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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013_0129_Minutes Open_APPROVED COUNTY OF KAUAI Minutes of Meeting OPEN SESSION — SPECIAL MEETING Approved as circulated 2/26/13 Board/Committee: CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION Meeting Date I January 29, 2013 Location Mo'ikeha Building, Meeting Room 2 A Start of Meeting: 3:42 p.m. End of Meeting: 5:41 p.m. Present Chair Cathy Adams; Vice-Chair John Low. Members: Lani Aranio; Gilbert Maerina, Roy Morita Also: Deputy County Attorney Marc Guyot; Boards & Commissions Office Staff: Support Clerk Barbara Davis; Administrator Paula Morikami; Administrative Aide Teresa Tamura, Personnel Services Manager Thomas Takatsuki Excused Absent SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Call To Order Chair Adams called the meeting to order at 3 :42 p.m. with 5 members present. Business CSC 2013-02 Discussion, deliberation, and decision-making regarding steps, actions, procedures and processes necessary to select a new Director of Personnel Services Attorney Guyot explained that when the Commission starts to get into discussions of the evaluation criteria and what items they will want to look at they may want to take that discussion into Executive Session. The initial discussions of advertising the position and how wide a net to cast can be done in Open Session. Chair Adams said there was some discussion of preparing a history of what has been done in the past for recruitment. Ms. Morikami said the Water Department, the Liquor Commission and the Police Commission did advertise statewide. Planning Commission hired an Interim Director, Mike Dahilig, who eventually became the Director. Ms. Morikami was not familiar with how the Fire Commission and the Civil Service Commission hired the Chief and the Director. Mr. Takatsuki verified that those positions that were advertised were done on a statewide basis. Recruitment was also done statewide for the Personnel Civil Service Commission Open Session January 29, 2013 Page 2 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Director in 2002 with the Commission making their final recommendation to the Mayor. In 2002 the applications and resumes were sent to the Department of Personnel Services or the Mayor's Office but Mr. Takatsuki recommended that information be sent in care of the Office of Boards and Commissions. Mr. Maerina asked if it would also go through the same electronic process that the employees use. Mr. Takatsuki said that is a decision the Commission would make as to how they want to recruit. It can be put on-line, advertised in the local and Honolulu newspapers and any other mediums the Commission wants to use. There is a section on line for announcements but Mr. Takatsuki is not sure if that has been used for department head positions;there is nothing to say it cannot be used. Mr. Morita asked if it would be possible for DPS to screen the on-line applicants to ensure they are qualified. Mr. Takatsuki did not think it would be a problem if the Commission wants this assistance. Mr. Maerina asked if that would add an additional burden to the Department. Mr. Takatsuki said work is work and we have to do what we have to do. Ms. Morikami said she also looked at the neighbor islands job descriptions for comparison. Maui uses their Charter as the main focus of what the requirements are. The Big Island originally said they use the Charter but in addition we received the handout distributed to the Commission. O`ahu did not respond to the request. The Kaua'i County Charter is also part of the Commission meeting packet. Mr. Takatsuki said he thought the Mayor appointed the Director for the City and County of Honolulu. Asked about guidelines from the Kaua'i Charter, Attorney Guyot said §15.04 lists the requirements for the Director of Personnel Services as a minimum of 5 years of experience in personnel administration either in public service or private business, or both, and at least three of which shall have been in a responsible administrative capacity and shall be in Civil Service Commission Open Session January 29, 2013 Page 3 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION sympathy with the principals of the merit system. The personnel director is appointed and may be removed by the Commission, and as head of the department of personnel services shall be responsible for 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 such as the County Code as well as the Rules of the Director ofPersonnel Services. Mr. Maerina noted that the Charter does not dictate how the Commission conducts the recruitment. Attorney Guyot said all it dictates is that whoever is chosen must have 5 years of experience, 3 of which shall have been in a responsible administrative capacity. Ms. Aranio asked if the Commission could include Preferred Experience and add a college degree. Attorney Guyot responded absolutely;the Charter is just the minimum. Attorney Guyot stated that he was somewhat involved in the selection of the County Clerk. The County Council had put out notices in neighbor island newspapers and the Honolulu paper and received 8 to 12 responses of which about 6 were qualified and 4 or 5 agreed to come to Kaua'i for interviews. Chair Adams asked who determined that the applicants were qualified. Attorney Guyot said they went with the Charter and they may have added a few other items. The Charter sets the minimum threshold and from there the Commission can add what is important so people know how to craft