitchell replied yes. Ms. Garson asked if the Commission could take a one minute break to switch the telephone meeting from the cell phone to the land line phone. Ms. Maddox agreed and said the meeting will reconvene in one minute. Meeting recessed at 2:02 p.m. Meeting reconvened at 2:03 p.m. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked Ms. Garson to go through the process of discussing the recommendations and if the recommendations need to be accepted once they are discussed. Ms. Garson stated the Commission doesn’t have to accept it right away, they can move it forward. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if the Commission is unsure of a recommendation, can they move it forward and if they want to include a recommendation, it would not be included in the next agenda. Ms. Garson said yes, they can make a motion to include the recommendation in the report and it will be set aside until they are ready to put it in the draft report. Ms. Maddox asked that if the Commission agrees on a specific recommendation, are they bound to the wording or can they wordsmith it when it is put into the draft report. Ms. Garson said they can wordsmith it. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if the voting needs to be unanimous or majority when making recommendations. Ms. Garson said voting is majority. Ms. Maddox asked Mr. Mitchell to clarify his recommendation that mileage reports are to be mandated and timely. Mr. Mitchell said there should be a uniformed, clear policy across all County departments to gain more trust from the public in which all departments are following a clear and honest policy. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked Mr. Mitchell if his definition of policy is who’s allowed to take vehicles home and when can they use the vehicles. Mr. Mitchell replied yes and it’s stated in the Hawai‘i Revised Statutes, but the reports vary by departments and those reports should be uniformed. Ms. Kelly asked if the GPS vehicle monitoring system should implemented County-wide. Mr. Mitchell said he would like to be respectful to each department, but ideally County-wide. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked for clarification on mileage reports being mandated, timely and clear uniform policies. Mr. Mitchell replied it doesn’t seem there are weekly. Biweekly, or monthly reports; seems to be according to department and according to that particular department head. He stated it should be more professional across all County agencies and those reports are not mandated by the Hawai‘i Revised Statutes. Mr. Mitchell thinks making the reports weekly or biweekly would bring more public trust for the use of County vehicles. Ms. Kelly asked if this would apply to all County vehicles and reimbursements for use of personal vehicles for the purpose of County work. Mr. Mitchell stated he is not including the use of personal vehicles; it is very specific to County vehicles only. 7 Ms. Kierkiewicz asked Ms. Garson if she knew what the vehicle policy is on use of County vehicles. Ms. Kelly stated each department has their own policy for their vehicles. She also stated Mr. Mitchell wants all County departments to have the same policy so it can be tracked. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked Mr. Mitchell who would track the usage. Mr. Mitchell stated the department head. Ms. Kelly asked Mr. Mitchell if he’s implying that a separate department would regulate the use of County vehicles, such as Mass Transit. Mr. Mitchell said not to consolidate all vehicles at this time, but to have a computer tracking system. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if his meetings with the various department heads stated they felt vehicle usage is being abused. She stated that in her review of the responses received from the various departments, their concern is why they’re not able to access a vehicle or why supervisors need to take a vehicle home. She also wanted to know who’s making the statement that there’s abuse of vehicle usage. Mr. Mitchell replied members of the public, letters received from the public and letters received from County employees and feels there is enough evidence to justify this. He said if the system is working well, then this is a great tool to let the public know this is another function of effective government. Ms. Maddox stated the Police department is the most highly regulated, regimented and accountable in regards to mileage reporting because they have a weekly mileage report that is checked. There are probably other departments that are a little less detailed as they have fewer vehicles to manage. Ms. Maddox sees the notion to continue to look at improving technology so they don’t need a lot of paper logs. Ms. Maddox asked the Commissioners if there’s a motion to adopt this recommendation subject to finalizing appropriate wording. Ms. Kierkiewicz stated it is premature to be adopting the recommendation and it should be researched more. Ms. Kierkiewicz said she has a contact at the County of Maui and will talk to him regarding the GPS system. She will ask him how it works, the cost and if there were any challenges they had to deal with since the implementation of the system. Ms. Maddox stated the Commission does have the option of carrying the recommendation forward or not including it on the next agenda. Ms. Maddox asked if the Commission would like to carry this recommendation forward. Ms. Garson said this recommendation could be kept on the agenda. All commissioners agreed. B. Modify overly burdensome form policies within County departments to increase the flow of communication. Mr. Mitchell stated that as technology advances some of the unique policies that each department has are slowing things down and is not cost effective. His examples are wet signatures and color coded forms. He stated they are not technology based, they slow down the flow of information from department to department and is not cost effective. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked which specific forms are overly burdensome. Mr. Mitchell stated he got quotes from Mr. Jacobs and Ms. Crawford that County processes are slowed down because some departments request very specific information on color coded forms and does not know which specific forms. Mr. Mitchell stated there is talk about department heads getting together to talk about the flow of information and the need/not need for wet signatures when requesting information or documents from the 8 departments. Ms. Kierkiewicz stated she agrees with Mr. Mitchell, but wants to make sure when making a recommendation there is concrete examples. Mr. Perry asked if this question is something that needs to be asked when interviewing the different departments. Ms. Garson gave an example on the routing of a contract for signature. She stated that when the County purchases an item or if there is a construction contract, the physical contract will be routed from the department that generated the contract and will get the contractor to sign. It then goes to Finance for signature and a certification of funds is attached to the contract. After Finance it may go to Human Resources, then to Corporation Counsel for legal review and finally to the Mayor’s office. The Mayor is the one who signs all contracts. Ms. Maddox asked if the entire contract in paper form is routed. Ms. Garson replied yes and stated that IT is looking at scanning and routing the contract electronically instead of physically walking the contract to each department. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if it is protocol for the Mayor to review and sign contracts. Ms. Garson said it is stated in the Charter that the Mayor signs the contracts unless there is some other authority to somebody else to sign; if the Mayor not available then the Deputy Manager signs – there is a hierarchy of people to sign. Mr. Perry noted the Water Department is separate. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if it takes months to route a contract for signatures. Ms. Garson said no and stated if there’s a rush contract, the department will hand walk the contract to each department. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if contracts are posted on the County website when the Mayor signs off on it. Ms. Garson said no, there is a procurement site that shows which contractor was awarded a certain contract. She explained each document has its own legal requirements, but the process can be shortened if it can be done electronically. Ms. Kelly asked if this recommendation should be adopted for all department heads, which would lighten up the burden of the signature process. Mr. Mitchell agreed to adopt it for the department heads, in addition to the deputies and clerical staff. Ms. Garson thinks a memo recently came out from the Department of Finance regarding use of electronic signature or accepting facsimile signatures; notarized signatures on a contact used to be required. Ms. Garson thinks rather than make specific or really detailed suggestions to be general. She stated electronic signatures will not apply to every document; there are some exceptions such as deeds or easements that need a wet signature. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if rehiring practices falls under this topic. For example, the paper work process and physical for a temporary worker being rehired on an annual bases. Ms. Garson said physicals are generally only done upon your initial employment with the County. Ms. Maddox asked if the Commissioners are in agreement with a recommendation for County to continue to expand and perhaps accelerate its policies related to the use of technology in processing forms and contracts. All Commissioners agreed. Ms. Maddox asked if the Commissioners would like to keep it on the agenda, but look at rewording it with but more descriptive or specific language. All Commissioners agreed. Ms. Garson confirmed that the recommendation will be kept on the agenda. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked Mr. Mitchell to follow up with some department heads to find out which forms they are referring to that are burdensome. Mr. Mitchell said he will and will be cautious in doing so because of confidentiality and doesn’t want to target any 9 particular department. Ms. Garson suggested being simple in the wording of the recommendation. Ms. Maddox asked if anyone had objections to follow up with Mr. Jacobs if he has other technology processes in mind in the technology plan or are working on at this time. No objections. Ms. Kierkiewicz suggested reviewing Mr. Jacobs’ letter. C. Develop and implement a top-ten list of County forms such as camping permits or vehicle registration forms with a "how to fill out" pamphlet and create kiosks in select high frequency locations such as Costco to help create a type of one-stop spot to get needed County forms. Mr. Mitchell suggests having a kiosk at Costco, Walmart or main locations in Hilo, Kona, Waimea and down south where people can access the most commonly used County forms; this would save the public time and energy. Ms. Kierkiewicz suggested publicizing it. Mr. Mitchell said not everyone has access to computers. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked what the process would be for the County to put a kiosk in a private business. Ms. Garson asked if Mr. Mitchell is suggesting physical forms. Ms. Maddox stated it would be a machine where people would have access to County forms and be able to fill them out. Ms. Kelly stated the public libraries have computers for the public to use at no charge. Mr. Mitchell stated not everyone goes to the library and having a kiosk located at Costco or Walmart will be convenient and cost effective for the public. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked what a vehicle registration form looks. Ms. Kelly said when you get a safety check, pictures are taken of your vehicle and there is no paper work given to you because the information is uploaded to the County vehicle registration & licensing department. Ms. Kierkiewicz stated vehicle registration forms can be accessed via the internet. Mr. Mitchell stated there are other forms that the public needs access too. He also said the whole concept is to relieve staffing because they are over worked and under staffed. This is a suggestion that serves the community, especially the poor and the needy, people who don’t have access to computers and in addition it will show the County is making an effort to meet their needs. Ms. Kelly asked if this would be a pilot project with the kiosk where people will have access to the top ten forms. Mr. Mitchell said he is looking to develop and possible implement the idea. He feels this meets the needs of the people and is cost effective. Ms. Kierkiewicz stated this is not a recommendation she would support because she can’t see spending thousands of dollars for a kiosk that has ten forms, unless more concrete examples are given, which can be accessed on the County website. She suggested promoting the fact that the County is migrating towards being able to get forms online. Mr. Mitchell agreed and suggested there be a poster to direct people to the website. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked what the legality would be in putting up signs. Ms. Garson said the County can’t just put up signs, but if we are allowed then we could. Ms. Kelly agrees with Ms. Kierkiewicz that a lot of the forms are accessible via the internet, but also understands Mr. Mitchell’s concern that people don’t have online access or how to access it. Mr. Mitchell stated he feels that downloading and submitting forms online is unneeded work; he would prefer having a hard copy, filling it out and sending it in. Ms. Kelly asked in percentage wise, how many people need hard copies. Mr. Mitchell said 10 there are a lot of elderly that need hard copies and as the population ages; this will be an increasingly important item. Ms. Kelly summarized by saying that at the moment there is a small percentage, but as technology advances, there will be a lot of elderly out there without resources. Ms. Kierkiewicz stated she understood where Mr. Mitchell was coming from with the recommendation and suggested having a County operator number for people to call and questions or be directed to correct place. Mr. Mitchell said the County already has an issue with help desks. Ms. Kelly suggested developing and implementing a survey to see how many people do not have online access. Ms. Kierkiewicz stated surveys are expensive. Ms. Kelly suggested having the question put on the next voting ballot. Ms. Kierkiewicz stated it is an interesting idea, but doesn’t think there will be an accurate count because this year the County had the lowest voter turnout in Hawai‘i history, with fifty-two percent of voters showing up. Mr. Mitchell suggested saying to investigate, develop and possible implement a top ten list of County forms. Ms. Kierkiewicz stated she’s not comfortable creating kiosks. Mr. Espejo understands that it is a matter of getting the information out to the public. He suggested asking agencies that are already established such as Aging or WIC to be able to put necessary County information on their pamphlets they hand out to reach the type of people Mr. Mitchell really wants to help. Ms. Maddox stated it is a matter of making sure that organizations such as the Office of Aging have access to the information in their publications. Mr. Perry stated the Department of Water Supply has a thing called the lock box, where you pay your bill by sending it online directly to the bank. He stated there are fees involved, but it saves on manpower. Ms. Kierkiewicz suggested having a sign posted at various departments informing the public of the different things that can be accessed online. Ms. Maddox stated Mr. Mitchell has noted all the input and will reword the recommendation. Ms. Garson confirmed that this recommendation would be removed from the next agenda and Mr. Mitchell will reword it. Mr. Mitchell agreed and thanked everyone for their suggestions. D. Add a bus line for the Kona-Kealakehe-Airport corridor. This region also includes the Hawai‘i County Civic Center, Honokohau Harbor, the new Kaiser Permanente building, and the planned West Hawai‘i Community College at Palamanui, on schedule to open for the fall of 2015 to serve approximately 700 students. Mr. Mitchell reported that bus ridership for Hawai‘i County amounted to 1.1 million passenger trips; there were two buses bought, however it hasn’t been decided where those buses were going. Queen K highway has been widened with federal and state dollars and Phase 2, which the Governor released about $4.2-$4.3 million dollars, is scheduled to begin soon. He stated the traffic is brutal and in the last two years a connector road was built and another road was built near the high school; very significant activities that cost enormous amounts of money and the question is, what is the County doing to help and adding a bus line would help the situation. The bus line would serve Hawaiian Homes, the high school and nearby intermediate and elementary school, serves the West Hawai‘i Civic Center, the new Kaiser building, Honokōhau Harbor and the airport. Mr. Espejo thinks that bus line is needed. Ms. Kierkiewicz 11 interviewed Tiffany Kai and will follow up with her as it is possible that a bus line is in the works. Ms. Kelly agrees with the bus line being added as there will be the new university serving 700 students that may or may not have vehicles, may or may not have dorms or housing close by and if the students are not taken cared of, there will be a lot of hitch hikers on the side of the road. Ms. Maddox noted this is a very specific recommendation and it would be helpful for the feedback from Mass Transit. Ms. Kelly indicated that she comes from a different county where they have bus terminals in a spread of 50 or 75 miles, one every 25 miles and maybe there are four buses that keeps going between the terminals and the bus rider gets a transit or connection ticket to go to the next location. She thinks the County needs to have a system that would allow bus terminals. These bus terminals could have bathrooms and offer coffee and could support itself it with a consignment person or vendor to be in charge of taking care of the facility; it would be a social community help. Ms. Kelly noted right now there isn’t much in West Hawai‘i connecting to Waimea, to Kohala, to Waikoloa, to Kona, but if the County was to integrate a bus terminal, you’re looking at a whole community developing to make things easier for the west side and then it could be copies for the east side to service Hāmākua to Hilo. She suggested having a bus terminal every 20 miles, going around 20 minutes to get people to transit from one section to another. Mr. Perry stated they have the same issue in Puna, there is one bus line that drives to three large subdivisions and it takes hours to get from Kapoho to Hilo. Ms. Maddox commented that bus lines are an invaluable service to a community. She will carry this recommendation forward until Ms. Kierkiewicz can speak with Ms. Kai. Ms. Garson noted the recommendation says Hawai‘i County Civic Center but will change it to West Hawai‘i Civic Center. All Commissioners agreed. E. Implementation of jet ski program within the Ocean Safety Division of the Hawai‘i County Fire Department. Ms. Maddox said this came from the Fire Chief who had done a pretty thorough cost analysis and justification. Mr. Espejo, Ms. Kelly and Mr. Mitchell all agreed. Motion and Vote : Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to include this recommendation into the draft report subject to additional language consideration. The motion was seconded by Mr. Perry and all commissioners present voted aye. Ms. Kiewkiewicz asked to have Chief Rosario’s financial analysis be included as an appendix to the report. Ms. Maddox hopes that all Commissioners could agree that the letters and responses from the various departments be included as part of the appendices and to be able to refer to them in the body or the introduction of the report. Those letters contained a lot of information and the Commission gave them an opportunity to tell them what had happened from previous recommendations from the previous reports. 12 Ms. Maddox asked Ms. Garson if those kinds of correspondences that came before the Commission is public document. Ms. Garson replied yes; she cautioned about the letters that were anonymous. F. Consolidate all vehicles and Mass Transit into a single department, using computer/internet based reservation system to reduce number of department fleets and gain improved efficiency of vehicle use. Ms. Maddox said this came from County employee, unsigned correspondence. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if IT would come up with this reservation system or buy an off the shelf program. Ms. Maddox thinks this would be widely used by a number of departments and would be something from the shelf. Ms. Kierkiewicz said if Mass Transit is going to take care of the County vehicles, it would also have to be suggested that they have an additional staffer to oversee this. Ms. Maddox doesn’t know if this recommendation is saying that it gets consolidated into Mass Transit although it would seem logical; the individual’s comment was related to all department vehicles into a single division of a department. Mr. Mitchell said Finance handles it right now; there are multiple departments trying to maintain multiple vehicles with their own individual reservation systems and when someone needed a vehicle it wasn’t available. He thinks it’s a matter of coordinating use of County assets. Mr. Espejo thinks having Mass Transit in the opening line of the recommendation will be problematic; may have to be re-worded. Ms. Maddox agrees. Mr. Perry noted the Department of Water Supply should not be covered because they are semi-independent. Ms. Maddox asked if their vehicles are considered County-owned. Ms. Garson replied the Department of Water Supply has their own separate funding so it’s Department of Water Supply owned; they don’t get tax money - they don’t get general fund money. Ms. Maddox clarified it is Water Supply owned rather than Finance. Ms. Garson replied yes. Mr. Espejo thinks it should include all County vehicles except for Mass Transit and Water. Ms. Kierkiewicz said or something broader like recommending a vehicle pool; she suggested re-wording this recommendation. Ms. Maddox said she would re-word. Ms. Maddox read some language from the 2010-2011 Commission Report, page 12, Travel Policies, c.3): Implement a vehicle pool that would be accessible to all county department to limit the vehicle purchases by individual department while still providing vehicles to employees who may need use of a vehicle. A vehicle pool would also centralize the purchase and maintenance of vehicles. Ms. Maddox thinks the addition part of the recommendation on the agenda was that the reservation system be internet or computer based. Ms. Kierkiewicz replied, yes, we would want it to have an on-line registration and tracking. Ms. Maddox asked if the Commission supports a recommendation on the basic idea at this point. Mr. Mitchell, Ms. Kierkiewicz and Ms. Kelly agreed. 13 Ms. Kelly noted a vehicle pool with an internet reservation system and attach a GPS tracking system to the vehicle is perfect; like a rental car situation. Mr. Mitchell agreed. Ms. Garson asked if Ms. Maddox is going to incorporate anything of recommendation “A” with “F”. Ms. Maddox replied yes. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if they were consolidating these two recommendations. Ms. Maddox said she didn’t they were exactly the same; they were going to work on “F” and carry “A” forward. She didn’t think they are mutually exclusive. G. Consolidate all County concessions and revenue generating operations under one department, similar to City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Enterprise Services. Ms. Maddox said this came from Clayton Honma the Director of Parks and Recreation. They are working really hard to look at revenue generating sources and concessions in parks but with other things going on, the time and attention that is required to do something like this is almost overwhelming. Mr. Espejo wanted clarification that there are people conducting concessions in different departments, different concessionaries? Ms. Maddox replied yes, there are different concessionaires in different areas of the County. Mr. Espejo asked like what; he is not familiar with this issue. Ms. Maddox replied Pana‘ewa Zoo. She is not sure how many have been awarded but there are RFPs that went out for various concessions at a number of County parks. Mr. Mitchell stated at County beaches there are vendors selling their merchandise but it appears those contracts are fairly out dated and the County does not get much money out of it. Ms. Kelly wanted to clarify that it is for the County Parks and Recreation to create a system for concession and vendor revenue to better track vendors and their revenue so they can pay a percentage to the County. Ms. Maddox thinks the belief is that the County could be generating significant amounts of revenue at various parks and County facilities if there was the time and energy to craft appropriate vendor guidelines and set up RFPs and accept proposals and manage contracts. She suggested Mr. Mitchell explore this issue in his conversation with Clayton Honma. She also suggested pulling off this recommendation to get more details. Ms. Kelly noted there is a lack of guidelines for these vendors and a lack of policy to enforce it or paying a percentage, concession fee or revenue to the County because it’s outdated. Ms. Maddox replied it’s not outdated, there is a potential that is has not been fully explored. She prefers to take this recommendation off the agenda until Mr. Mitchell can interview Mr. Honma and focus on this request to get more information. All Commissioners agreed. H. Allocate funds from the general operating budget to purchase personnel/HR software to accurately and efficiently manage County employee/personnel records/actions and time sheet submission/payroll processing. 14 Ms. Maddox stated this came from the Department of Human Resources which is now managing things using Excel spreadsheets and very antiquated Access databases to manage all County employees. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if they talked about the type of software they would like to purchase. Ms. Maddox replied yes, Personnel Enterprise Systems, which is used by other municipalities. Ms. Garson noted they will still have to go through Procurement. Ms. Maddox said the department has done their due diligence and each time they put this recommendation forward it has not made it into their budget. She stated that currently there is no correlation between the Access database personnel information and how vacation, sick leave and those time records are kept. Ms. Kierkiewicz said it seems like an opportunity to gravitate towards a more electronic system for timesheets. She would like friendlier language and to put this recommendation into the draft report. Mr. Espejo said anytime there is a recommendation from a department head; he is in support of it. Mr. Mitchell thinks the important key here is allocating funds. The department has done their research, there is a high need for this and in continuing the theme of letting the public now the County is full of very overworked and underpaid employees who are giving their best that there is some technology based things that can be brought to the County to be more effective and this recommendation is on point to that. Ms. Kelly agrees. Motion and Vote : Mr. Mitchell moved to include this recommendation into the draft report subject to additional language consideration. The motion was seconded by Ms. Kelly and all commissioners present voted aye. I. Implement smart card payment system for Mass Transit in place of tickets and monthly passes to improve cash handling procedures and increase efficiency and accuracy. Ms. Maddox said this came out of Tiffany Kai’s response letter. Motion and Vote : Ms. Kelly moved to include this recommendation into the draft report subject to additional language consideration. The motion was seconded by Mr. Perry and all commissioners present voted aye. J. Expand designers, lumber yards and contractor’s program of “pre- approval” related to package homes. Ms. Maddox said this came out of Mr. Kanuha’s letter, Planning Department. She asked for any comments other than re-wording for friendlier language. Mr. Espejo asked if this concerned package homes. Ms. Maddox said this will speed up plan review and permitting and Mr. Kanuha’s recommendation is to expand the number of vendors or designers who are able to receive that pre-approval process which would move those types of projects through the system more quickly. Mr. Perry asked what the road block is now. Ms. Maddox said she doesn’t think it’s a road block; it’s the whole permitting process which is very slow and cumbersome, this is a way to be able to speed up both Planning and Public Works. Ms. Maddox read the following from Warren Lee’s response dated April 21, 2014: 15 “Another similar pre-approval long standing in Chapter 5 of the Hawai‘i County Code relating to Building is the package home. A pre-approval of a standard design of homes allows a rapid permit review and approval. Large and small examples have been submitted for consideration and currently three have been approved for the calendar year 2014. These range from $190,000 to $1.2 million in single homes. Designers, developers, lumber yards, and contractors have been encouraged to submit homes for approval. This will encourage rapid permit approvals and help in employing the construction industry in a consistent manner.” Ms. Kelly agrees; she said package homes are fairly affordable compared to contracting a contractor and thinks those kinds of permits should be pre-approved being that the homeowner can built it themselves. Ms. Kelly is in agreement to expand the list of the pre-approved package homes that simplifies the line of waiting along with those permits for custom homes. She stated when people pull a permit for a house, a value has to be given of what they are going to do whether it is remodeling or building and thinks there should be separate categorized sections for remodeling, building under $100,000 or $200,000 and there should be another category for $500,000+. Ms. Espejo agrees. Motion and Vote : Mr. Mitchell moved to include this recommendation into the draft report subject to additional language consideration. The motion was seconded by Ms. Kelly and all commissioners present voted aye. K. Continue to expand IT permit processing and inspections which will provide access to history. Ms. Maddox said came out of Planning and Public Works but looks like it got truncated. This had to do more of expanding the on-line permit processing procedure. Ms. Kelly asked what kind of permits. Mr. Kierkiewicz said when they spoke to Randy Kurohara, this is something already in the works. They were doing a tiered system so that small project, medium size and large projects would have different avenues. Ms. Maddox it’s worth going back and clarifying for the sake of today’s agenda. She said to remove this recommendation from the agenda to get clarification; all Commissioners agreed. L. Allow building permit application requests from computers and smart phones. Ms. Kelly asks if this is an application. Ms. Maddox replied yes and allows permits to be submitted from smart phones. Ms. Kelly wanted to know what the difference is from submitting a permit from a smart phone or a computer. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if the department head made this recommendation. Ms. Maddox replied yes, it came from the 2010 report and also in the recent responses. Mr. Mitchell said it came from Ms. Leithead Todd, Planning Department, in 2010. Ms. Kierkiewicz noted using a computer or smart phone are both internet based but seems ridiculous to want to be able to submit a building permit via a smart phone. Ms. Kierkiewicz wanted to clarify that people in that department should be able to get 16 requests on their phone? Ms. Maddox replied, no, she thinks it’s saying that people should be able to use their smart phone to submit applications. She said if the Commission does not have sufficient details it should be taken off until they get more clarification. Ms. Kelly thinks the language needs clarification. Ms. Maddox said this came from Warren Lee’s response. (She read the paragraph related to this recommendation from Warren Lee’s letter dated April 21, 2014.) Ms. Kierkiewicz said the way the recommendation is written on the agenda is unclear. Ms. Kelly noted it needs to be clarified. Ms. Kierkiewicz requested to pull this recommendation and re-word it. Ms. Maddox agreed; change the language and clarify. All Commissioners agreed. M. Pursue placing property liens for unpaid water bills in addition to current tools, which would cut down on suits and court time and costs, shorten collection times and afford customers due process through an administrative hearing. Ms. Kierkiewicz said this failed in the last legislative session so the Commission should recommend re-introducing this bill at the state legislature next year. She asked if all of the counties would have to agree to do this together. Ms. Garson replied someone will have to sponsor the bill; that is why the recommendation was changed to “pursue placing” because the original one had a bill number and you don’t want to lock into that specific bill number. Mr. Espejo asked if this recommendation came from a department head. Mr. Kierkiewicz replied it came from Quirino Antonio; it was included in his letter. All Commissioners are in favor of this recommendation. Motion and Vote : Ms. Kierkiewicz moved to include this recommendation into the draft report draft report subject to additional language consideration. The motion was seconded by Mr. Espejo and all commissioners present voted aye. Ms. Kelly leaves at 3:40 p.m. 6. ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA Ms. Maddox stated the standard agenda items will be carried over. The th Department of Environment Management will be present at the December 4 meeting. Mr. Perry will report on the Department of Water Supply. Mr. Mitchell stated the th November 20 meeting will be a tough one for him to attend due to his teaching commitments. Ms. Kierkiewicz noted she needs to schedule a meeting with Housing for their interview. Ms. Maddox informed the Commissioners that if anyone has items for the agenda to contact Ms. Kualii. Ms. Garson asked if there will be any new items to put on the agenda. Ms. Maddox said within the various department head responses, there are some things that were recommended and asked the Commissioners to go back and review those letters to see if there are any appropriate recommendations to place on the agenda for discussion. 17 Ms. Kierkiewicz recommended discussion on flex schedule and possible implementation of the model used by the Department of Research and Development. Mr. Perry asked if that would include a 4-day work week. Ms. Kierkiewicz replied that would depend on the department. Ms. Kierkiewicz noted a recommendation was made for an automated cashiering system at DMV as they currently only accept cash and checks. Mr. Mitchell replied the Finance Department is currently looking into ways people can access and conduct business on-line using their ATM cards and does not know the status of that process. Ms. Kierkiewicz also noted a recommendation was made to be able to pay for vehicle registration with a debit or credit card. Ms. Garson asked Ms. Maddox if any Commissioner has a recommendation to place on the agenda, they can email it to Ms. Kualii. Ms. Maddox replied yes, that is how she would like it done. Ms. Maddox noted for the next meeting she will be on Oahu and not be able to attend. Mr. Mitchell also noted it will be hard for him to attend the next meeting due to the number of days he missed teaching in November but will be able to attend in December. Ms. Kierkiewicz noted there are only five or six meetings left for the Commission. Mr. Mitchell is more than half way done with his report for the County Council; he wants to speak with a couple more people before completing his report. He’s moving forward with the Department of Public Works and the Department of Parks and Recreation. th Ms. Garson asked if the November 20 meeting is going to be a problem getting quorum, does the Commission want to set another date for a meeting. It would have to thth be after November 13 and the 27 is Thanksgiving. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if the meeting has to be on a Thursday. Ms. Garson replied no but the next meeting date should be announced now to be able to post the agenda. Ms. Maddox is available to meet any day of the week of Thanksgiving if other Commissioners are available. Ms. Garson also suggested moving the time of the meeting to try and accommodate everyone. ththth Ms. Kierkiewicz suggested meetings on December 4, 11 and 18. Ms. Garson th confirmed that the Commission would keep the November 20 meeting and if there is no quorum, the meeting will be cancelled. 8. ANNOUNCEMENTS The next meeting of the Cost of Government Commission will be held on November 20, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. at the Puna Conference Room, 25 Aupuni Street, Suite 1501, Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720. Ms. Maddox stated meetings will also be scheduled for the first three Thursdays in December. 18 9. 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 3:52 p.m. Respectfully submitted: /s/ Jennifer M. Kualii Jennifer M. Kualii, Secretary 19