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HomeMy WebLinkAbout041111_AGENDA_PACKET Sandi Sterker Members: Chair La-wrence Chaffin Jr, Linda Faye Collins Brant Fuchigami Glen Takenouchi Dirk Apao Laurie Yoshida Vice-Chair COUNTY OF KAUAI COST CONTROL COMMISSION NOTICE OF MEETING AND AGENDA Monday, April 11, 2011 1:30 pm. or shortly thereafter Mo'ikeha Building, Liquor Conference Room 3 4444 Rice Street, Lilme, HI 96766 CALL TO ORDER APPROVAL OF AGENDA APPROVAL OF MINUTES Open Session Minutes of March 14, 2011 BUSINESS CCC 2011-06 Discussion and possible decision making on a draft recommendation to Mayor Bernard P. Carvalho Jr., regarding County Employee Training and Consolidation of Personnel Functions. CCC 2011-07 Discussion and possible decision making regarding the establishment of an Employee Incentive Program related to energy cost savings. ANNOUNCEMENTS Next meeting: Monday, May 9, 2011 at 1:30 p.m. at the Moikeha Building, Liquor Conference Room 3. NOTICE OF EXECUTIVE SESSION Pursuant to H.R.S. §92-7 (a), the Commission may, when deemed necessary, hold an executive session on any agenda item without written public notice if the executive session was not anticipated in advance. Any such executive session shall be held Pursuant to H.R.S. §92-4, and shall be limited to those items described in §92-5 (a). ADJOURNMENT An Equal Opportunity Employer PUBLIC COMMENTS and TESTIMONY Persons wishing to offer comments are encouraged to submit written testimony at least 24-hours prior to the meeting indicating: I Your name and if applicable, your position/title and organization you are representing 2. The agenda item that you are providing comments on; and 3. Whether you will be testifying in person or submitting written comment only, 4. If you are unable to submit your testimony at least 24 hours prior to the meeting, please provide 10 copies of your written testimony at the meeting. The length of time allocated to person(s) wishing to present verbal testimony may be limited at the discretion of the chairperson or presiding member. cc: First Deputy County Attorney Amy Esaki Send written testimony to: Cost Control Commission Attn: Mercedes Youn c/o Office Boards and Commissions 4444 Rice Street, Suite 150 Lilme, HI 96766 E-Mail: mvoun(�kauai.14ov Phone: (808) 241-4920 Fax: (808) 241-5127 SPECIAL ASSISTANCE If you need an alternate format or an auxiliary aid to participate,please contact the Boards and Commissions Support Clerk at (808) 241-4920 at least five (5) working days prior to the meeting. 21P e Cost Control Commission— Monday, April 11, 2011 17 75 It CIA th ct tb ct 0 0 C3 C4 ✓ LL. r7 LL^ ct ice. C4 rn 0 t) ILI rl ct, 14- ol cz Iz T,l ' i 1 14 I CJ cr ct i�4 1 E� I ' i ( I � f tom. yj Cn L3 O 3 3 v z� L {y� it cn ct ct �- y - S1 W v e,) G c r s cn Ln c", � N ton ct ci Ln zz tr ct to Ln tz ti) u / s_ un `:t ;tom . 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Carvalho, Jr., Mayor Office of the Mayor 4444 Rice Street, Suite 235 L-1hu'e, HI 96766 Dear Mayor Carvalho: Draft- 20131-06 RE: County Employee Training and Consolidation of Personnel Functions The Cost Control Commission has been reviewing the whether the County of Kaua'i should improve its personnel training efforts as a means of proactively reducing litigation and settlement payments resulting from employee misconduct as well as whether the County's personnel functions should be consolidated under a single department. FINDINGS 1. The Cost Control Commission conducted a survey in 2010 and received responses from fourteen(14) County departments. These departments submitted a list of the trainings their employees have attended as well as a prioritized list of trainings that would benefit their department. The top six (6) most desired trainings were. Z1- a. Sexual Harassment b. Leadership/Supervisory Management c. Workplace Violence d. Industrial Injury e. Computer Skills f. First Aid/CPR 2. The Cost Control Commission also learned that the responsibility for training employees within the County rests with each individual department and is not consolidated under a single department such as the Department of Personnel Services. 3. Additionally. the Commission discovered that each County department has staff members that are responsible for varying levels of personnel and'"Or human resources related duties.among As a result, the Commission feels that there may be duplication of work effort among the various County departments that could be consolidated to improve coordination, effectiveness, and efficiency. 4. The Cost Control Commission requested that County Auditor's Office conduct a pre- audit on the feasibility of consolidating the training and all personnel and/or human resources functions under the Department of Personnel Services, 5. In its response, the County Auditor's Office indicated that the Personnel Department's limited scope of responsibility as provided for in the County Charter made it difficult for their Office to conduct the pre-audit requested by the Cost Control Commission. Furthermore, the Auditor's Office suggested that the Cost Control Commission pursue a Charter amendment or seek a legal opinion regarding the scope of the Personnel Department's responsibility and authority under the Kaua'i County Charter. 6. The Cost Control Commission thus requested a written opinion from the County Attornev's Office on the scope of responsibilities and services that the Department of Personnel Services can provide under the current charter language. Based on the opinion, the Commission learned that pursuant to Section 6.02, County Charter, the Mayor is authorized to assign new related functions to any administrative department such as the V Department of Personnel Services. See attached Opinion dated I arch /7 , 2011. The Commission finds that the issue raised by the County Auditor's Office regarding Department of Personnel Services limited scope of responsibilities as currently provided for in Article XV, Kaua.i County Charter has merit and feels that the Charter should be amended to include a more comprehensive human resources focus. Based on the foregoing findings, this Commission makes the following recommendations: RECOMMENDATIONS I. Request the Mayor to assign the responsibility of coordinating and conducting personnel related training of County employees to the Department of Personnel Services. Such trainings should include but not be limited to Sexual Harassment, Leadership/Supervisory Management, Workplace Violence, Industrial Injury, Computer Skills, and First Aid/CPR. 2. Request the Administration to conduct an internal review to determine the feasibility and cost implications if personnel within the various departments who are currently performing personnel and/or human resources functions were transferred to the Department of Personnel Services for the purpose of consolidating responsibilities and eliminating duplication of work. Upon completion of the administration's internal review, the Commission requests a copy of the findings and cost determination of this proposed consolidation. 