Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-12-11 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 December 11, 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 Linda Kelly Douglas Espejo Delan Perry Glen Matsuda (via videoconference from Kona Council Room, Conference Room A) John Mitchell (arrived at 1:05 p.m.) 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 1:03 p.m. 2. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC No statements from the public. 3. DISCUSSION REGARDING SUBCOMMITTEE MEETINGS WITH VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES FOR THE PURPOSE OF GATHERING INFORMATION FOR THE FINAL REPORT A. Department of Water Supply Mr. Perry asked to defer the report of the Department of Water Supply to the December 18, 2014 meeting. Hawai‘i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer B. Department of Parks & Recreation Mr. Mitchell met with Clayton Honma and Ken Van Bergen from the Department of Parks & Recreation and reported the following on vehicles:  The department has about 55-75 vehicles; 14 take home vehicles are for emergency responders.  They follow the guidelines from the Finance Department regarding the assignment, management and regulation of the vehicles.  Monthly mileage reports are done.  Feels vans and SUVs bring good, proper value.  Gasoline stations are set and they have a form of cooperative gas purchasing for their vehicles.  They are investigating the possibility of using biodiesel as an alternative fuel for trucks, backhoes and heavier equipment. Mr. Matsuda asked what type of alternative fuels were being looked at and for what type of vehicles. Mr. Mitchell responded the department is looking at biodiesel as the alternative fuel, which will be used for trucks, backhoes and heavier equipment. Once data is gathered from that use, they will be looking at using it for passenger size vehicles. Mr. Mitchell reported the following on overtime:  Overtime is budgeted and quite restricted.  Overtime is preapproved and taken very seriously because the budget has been cut dramatically. Many cases of overtime are due to conferences, meeting or events.  The lava flow in Puna is literally a budget buster. They are having challenges in managing the budget and working with these acts of God. Budget is clear, but it takes one act of God or one incident to zap the budget. Mr. Mitchell reported the following on energy:  They use a fair amount of energy within their buildings; and, at this time, they are not planning to put photovoltaic panels on the roofs to reduce their HELCO bill.  Conversation on energy kept moving towards human and people energy within the department. The volunteers and employees on the ground being visible is one of the keys to the department.  This department is the second largest in the County with 420 employees. During the summer is moves up to 500 because of the summer swim and summer fun programs.  The elderly activities serve over 11,000 adults and have over 1,600 volunteers.  They manage nearly 200 facilities Countywide. 2  The employee accident rate for the department has dropped 21% from where it was in 2011 until now.  The most important programs in regards to people are the volunteer programs, which are a huge component of the Parks and Recreation Department overall. The volunteer programs have self-insurance so it is very cost friendly to the County. Without these volunteer programs, the County will not be able to run; Youth With a Mission is an example of a volunteer program. They assist with some of the activities that Parks and Recreation offer. Another example are the volunteers at the Pana‘ewa Zoo who have expertise with animals, zoology and veterinarian services. The zoo would not be able to operate in the manner it does without these volunteers. Mr. Matsuda asked if the County is held as the person who’s insured. Mr. Mitchell replied the County is indemnified; if a volunteer who is with Friends of the Park slips or falls, the group has an insurance rider to cover the accident. Mr. Matsuda asked what the limits of liabilities were for these volunteer groups. Mr. Mitchell replied it’s around $500,000 to $1 million. Mr. Mitchell reported the following on finance:  Private vendors respond to Request for Proposals (RFP) for concessions at different Park and Recreation sites; they do a wonderful job and feels there is more money that can be made from concessions. Mr. Honma feels the private vendors do a better job and the County should keep its hands out of it and empower these private concessionaires to increase what they sell at the sites.  The budget is $22 million annually, with $3.8 million for elderly activities and $7.4 million for park maintenance.  $1.7 million was spent to repair and upgrade the restrooms at Reed’s Bay. The restrooms were cleaned up and a comfort station installed. Mr. Honma feels the cleaning up of the restrooms and comfort stations is a huge benefit to the County because it’s a key advertisement to tourists and young families that visit and enjoy the parks and beaches.  Pana‘ewa Zoo had 245,000 visitors for 2012 and 2013, an increase of 30,000 people. Fees and revenues for Pana‘ewa Zoo and agricultural parks such as Kapulena agricultural park should be looked at. Mr. Maddox asked if Mr. Honma mentioned anything about the revenue generating centers being moving to Finance rather than staying at Parks and Recreation. Mr. Mitchell said not so much, but explored a little in the concession area. Mr. Mitchell reported the following on technology:  They don’t have other means of communicating between facilities other than by phone; no intercom system, walkie talkies, closed circuit or quick email access. Their ability to communicate between facilities is not very good and an area for improvement. 