their letters. Mr. Maerina asked who narrowed down the pool of applicants. Attorney Guyot said because it was such a small number the Council staff was able to do that. It was a department head position of a similar salary and the statewide net that was cast produced between 8 to 12 applicants. Mr. Morita asked if they could set limits on the number of applicants but it was noted that would be very difficult to do. Civil Service Commission Open Session January 29, 2013 Page 4 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Ms. Aranio said her current employer has restructured HR so they have gone through recruiting for various positions and received a number of applicants from the mainland. When recruiting for the HR manager position for the Maui property,there were almost 70 applications. After going through the criteria and reviewing the applications the final number came down to 3. Staff inquired about the 1 year residency for department heads. Attorney Guyot said the previous County Attorney opined that law is only applicable to the department head themselves because that department head sets the policies. There are 3 sections in the H.R.S.regarding residency for employment. One is for elected officials, one is for appointed department heads and deputy department heads and the third section is for regular employment. The Hawaii Supreme Court said that the residency requirement that used to exist for all 3 sections was not applicable to the regular employment as it violates the right to free travel and the exchange between states. The case that challenged it was by a civil service employee and the Court only opined on that; they did not give a preemptive ruling on whether it would apply to the appointed. The previous County Attorney said the residency policy applied to the department heads but not the deputy department heads since they do not set policy. If it is challenged the same constitutional problems that existed for the regular employees would very likely exist. We are much clearer on department heads because of the distinction of making policy. The residency requirement is a State policy. Chair Adams called for discussion of the job description, attachment A-3 and asked Mr. Morita if there were any changes from the 2007 draft he had seen. Mr. Morita said they were the same. Ms. Morikami said the job description in the meeting packet is from the Nash Study done in 2007and the Commission can make adjustments to that job description. When the Commission advertises for the position, you need to give the requirements based on the Civil Service Commission Open Session January 29, 2013 Page 5 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Charter but you can also list preferences. Ms. Aranio asked if the Commission has the ability to incorporate items from the Big Island's job description. Ms. Morikami said the Commission has the authority to hire and remove so they would have the authority to provide the job description. With the conversion to HR, Mr. Morita asked if more responsibilities needed to be included in the job description. Mr. Takatsuki said there may be a few more items to be added but the Director continues to perform all of the duties with added responsibilities in worker's comp, other types of liabilities and training but there may not be anything on worker's comp since it used to be with Finance/Risk Management. The Commission should have the responsibility to assign duties to the Director and determine what the position should do. Attorney Guyot said the position to be filled has a general umbrella of duties and there may be specifics that change over a period of time. By using the job description as the communication to the Director and revising it as needed over time may be a good way to go. In moving forward with the recruitment ideas, the Commission may want to look at the main directives of the department head and then fine tune that. Chair Adams said with executive type positions, she is not used to working with a"grocery list"of items but a more conceptual idea. Recess The meeting recessed at 4:06 p.m. for the Attorney to confer with IT. Meeting resumed at 4:12 p.m. Chair Adams said the position description is Director of Personnel Services and we are going in concert to Human Resources but the Department is still called DPS so the title would remain Director of Personnel Services. Attorney Guyot said the Charter has not been changed at this point so there is no Human Resources Director position. To start moving in that direction, the listing could be Director of Personnel Services / Human Resources. Chair Adams said they should discuss an over-arching statement rather than a Civil Service Commission Open Session January 29, 2013 Page 6 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION list of essential duties and responsibilities. Ms. Aranio has a copy of the HHSC Department of Personnel DPOE which has some very nice over-arching statements. Ms. Aranio cited a section that said the function of this organizational unit is to administer the HR programs, including personnel management,personnel rules and regulations, collective bargaining contracts, maintenance of personnel records and transactions. The primary purpose of this position is to serve as the regional HR director operating under general administration direction of the regional CEO. Chair Adams said areas could easily be changed to reflect the County of Kaua'i which might be a quick and easy fix to make it more appropriate. Chair Adams asked for discussion on