3. Request that the Charter Review Commission, with assistance and input from both the Cost Control Commission and Civil Service Commission, consider proposing a Charter amendment to change the title of"Department of Personnel Services"to"Department of Human Resources" and further expand the functional responsibilities of the Department to include employee training, worker's compensation, safety awareness and injury prevention, employee benefits, and workforce planning. The Cost Control Commission requests that a copy of these Findings and Recommendations be transmitted to the Department of Personnel Services, Civil Service Commission and Charter Review Commission for further consideration and implementation. Respectfully submitted, COST CONTROL COMMISSION By Sandi Sterk-er Its Chairperson At its meeting on March 14, COUNTY OF KAUAI 2011, the Cost Control Commission voted to waive its OFFICE OF THE COUNTY ATTORNEY rights to confidentiality and allow the opinion to be publicly released. CONFIDENTIAL Attorney-Client Communication and/or Attorney Work-Product March 7, 2011 TO: Sandi Sterker, Chair, and Cost Control Commissioners FROM: Jennifer S. Winn, Deputy County Attorney SUBJECT.- Request for Legal Opinion re: Department of Personnel Services Our file no. 11-0178 This responds to your request for a legal opinion regarding the scope of the Department of Personnel Services' authority under the current charter language_ Generally, the powers of a municipal department are those expressly granted, those which are necessarily or fairly implied in, or incidental to, express powers, or those which are essential or indispensable to the accomplishment of the declared purposes of the municipal corporation. See 62 G.J.S. Municipal Corporations §448. Section 15.01, Kaua'i County Charter ("Charter"'), states in pertinent part, "There shall be a department of personnel services . . . for the purpose of establishing a system of personnel administration based upon merit principles, devoid of any bias or prejudice and providing a systematic and equitable classification of all positions through adequate job evaluation." In Section 15.04, Charter, the Director of Personnel Services is tasked with "the proper conduct of all administrative affairs of the department, and for the execution of the personnel program prescribed in this charter and in the ordinances and regulations authorized by this charter." Section -1.8, Kaua"I County Code 1987 as amended, provides that there shall be a Department of Personnel Services as provided by law. In addition, state law requires the Director of Personnel Services to perform certain acts, including but not limited to: represent the public interest in the improvement of human resources administration in the civil service, foster and develop, in cooperation with appointing authorities and others, programs for the improvement of employee efficiency-, cooperate fully with appointing authorities, giving full recognition to their requirements and needs, in the administration of this chapter to promote Sandi Sterker, Chair, and Cost Control Commissioners Page 2 March 7, 2011 public service by establishing conditions of service that will attract and retain employees of character and capability, and to increase efficiency and productivity in governmental departments by continuously improving methods of human resources administration: and encourage and exercise leadership in the development of effective human resources administration within the several departments and make available the facilities of the director's department to this end. 76-12 and 76-13, Hawaii Revised Statutes,' Arguably, having a more thorough Department of Personnel Services which offers anti-discrimination training, safety workshops, health care programs and so forth, is necessarily or fairly implied in, or incidental to, the Personnel Director's express duties to foster and develop, in cooperation with appointing authorities and others, programs for the improvement of employee efficiency,- cooperate fully with appointing authorities, giving full recognition to their requirements and needs, in the administration of this chapter to promote public service by establishing conditions of service that will attract and retain employees of character and capability, and to increase efficiency and productivity in governmental departments by continuously improving methods of human resources administration; and/or encourage and exercise leadership in the development of effective human resources administration within the several departments. However, if there is uncertainty as to what authority the Department of Personnel Services currently has, the Charter contains a provision whereby the mayor may add new express duties to the Department. 2 Section 6.02, Charter, states in pertinent part, "New functions may be assigned by the mayor to existing agencies, but to the extent that this is not practicable, the council by a vote of five members may upon the recommendation of the mayor create additional departments." Therefore, the scope of the Department of Personnel's authority is what is expressly stated in the Charter or state law, what is implied or incidental, or what is essential to the Department's purpose, While this office does not have the specifics of what is being contemplated for the Department. it appears likely that a more expanded Department with programs benefiting employees is implied or incidental to what is currently expressed as the Director's duties, Nevertheless, even if a more expanded Department was found to be outside the current scope of duties, the Charter gives the mayor the ability to assign new functions to the Department. The Department's authority would then include the express new duties given to it by the mayor. Although not specifically in the Charter, state laws on civil service are general laws, with which the County must comply. See Hawai'i Government Frnniny es Assn v.�c my of Maui, 59 Hawaii 65 (11978), 1 The duties must be those the County has the power to do, must not be an express duty under the Charter to another department, and must not conflict with general !aw Sandi Sterker, Chair. and Cost Control Commissioners Page March 7. 20311 Please let me know if 1 can be of further help. JENN ER S. WI N Deputy County Attorney APPROVED. r ALFRED B. CASTILLO, JR,. � County Attorney