3  Mr. Honma feels their next project at Old A’s is going to test his team’s ability to communicate. There is a big project planned at Old A’s as well as the park project in Pāhoa; his team is going to be separated and stretched real thin and their ability to communicate is going to be fundamental. Mr. Mitchell reported the following on staffing:  Mr. Honma has an open door policy and refers to his people as his team. His department is a family and he is very knowledgeable of issues or things going on with his employees and their families.  Mr. Honma’s degree is in Sociology.  Schedule adjustments are made so employees can attend meetings at school for their children or take their children to appointments.  Employees rarely ask for overtime.  There’s an unstated agreement that you’re going to work a little extra on your own, but you’re going to be treated with high levels of respect. Mr. Mitchell reported the following on park facilities:  Some park facilities are closed least one or two days a month because of fire ant or other pest infestation. The Department included $180,000 in last year’s budget for three positions specifically for fire ant and spider infestation and control.  County pools take a fair amount of time, money and energy to maintain. Mr. Mitchell asked how much people are being charged to swim in the County pools. Ms. Maddox said there is no fee to swim in the pools. She also stated Friends of the Kona Aquatic Center is extremely active in raising funds for the improvements at the Kona Aquatic Center. They’ve raised funds for the photovoltaic system, purchased chairs for the deck and new lane lines. 4. 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. Ms. Maddox asked for any additional thoughts or clarification to the language. Mr. Mitchell had a conversation with a gentleman on Maui who is familiar with this and he wants to be cautious, does not want the language to be too narrow. Mr. Mitchell reported this pretty common for medium size police forces and county agencies on the mainland. He would like to get a little more information from the County of Maui and thinks this is something this County can implement. Mr. Matsuda asked Ms. Garson if leaving the language as “mileage reports are to be mandated and timely”, has to be specific or let the departments decide when reports are going to be due. Ms. Garson replied to leave it broad. 4 Mr. Matsuda wants to know the purpose it would serve of devising a computer tracking system with mileage reports other than it giving your destination and the miles incurred. Ms. Garson thinks mileage reports are already mandated and there is usually a clipboard in the vehicle to log miles. Mr. Espejo noted that Mr. Mitchell mentioned departments use the Finance guidelines on vehicle usage and that is something to refer to. Mr. Mitchell commented the County will hopefully get away from clipboards; according to the commission’s last report, it talked about changing government and the first way is technology. Ms. Garson commented when she read this recommendation she thought there was a problem and the County was not mandating mileage reports and were not timely. Mr. Mitchell stated the next step would be to mandate supervisors to do reports bi- weekly or monthly because his impression is not every department is doing it in a uniform manner and thinks some departments are still using clipboards. Ms. Garson suggested language such as “Developing a uniform system of reporting.” Mr. Mitchell replied it should be computer based instead of a clipboard. Ms. Maddox clarified the language as “Develop and implement a uniform computer tracking system for county-owned vehicle that includes regular mileage reports.” Mr. Mitchell suggested it should say bi-weekly or monthly. Ms. Kelly suggested it to say a digital monthly report. Mr. Mitchell said there are software programs to track mileage. Ms. Maddox asked if it an automatic report and if it could come out on demand as opposed to specifying bi-weekly or monthly. Ms. Kelly commented it could be specific to the vehicle. Mr. Mitchell replied yes and those reports could also be open to the public. Ms. Maddox clarified the wording to be “Developing and implementing a uniformed computer based mileage tracking system.” Mr. Mitchell replied yes. He also noted for the record, the people he spoke to at Maui County were Keith Regan and Don Medeiros. Mr. Perry noted the Water Department instituted the SCADA tracking system. Ms. Maddox stated the Police Department is very tightly controlled in terms of mileage reports and reviewing logs. Mr. Mitchell thinks there are a couple departments lagging on that level of transparency. Ms. Maddox asked Mr. Mitchell if he wants to move this as a recommendation into the draft. Mr. Mitchell replied he wants to get a more information from the people on Maui first. Ms. Garson clarified it will moved forward to the next agenda with the amended language of “Developing and implementing a uniform computer mileage tracking system for County-owned vehicles within significant departments and/or Countywide.” Ms. Maddox confirmed this would be moved to the next agenda and all Commissioners agreed. B. Explore the use of hubs in areas where there is major population growth. Ms. Maddox said this had to do specifically with Mass Transit and asked if there were any questions or if further clarification needed. 