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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCounty Clerk FY2013-2014 DEPARTMENTAL BUDGET REVIEWS 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 1 The departmental budget review reconvened on April 15, 2013 at 1:49 p.m., and proceeded as follows: County Clerk Honorable Gary L. Hooser Honorable Nadine Nakamura Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura Honorable Jay Furfaro, Council Chair Excused: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Ross Kagawa Honorable Mel Rapozo Chair Furfaro: We are back from our recess from lunch and we are going to cover the Office of the County Clerk as well as the Election Divisions and Council Services. If we could, maybe we go to Elections first. How do you want to do this? RICKY WATANABE, County Clerk: Yes. Council Chair and Councilmembers, if we discuss Elections Division first, make a presentation on Elections Division, and then allow for questions after that. Then after the Elections Division is completed, then go onto Council Services Division. I first wanted to start out by just giving a short presentation on the mandate for the County Clerk's Office from the Charter. Chair Furfaro: Okay, very good. For the record, I just want there was no one this morning to testify and some people came later, but did not come to testify and it does not look like there is anyone here for this section for testifying. Rick, you have the floor. Mr. Watanabe: Good afternoon Council Chairman and Councilmembers. It gives us pleasure to present our County Clerk's Office budget today. I would like to just start by going down a list of what we are mandated to accomplish by Charter for the Clerk's Office. This is pursuant to Article V, Section 5.01 of the Charter. First of the all we take charge of all and file all records, "records" meaning legal documents, minutes, communications, etcetera, Ordinances, Resolutions, that are enacted or adopted by the Council. We are also responsible for executing and certifying all official documents that are approved. We conduct all elections held within the County pursuant to the Charter and State and Federal Laws, serve as the Clerk of the Council and responsible for recordation and transcribing of the minutes of the meetings held by the County Council and its Committees, we provide research services and record services both to the Council, the public, and when requested, Administration. The Clerk serves as a Department Head and appoints a Deputy County Clerk and hires staff in the Council Services and Elections Division to accomplish these responsibilities that are mandated. To accomplish these responsibilities we have two (2) Divisions within the County Clerk's Office. We have the Division of Council Services and we have the Division of Elections, both perform different responsibilities. However, we have tried recently to get everyone into unity to accomplish the goals of the Clerk's Office in general and not just be an independent and separate entities. We would like to start on page 13 of our handout to you and that is beginning with 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 2 the Elections Division. For that, I am going call upon our Elections Administrator, Lyndon Yoshioka. I know you all know Lyndon. LYNDON YOSHIOKA, Elections Administrator: If we could, a lot of the details are already in the budget document that we provided to you. So, what I would like to do with your approval, is kind of highlight some of the things that we have coming up and that we would like to initiate for the next coming year, if that is okay? Chair Furfaro: That sounds fine. Go right ahead. Mr. Yoshioka: Thank yo} very much. To begin with, goals and objectives for this coming year. We want to enlhance some of the capabilities of our Signature Management System and I will speak ore in detail about this in a little bit. The second thing we want to initiate is to prepay e some general preparations for our anticipated transition to elections my mail. Every , ear Bills come up and we believe this will eventually become the way that we will conduct elections. But it takes a lot of leg work to prepare because it is such a fundamentally dif -rent way to do elections that we are beginning this process now. