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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOMM. 040 • gr, UNITrD6rNeUtattlf, WWORKERSo /AL L is LOCAL 646. AFSCME, AFL-CIO HEADQUARTERS 1426 NORTH SCHOOL STREET. HONOLULU. HAWAII 96817 TELEPHONE 847-2631 April 10, 1979 Chairman, Charter Commission Hawaii County Building County of Hawaii Hilo, Hawaii 9672.0 Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: My name is Jack Konno, Hawaii Division Director of the United Public Workers (U.P.W. ) . I am here addressing you on behalf of our Union. At this time, I would like to thank this body for allowing us additional time to present our testimony. The first articl that we would like you to review and revise is Article III, Legislative Branch, County Council. Presently, there is a nine-member Council and the present language in the Charter which gives every district representation, we believe, is a fair and sound one. We disagree with the provision where it states that even though you run from a district, every voter in the County has an opportunity to vote for each and every Council seat. We see a great need to encourage much more qualified candidates to run from every district. In order to accomplish this, we need to revise the present language. As it is now, evpn though you may lose in your own district, where district residency is a requirement, you can still win. In essence , by having to campaign island wide, we are discouraging many candidates from running because of the campaign costs involved. A k -Y141.- ININIO C OM M -4 HAWAII DIVISION MAUI DIVISION KAUAI DIVISION 12/39-G KILAUEA AVENUE • 66 WAILANI STREET P.O. BOX 1201 •'‘ HILO, HAWAII 96720 WAILUKU. MAUI 98793 LIHUE. KAUAI 96766 INI • • • • Charter Commission April 10, 1979 Page 2 Kona resident offering testimony last week stated that Kona was not fairly represented. Based on its present population, this may be true . Under the one-man-one-vote concept, Kona may be under4represented but under the present breakdown of districts, Kona does have a Councilman. Like any other district, Kona has access to the three Council members who run at-large. Maybe there is a need to make it similar to how we elect our House Members, but we have not taken a firm position on that issue of numbers. We are primarily concerned with fair representation. We propose a two-year term for Council members representing a district, and a four-year term for the at-large members. On Chapter 2, Corporation Counsel, we, believe that the County Council needs to retain its own legal counsel. It is quite evident that where legal counsel is involved, it is difficult for them to serve two masters. Being appointed by the Mayor, the �:. Corporation Counsel has a moral obligation to the Mayor and it is difficult to perceive him having to also be the chief legal . advisor to the Council. If the charter is revised, enabling the Council to appoint its own legal counsel, then the Corporation Counsel should not be subject to approval by the Council. The U.P.W. has always been a strong proponent of changing the status of the Department of Water Supply from the, present semi- autonomous status to making it a part of the County. The Mayor, in his proposal, stated that the reason for the semi-autonomous status was solely because it was thought that the Water Department would have a better credit rating in selling bonds. However, as Charter Commission e • April 10, 1979 Page 3 some of you are aware, it has not happened ' the way itwas intended. Instead, you either have the legislature appropriating funds or the County Council authorizing the sale of bonds. The Department of Water Supply has been operating no differently as any other department within the County. Why then, the semi-autonomous li status? Even though the present administration favors the return 3°u of the Water Departmentmaybe wonderingabout the feelings of the employees for the move as proposed. The workers themselves are strongly in favor of bringing the department under the Mayor' s . jurisdiction. The workers feel that they are not on the same status as other County employees. They do not have equipment to work with and many equipments that are needed on the job is rented from private contractors. The repair and maintenance of their vehicles is done by private firms and not at the County mechanic • shop. Cost-wise, does it not make more sense to have a centralized system where all repairs of County vehicles would be done in-house? If government is going to become or has become cost conscious, then it makes more sense moving toward utilizing what we have in the County such as the County garage . Let me give you another example of the kind. of= problems othergovernmental agencies within the :. County have in trying to work with the Water Department . Within the Water Department, there is an electronic data processing system. It is our understanding that some move was made to have that system fully utilized to its maximum by sharing it, but the Water Department has not been cooperative. It is beyond our comprehension why the Department of Water Supply would not want others to reap the benefits of such •a sophisticated .piece of equipment . The Department of Water Supply is also under the • • • Charter Commission April 10, 1979 Page 4 control of a commission. In this situation, we would prefer to see that commission abolished because it is our understanding that the commission is just a "rubber stamp" commission that approves whatever the manager recommends. How many of us here know who the commission members are that we can relay our concerns or problems to? If that department comes directly under the jurisdiction of the Mayor, as he suggests, then the people can express their concerns directly to their respective councilman. There is a dire need to make that department more accountable. Presently there is no knowledge by any of us how money generated is spent. Another problem that our members encounter is they feel that promotions are granted or created for those the department wants to take care of and not under the merit system as the Director of Personnel Services stated. We are in favor of the Department of Water Supply being under the jurisdiction of the Mayor. The Mayor, in his address to the Charter Commission, proposed some major revisions such as his having direct control of certain departments and the abolishment of commissions with the exception of the police commission. There is some merit to his proposal with one exception. We vehemently oppose abolishing the Civil Service Commission and the Mayor having the power •to appoint the Civil Service Director. It is not normal practice for us, as union officials, to speak highly of management personnel. ' However, in this situation we have a lot of respect for the present Civil Service Director. He is a man of integrity. Although the Civil Service Commission members are appointed by the Mayor, and they in turn appoint the Director, we are quite certain that the • 411 Charter Commission April 10, 1979 Page 5 commissioners will not knuckle under any political pressure and appoint someone the administration favors. Mr. Edward Silva, in his report to you, stated that in order to keep the merit system as free as possible from political pressure, the Director should be fully controlled by the commission. He also stated that in order to strenghten the merit system by making it less dependent on political sources, the Director' s salary should be set by the commission and not by elected officials whom the Director will have to deny requests from time to time. If you, ladies and gentlemen, will recall, the last time that the administration granted pay raises for department heads, the Mayor was very selective in that certain department heads .did not receive any increase at all. We are wondering why the Mayor was so selective . The Civil Seryice Director was among the few that was not granted a pay raise . Is it because Mr. Silva, being a man of principal, will not knuckle under any political pressure? We concur with his recommendation, that being under the control of the Commission they should set his rate of pay. We do not believe that there is anyone amongyou that would like to remove the merit system but Y Y would rather maintain the system and keep it as far away from politicans as possible. For these reasons, ladies and gentlemen, we. do not want to seechanges that would make the Civil Service Director obligated to the administration. The Director' s proposal to this Honorable Body has a lot of merit and we ask you to seriously ' consider it and reviee the charter accordingly. 410 4 Charter Commission April 10, 1979 Page 6 Office of Collective Bargainin: We would like to suggest that the Charter Commission take a serious look into creating an office of collective bargaining. Presently, the Deputy Director of Personnel Services represents Hawaii County in all of the negotiations. As some of you may be aware , contract negotiations is very time consuming. To have a Deputy Director of Personnel involved in negotiations means that the level of services being performed by the office results in a backlog of paperwork. The State government presently has an office of collective bargaining and we see a great need for this County to also create such an office . The County' s negotiator . would be under the direct supervision and control of the Mayor and would report directly to him. By continually having a top management person from the Office of Personnel directly involved in negotiations, you are hurting the internal workload of all its employees. We strongly recommend this body to take positive. action towards creating an Office of Collective Bargaining. Thank you for the opportunity of enabling us to appear and testify.