5 Ms. Kelly gave an example of hubs for the island; she suggested three hubs on the west side and three on the east side and buses would be routing between each individual hub rather than all buses going around the island. The bus service could be increased per the hour or half hour verses every four hours; an example was from Kamuela to Kohala/Kohala to Kamuela and Kohala to Kona Airport or to the resorts and to the future West Hawai‘i university center. Hubs could be created in areas very well supported by vendors that would be able to provide water, coffee or things of that nature. It could also develop a network of a transit system that is a County facility on County land supported by vendors that would generate enough revenue to maintain the building. Mr. Matsuda agreed and asked what is the ridership from East Hawai‘i to West Hawai‘i because it is going to affect those individuals. Ms. Kelly suggested a route could go across the saddle that would be express as well as a route that goes around the island. She thinks it is something to explore because the County’s current system is inefficient and wears very fast on the buses. Mr. Matsuda agreed with the idea but thinks the language needs to be amended to areas that need service. Ms. Kelly agreed and also suggested to include which department will be responsible for the hubs. Mr. Mitchell commented that on November 18 in the West Hawai‘i Today there was an article called, “Traffic Jams Ahead” which listed specific stats done by the Federal Aid of Highways 2035 Transportation Plan, a 393-page document with great information. The population is estimated to double in 20 years; from 180,000 to approximately 280,000 and increase in visitors from 1.2 million to 2 million. The Puna area is expected to double, going from 40,000 vehicles a day from Kea‘au to Pāhoa to 80,000 vehicles a day. The South Kona area is expected to go to 27,000 vehicles a day and the Kona airport to 21,000 vehicles a day. John Olson, a writer from the Hawai‘i Tribune Herald, said the hubs are the direction to go. Ken Obenski from the Traffic Safety Commission is also in agreement with hubs. Ms. Maddox spoke to Tiffany Kai at Mass Transit and the hub concept came up during Tom Brown’s administration; it is something Ms. Kai is interested in. Ms. Maddox said going back to the language for the recommendation, Mass Transit would be the department responsible for the hubs and to include language such as, explores means of improving the efficiency of the system as a whole cutting down on repair and maintenance cost. She asked if there should be anything else included in the language. Ms. Kelly suggested including the hubs to be serviced by vendors and to make the hubs facilities self-sustainable by the vendors. Ms. Maddox clarified, “including revenue generating vendors.” Ms. Garson said it sounds good, but now the example does not fit the recommendation; she suggested talking about the revenue generating centers as an example, a vision. Ms. Kelly thoroughly described an example about hubs and thinks connecting near and far areas supported with hubs would generate income, cut mileage of buses serving shorter distances and more regular schedules to get people to work on time. Ms. Garson clarified if using examples to support recommendations; this example does not fit the recommendation. Ms. Maddox stated this was a very specific addition of routes for very specific purposes and agreed with Ms. Garson. Ms. Kelly stated this is specific and concrete and something that is going to happen in 2015 based on the approximately 700 students going to attend the West Hawai‘i university center. She asked if her example could be added as an example to the recommendation because the intent of it is to benefit everyone; the hubs would be self-sustainable instead of using the County’s resources to make this happen. Mr. Perry likes a broader recommendation. 6 Mr. Mitchell said there will be 1,100 people in a new area near the civic center, Kaiser Permanente, Hawaiian Homes, Kealakehe High School, Honokāhau Harbor and the airport. Ms. Kelly said that is over 1,800 people by 2015. Ms. Maddox stated it doesn’t guarantee that all 1,800, or even a significant portion, are necessarily going to ride the bus. She suggested an example would be to show how a hub at the airport could feed short distance routes from a connecting point at the airport to feed the Kaiser/Palamanui area. Mr. Mitchell commented people could drive to the airport, park their vehicles there and catch a bus heading south or one that is heading north, serving the resorts in Kohala; that would ease a huge traffic burden. Ms. Kelly noted a taxi ride from the airport is $60 minimum for two people. She thinks if there were better service, like a County shuttle system, visitors would be willing to pay $20 each. Mr. Mitchell said it is like two things: putting forth the recommendation but also an opportunity to raise revenue. Ms. Maddox asked Mr. Mitchell if raising revenue would become a separate recommendation. Mr. Mitchell replied revenue sharing. He said there are already reports available