Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-12-27 (draft) Cost of Government Commission minutes COST OF GOVERNMENT COMMISSION c/o Office of the Mayor, 25 Aupuni Street, Suite 2603 Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720 COST OF GOVERNMENT COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES (DRAFT) DECEMBER 27, 2018 HAWAI‘I COUNTY COUNCIL CHAMBERS – COUNTY BUILDING 25 AUPUNI STREET, SUITE 1401, HILO, HAWAI‘I CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Jones called the meeting to order at 9:19 a.m. ATTENDANCE Present: Margarita “Dayday” L. Hopkins, Vice-Chairperson Lenard Allen, Commissioner Barbara Ann Bongo Arthurs, Commissioner Ross E. Birch, Commissioner David A. Buehler, Commissioner Gregory Dale Larson, Commissioner (arrived 9:41 a.m.) Harry Lee McIntosh III, Commissioner Excused: Jenipher A. Jones, Chairperson ____ Also present: Dennis Kauka, Jr., Office of the Mayor Angelic (Malia) Hall, Deputy Corporation Counsel STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC (none) APPROVAL OF MINUTES Staff apologized for not having the minutes prepared. Commissioner Buehler motioned to postpone. Commissioner Allen seconded. Motion approved. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS Commissioner McIntosh asked what if it was decided to include the principles that were referred to. Commissioner Allen stated that the Commission could list who was spoken to. For recommendations, simplicity will work best. Commissioners discussed the focus of its eventual report. A hypothetical example of a recommendation to include is if a facility or county service is asking for $800,000 and not charging a fee, we can explore figures for that. Cost of Government Commission December 27, 2018 meeting minutes Culture and Recreation Commissioners previously reviewed information provided by the subcommittee. Health, Education and Welfare Subcommittee Members Arthurs and Woo met with Kimo Alameda from the Office of Aging and Neil Gyotoku from the Office of Housing. One principle identified is that the County has some responsibilities to ensure seniors have proper housing. A summary of recommendations being considered: 1) Housing office continue work to update its federal grants. 90% of budget comes from federal Housing & Urban Development funds. The County office has a good team of grant writers. 2) Housing and Aging offices work together to inform community of seniors, caregivers and family members of housing options. 3) Planning Department work to allow easier access for permits of affordable housing for seniors and facilitate ohana structures. 4) Increase percentage of affordable housing for seniors. Explore whenever a developer seeks an affordable housing project, some portion should be for seniors. Public Safety and Miscellaneous The Subcommittee continues to explore data on the possibility to move to police cruisers for all officers. An idea may be to change to police fleet for 40% of vehicles so not every officer has a county cruiser. Possible savings could be over $1 million a year but the subcommittee will look deeper into the numbers. If a suspect is severely inebriated, he or she will not be transported in an officer’s personal vehicle. They wait until the “paddy wagon” is called, adding a cost that may not be avoidable, though savings on that would be incidental. The Subcommittee will also consider safety factors for officers while developing its recommendation, such as securing more safety feature-equipped or armored vehicles. It was noted that a shortage of police officer issue may not be a topic for this specific Commission to look deeply into. 2 Cost of Government Commission December 27, 2018 meeting minutes Sanitation and Waste Removal The Subcommittee received good responses from the Department of Environmental Management. In preliminary review of the information, not much actionable items have yet been identified. The “official” response from Greg Goodale of the solid waste division was assigned to staff. The Subcommittee found it to be “succinct” and difficult to “attack per se” as in identify an area to show savings possibilities. The staff is very knowledgeable and provided good answers to the questions. Some actions may be reasonable or feasible. The Subcommittee will look at recommending the Department continue to adjust fees that do not appear to cover all the cost. On recommending a landfill fee: it will be reviewed by the County may not produce enough garbage. Payment for recyclables has dropped tremendously. Recycling system improvements have been made at a few stations through the years. The Subcommittee will continue to review the responses and extract information that to use as basis for recommendations. Responses from the Wastewater Division and vehicle disposal program are pending. According to the division heads, they are preparing a replies. It was noted that the County previously would not go into private subdivision to handle an abandoned vehicle but now have a program in which residents can call to report with a description, how long the car was there, if it is obstructing traffic, the location and an officer will give 24 hours to remove or have towed. A couple examples happened in Orchidland so there is a procedure in place. ANNOUNCEMENTS The next meeting will be January 10. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 10:38 a.m. 3