education and experience. The Commission was okay with a Bachelor's Degree. Mr. Takatsuki said the 1 year residency is part of the H.R.S. and he did not think it needed to be mentioned. Attorney Guyot said the 1 year residency for department heads is still applicable law but the question is how to reference it in. Ms. Aranio suggested listing it in the ad but not in the job description. Attorney Guyot said it could be listed in the preferred qualifications as Hawaii Residency. Mr. Takatsuki agreed saying if the Commission uses the internet it will go all over and they will get applications from all over the U.S. It may be possible to include a live box to be checked if someone is a Hawaii resident on the NEOGOV website. Chair Adams said it made sense to include the residency in the ad. Attorney Guyot said the minimum qualifications are the"requireds" and then you list the preferred qualifications. Mr. Low said that was confusing. The H.R.S. says it is 1 year requirement so where does the Commission have the authority to say it is only preferred. Attorney Guyot could understand the confusion and concern. If it is in the preferred qualifications it is something the Commission can consider. Mr. Civil Service Commission Open Session January 29, 2013 Page 7 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Takatsuki said the word preferred does sound like the Commission is giving someone an option. Mr. Low said it should either be stated or left alone. Attorney Guyot said it is difficult to promote something in the H.R.S.that may be unconstitutional just because it has not been challenged. Ms. Aranio said one of the criteria her company required is the person had to have knowledge or be knowledgeable about Hawaii labor laws, which weeds out a lot of candidates. Mr. Low felt that was a better direction and would like to see that as part of the job description as well. Mr. Takatsuki said the Commission needs to work on the announcement which will be an overall description of the job, a summary of the requirements of the job, and the deadline to submit applications. That will become part of the advertisement placed in the circulated newspapers and possibly on-line. Asked how long the recruitment should last, Mr. Takatsuki said recruitments can run from 10 days to a continuous basis with the ad running in the newspaper one time and placed on-line. The recruitment can run 10 working days or 10 calendar days and is something the Commission needs to determine,how long to run the recruitment. Attorney Guyot did not think the question of budget was of concern regarding the Garden Island or Honolulu Star Advertiser newspapers. Ms. Aranio said the Sunday paper is normally the more highly read paper but it tends to be more expensive to advertise on that day. Historically, Wednesday was another good circulation day because of all of the sale ads but that is now separated and Ms. Aranio was not sure of that impact. Chair Adams recapped that they are looking to hire a Director of Personnel Services / Human Resources and it is an exempt appointed position for the County of Kaua'i Department of Personnel Services/Human Resources. The requirements are the education/experience section plus the addition of current knowledge of Hawaii labor laws and include the summary Ms. Aranio read earlier. The applications will go to the Office of Boards and Commissions, Attention C. Adams. Chair Adams said that Ms. Morikami suggested the Civil Service Commission Open Session January 29, 2013 Page 8 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Commission cite Section 15.04 and added that this is where to add the slash Human Resources Department. It was pointed out that if the Charter is directly cited it must read the same as it reads in the Charter but if bullet points are used the Commission can use the gender neutral language. Attorney Guyot suggested using the language Pursuant to Section 15.04 of the Kauai County Charter, the Director of Personnel Service shall have. By using Pursuant to rather than quoting the section with the bullet points allows more artistic license as long as you do not stray from it. Chair Adams stated the proposal is to mail the resumes to the County Civil Service Commission in care of Boards and Commissions. Postmarks on the resumes will be determined once the Commission has agreed to the advertising dates. Mr. Morita moved to include newspaper ads as part of the recruitment process for the Director of Personnel Services. Ms. Aranio seconded the Mr. Takatsuki said normal recruitment runs about 10 days although some may motion. Motion carried 5:0 run for one month; it depends on the type of position that is being recruited. Historically, Mr. Takatsuki did not know how long recruitment has run in the past for department heads. Attorney Guyot said the recruitment period for the County Clerk position was no longer than 30 days and may even have been for 2 weeks. Chair Adams liked the 2 weeks which gives time to apply and be able to have them available at the next meeting. Ms. Aranio said there are specific deadlines to be met with advertising and suggested February 6 (Wednesday)and February 10(Sunday)unless the Commission only wants to run on a Sunday. Mr. Takatsuki said if the recruitment is placed on NEOGOV people can search by a general topic. Chair Adams said NEOGOV would run 10 days and newspaper advertising would be on a Wednesday and a Sunday during those 10 days. Ms. Aranio moved that the Commission target to advertise in both the Garden Island and Honolulu Star Advertiser