that provide concrete numbers. Ms. Maddox asked Mr. Mitchell if he would be willing to draft language related to revenue enhancement. Mr. Mitchell replied yes. Ms. Garson said to articulate what would be on the next agenda as a recommendation. Ms. Maddox said Mr. Mitchell will draft language related to revenue and that would be on the next agenda for discussion. Ms. Garson clarified the revised recommendation language as, “Explore the use Mass Transit hubs as a means of improving the system as a whole which would cut down on repair and maintenance costs.” Mr. Mitchell said the hubs will be created to have more rapid and quicker response bus routes versus one bus for one bus route. Ms. Maddox asked if the recommendation should be moved forward to consider the language or incorporate into the draft. Ms. Kelly thinks it should be moved forward and work on the language. Ms. Garson stated the language that would be moved forward would be, “Explore the use of Mass Transit hubs for more rapid bus routes as a means of improving the system as a whole which would cut down on repair and maintenance costs.” Ms. Kelly suggested more rapid and shorter distance routes. Mr. Mitchell said, in turn, it will improve service and reduce maintenance costs. Mr. Espejo commented as an example, if a rider is going from Puna to Hilo, they change buses, and then from there to the Kona airport, they change buses again to get to the hub to their destination. Mr. Mitchell replied sure, that could be normal, versus one bus that does it all. He thinks if riders see the savings, they would understand the hubs. Mr. Espejo is concerned about the time for people; the bus ride is going to take two hours even it’s one bus, now there will be three buses. He doesn’t know how that will help the workers travelling from other areas. He agreed with the hubs but still thinks buses are needed to go certain places directly; he wants to make sure the language reflects that. Mr. Mitchell agreed and said there are a couple bus lines that are high ridership and cost effective. Ms. Maddox said the language could be to explore the use of mass transit hubs to increase the number of routes, shorter routes, efficiency and lower repair and maintenance costs. Mr. Espejo is not sure of that language either; how is it going to lower maintenance costs, the buses still run, they are going to incur the same maintenance costs. Ms. Maddox said in terms of the system right now, the only mechanics are in Hilo; if a bus breaks down on the Kona side, another bus will have to 7 be sent from Hilo as well as a mechanic. Ms. Kelly said instead of now having one section that is down, the whole route is down and people are stuck on the bus. Mr. Espejo asked if it would be easier to have a repair section in Kona. Ms. Maddox replied the County has tried it. Mr. Mitchell said Finance is working on that. Ms. Maddox asked Mr. Espejo, from his perspective, the repair and maintenance may not change but increasing the efficiency of shorter routes makes sense. Mr. Espejo replied it makes sense. Ms. Garson clarified the language to be, “Explore the use of Mass Transit hubs for more rapid and shorter bus routes to improve service and possibly reduce repair and maintenance costs.” Ms. Maddox asked if the recommendation would be carried forward with the revised language. Ms. Garson said if this is going to be a recommendation for the draft report, a motion needs to be made; if this will be discussed further at the next meeting, it can be moved forward. Ms. Kelly thinks the intent is to discuss further to explore better language. Mr. Mitchell said it will be specific to increase revenue at the hubs. Ms. Maddox clarified increasing revenue was going to be a separate recommendation. Ms. Garson said the recommendation to explore revenue generating ideas for Mass Transit hubs will be placed on the next agenda. It was agreed this recommendation would be carried forward. C. Implement a vehicle pool program, using computer/internet based reservation system to reduce number of department fleets and gain improved efficiency of vehicle use. Ms. Kelly thinks it should be implement Countywide vehicle pool program. Ms. Maddox asked if everyone agreed with the addition of the word “Countywide”. Everyone agreed. 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. Espejo and all commissioners present voted aye. D. Explore the implementation of a County of Hawai‘i information hotline. Ms. Maddox said in the front of the telephone book, there is a number for the Mayor’s Office of Information and Assistance at 961-8223 and answered by a woman. Ms. Kelly asked if the intent was to be digital, computer format or web based. Ms. Maddox said it would be like a 411 information number. Ms. Maddox asked if there was any objection to removing this recommendation. There was no objection, the recommendation was removed. 5. ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA Ms. Garson asked if the example for bus line to the corridor (Example under agenda item 4.B.) would be carried forward as a separate item. Ms. Kelly said to carry forward to work on the language. Mr. Espejo said it needs to be connected to the major population growth; if it is worded that way he thinks it will be easier than tying it to the hub. Ms. Maddox said one of the examples was to provide or create an airport hub. 8 Ms. Garson suggested using the airport as a hub for the Kona/Kealakehe airport as an example. Ms. Kelly said a primary example for a hub is the airport to the West Hawai‘i university center because there will be immediate growth in that area. Another example would be having other hub service the resorts. Ms. Garson suggested having a hub in the airport/civic center area and another hub in the Waikoloa area as an example of how a hub system would work. Ms. Maddox asked Ms. Kelly if there will be three hubs on the west side, one would be at the airport, one in Waikoloa, where would she the third hub. Ms. Kelly replied either Kohala or down south. Ms. Kelly stated there are a lot of elderly people living in the Ocean View and Discovery Harbor areas because it’s affordable and most of them have no transportation; this would encourage them to take the bus. Mr. Mitchell said the Federal Aid Highways 2035 Transportation Plan has concrete evidence to support these discussions and Mass Transit will need to make some adjustments to serve this larger population. Ms. Kelly asked Mr. Mitchell if he could send the link to this report for everyone to review. Ms. Garson stated an example for the hub recommendation could be to “Create hubs in the Kealakehe/airport area, Waikoloa area and Kona/Ocean View areas.” All Commissioners agreed. Ms. Garson clarified recommendations for the next agenda would be: A – computer tracking system; B – explore corridor with examples of hubs for different areas; C – explore revenue generating ideas for Mass Transit hubs; and any new recommendations. Ms. Maddox informed Mr. Mitchell that the recommendations he submitted to Ms. Kualii will be placed on the December 18 agenda. Ms. Maddox also noted presentations from Will Rolston, the County’s Energy Coordinator, and Director Warren Lee from Public Works will be on the next agenda. Ms. Maddox asked Mr. Perry if he would be ready to report on Water Supply. Mr. Perry replied yes. Mr. Matsuda indicated he would like to discuss the Department of Environmental Management. Ms. Maddox said any other items for the agenda need to be submitted to Ms. Kualii by 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. Ms. Maddox said the following departments have not been reported on yet: Housing, Planning, County Council, Fire and Liquor. Mr. Mitchell would like to talk to one more person at County Council and he will be ready. Ms. Kelly will coordinate with Mr. Matsuda to interview the Fire Department and Liquor Department. Ms. Maddox stated the next meetings are December 18, January 8 and January 15 with the report due on January 20. Ms. Kelly asked when will there be a draft of all the recommendations. Ms. Maddox replied as soon as they are approved and into draft form. She hopes it will be 95% done by the January 8 meeting with fine tuning done on at the January 15 meeting. 9 Ms. Garson informed the Commission that Ms. Kualii has a separate document listing all recommendations moved into the draft report so far and can email that out to all Commissioners today or tomorrow. Ms. Maddox stated the Commissioners have the ability to go back to previous minutes and reports to see if there are any other recommendations to bring forward. Ms. Maddox informed the Commission she will not be able to attend the January 8 meeting as she will be off island. 6. DISCUSSION REGARDING LOCATIONS/DATES/TIMES OF FUTURE MEETINGS/VIDEO CONFERENCING Ms. Garson suggested discussing whether or not the Commission wants to move meetings around so everyone can attend because it’s crunch time. Ms. Kelly asked if the January 20 deadline to submit the report could be extended. Ms. Garson replied no, it is a Charter-based requirement. 7. ANNOUNCEMENTS The next meeting of the Cost of Government Commission will be held on December 18, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. at the Hawai‘i County Council Room in Hilo and at the West Hawai‘i Civic Center Council Conference Room in Kona. Mr. Mitchell stated that in reading the last commission’s report, it seems to have a theme to change government or the way government does business. In reading the Mayor’s operating budget for fiscal year 2014-2015, he thinks most of the departments were given a high level of value and wants to thank County workers for their efforts during the great recession when people made sacrifices; employees accepted furloughs even as overtime was cut, staffing levels were reduced and hiring restrictions were put in place. County employee workloads have increased but their hard work and dedication allowed continued quality services, provided services and protection to the public. During the challenging years, the County’s work force decline by 155 jobs. Mr. Mitchell shared there are a lot of employees who worked hard and County residents don’t realize that. He feels the theme of their report should be how they are discovering the levels of value and simply sharing what is discovered. Ms. Maddox said the Commission talked about the point that recommendations do not always have to be things that are wrong or things that need to be improved but to highlight, appreciate and acknowledge strong effort. She said the meetings she had were very clear in that way. Mr. Espejo agreed. 10 8. ADJOURNMENT Motion and Vote: Mr. Perry moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Ms. Kelly and all commissioners present voted aye. Meeting adjourned at 2:33 p.m. Respectfully submitted: Jennifer M. Kualii Jennifer M. Kualii, Secretary 11