on Wednesday, February 6 and Sunday, February 10,the Civil Service Commission Open Session January 29, 2013 Page 9 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION postmark applications/resumes would be Friday, February 22, in addition to being placed on-line with NEOGOV. Mr. Maerina seconded the motion. Motion carried 5:0 Mr. Morita asked if the Commission wanted DPS to screen the applicants first to see if they qualified. Chair Adams suggested when the applications/resumes come in they can be given to Mr. Takatsuki to screen. Attorney Guyot said there are various NEOGOV postings which allow you to put in personal information and also click a box to indicate a resume is being sent in. Other postings just indicate the position and request resumes be sent to a certain place by a certain date. Ms. Aranio asked if they could require an application be completed in addition to submitting a resume. The response was yes. Attorney Guyot suggested that NEOGOV be an option and not mandatory. Chair Adams said the ad should reflect that you can apply on line or send a resume. Mr. Low said those on line will not have a resume and asked if the Commission did not want a resume. Ms. Aranio said she would prefer it go on line with the requirement that they attach a resume because that is another screening tool. Mr. Takatsuki said he would need to talk with Crystal Fujikawa to make sure the system is capable of doing what the Commission expects and then they can work with IT. Attorney Guyot said one of the concerns the County Council had in searching for their Clerk was they wanted confidentiality in the process due to not knowing who would apply. There was agreement among the Commissioners that since this is an executive position, applicants should be open about it and just apply. Ms. Morikami clarified that everything would now be going to the Department of Personnel Services and not the Boards & Commissions' Office. Mr. Takatsuki said if the advertisement says to apply on line then everyone has to go to the NEOGOV system to apply. Civil Service Commission Open Session January 29, 2013 Page 10 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Mr. Maerina said the current NEOGOV has an area where you can indicate you are a current County employee and asked if that can be removed for this position so it is more open because people may think a County employee may have a better chance of getting the job. Mr. Takatsuki said everyone has the opportunity to apply whether they are a County employee or not and just because you are a County employee does not mean you should be given any preference. Attorney Guyot said the position is an open recruitment. Chair Adams asked if they want to add any other preferences to the section of education and experience in addition to current knowledge of Hawaii labor laws. Ms. Aranio said she would like to add a Bachelor's degree. Chair Adams said the job description is written with a Bachelor's degree in business administration or related field. Mr. Maerina asked if that would be considered as a minimum. Ms. Aranio said it is fine exactly as how it is stated. Chair Adams asked if it was to be preferred or a requirement to have current knowledge of Hawaii labor law. Attorney Guyot said it is somewhat inferred in the Charter to follow the employment laws but it would be safer to place it in the preferred section. The minimum requirements should track the Charter. Chair Adams asked for a motion to put the preferences as education and experience with the addition of a preferred being current knowledge of Hawaii labor law. Mr. Morita so moved. Mr. Maerina seconded the motion. Motion carried 5:0. Chair Adams stated they have established a timeline, a method and the bare bones of what the ad should say but she did not want to go into how the ad should be worded. Ms. Aranio offered to create the layout for the ad. Ms. Davis questioned if there was enough time to go through the County procurement process to meet the established publication dates for the ads. Ms. Aranio said they could move the first ad to the 10th and the second on the 13th and still receive resumes by the 22°1. Mr. Takatsuki said it could go on NEOGOV as soon as DPS receives the ad layout or job description. Civil Service Commission Open Session January 29, 2013 Page 11 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION NEOGOV would run until midnight on the 22". Mr. Takatsuki did not think there would be an issue with the County's procurement process but they would need to work with the deadline set by the newspapers. Attorney Guyot asked if the Commission wanted to set the criteria on how they would evaluate the resumes. Chair Adams said she would like to draft a scoring tool to be finalized at the next meeting. Attorney Guyot said he understands that the Commission will look through the submissions at the next meeting and select the top people. They will then look at a second review with some type of tool as a scoring system prior to interviews. Mr. Low said he supported that because if they just get a handful of applications they might want to look at it one way as compared to getting 50 or 60 applications. Ms. Aranio asked Mr. Takatsuki if his team would be doing the initial screenings to see if the applicants meet the MQs. Mr. Takatsuki said he assumed that would be the request from the Commission. If the next step requires a point system, Mr. Takatsuki did not think the Commission wants DPS to do that although they could. At the interview stage, the Commission could take the top 10 applicants or how many is determined based on the numerical value. Ms. Aranio preferred that DPS do the initial screenings. Mr. Takatsuki said they could filter out those that don't qualify. If they do testing they would test everybody but if they certify, they can only certify a certain number of applicants. Chair Adams said she was concerned that somebody more than Mr. Takatsuki would be looking at the applications. Mr. Takatsuki said he has a recruitment staff but if the Commission does not want to use them then they can restrict it to just Ms. Fujikawa who is in charge of recruitment and exams. Chair Adams said she would feel better about limiting the number of people who would search through the applications. Ms. Morikami voiced the idea that maybe both Mr. Takatsuki and Ms. Fujikawa might apply for the position. Mr. Low suggested they keep that task with the Commission and he volunteered to screen the applications. Ms. Aranio moved to add knowledge of labor relations and administration of the collective Civil Service Commission Open Session January 29, 2013 Page 12 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION bargaining agreements to the preferred qualifications. Mr. Maerina seconded the motion. Motion carried 5:0 Attorney Guyot pointed out that with Mr. Low's generous offer to do the initial screening he would only be screening half of the applications as the other half will be on NEOGOV. Mr. Takatsuki said DPS could print out the NEOGOV applications so that should not be a problem. Mr. Morita provided a list of Minimum and Preferred Qualifications for consideration. Mr. Low liked the issues listed and wants to evaluate the basic things, but when they start looking at the candidates these are qualifications that will help someone move up the ladder. Attorney Guyot said this is getting into the evaluation criteria and the Commission may want to save this for the next meeting or take those criteria into Executive Session. Chair Adams, along with the other Commissioners, extended their thanks to Mr. Takatsuki for his willingness to step up to the plate to cover DPS noting it is a great service to the Commission and the County. Attorney Guyot suggested somewhere in the ad there be a notation that the information will be held in the strictest confidence. Ms. Aranio will send the ad layout to Ms. Davis for distribution to the Commissioners with copies to Mr. Takatsuki and Ms. Fujikawa for review. Ms. Aranio asked if they should discuss the job description at this time. Attorney Guyot said probably not but it can be placed on the next agenda when they are closer to making the offer. Executive Attorney Guyot read the Hawaii Revised Session Statutes provision as outlined on the agenda to take the Commission into Executive Session to consider the hiring of an employee or officer of Civil Service Commission Open Session January 29, 2013 Page 13 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION the County where consideration of matters affecting privacy will be involved. Ms. Aranio moved to go into Executive Session at 5:10 p.m. Mr. Low seconded the motion. Motion carried 5:0 Return to Open The meeting resumed in Open Session at 5:32 Session p.m. Ms. Aranio moved to include in the ad for the Director of Personnel Service under preferred experience proficiency with Microsoft Office Systems and Human Resources Information System (HRIS). Mr. Maerina seconded the motion. Mr. Low asked if it was important to identify the exact program used, like Microsoft Office, or should they be more generic. Ms. Aranio said she considers Microsoft Office as basic and from there someone can adapt to other systems or software. Most people can use Word and Excel. With Outlook when you are scheduling meetings or trying to improve efficiency with a communications piece,that is where there are a lot of challenges. It is another preference because it will help this person who may have knowledge to direct their staff towards using the tool more effectively. Mr. Maerina said he has seen other job postings that specify Microsoft. Chair Adams said she would argue that it not be preferred but required. Mr. Low said when you get to the executive level you have the chance of bumping someone who is a potentially good candidate and who may be more than willing to learn the systems. It should be something to consider and move them up the list but it should not necessarily bump them out. Mr. Maerina said they would look at the whole gamut of their qualifications. Mr. Low's point was if it is a required qualification and they don't have it they are gone. Ms. Aranio said she did not Civil Service Commission Open Session January 29, 2013 Page 14 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION know if she would necessarily want someone who doesn't have the level of computer skills that she feels an executive in this position should have because that skill is that important in how we do business in this day and age. Mr. Low said he was converted and had changed his mind. Motion carried 5:0 Attorney Guyot clarified that the County's HRIS is limited more to payroll and time computation such as leave time. It is more on the accounting side. Announcements Next Meeting: February 26, 2013 at 3:00 p.m. Adjournment Mr. Morita moved to adjourn the meeting at 5:41 p.m. Mr. Maerina seconded the motion. Motion carried 5:0 Submitted by: Reviewed and Approved by: Barbara Davis, Staff Support Clerk Catherine Adams, Chair ( ) Approved as is. ( ) Approved with amendments. See minutes of meeting.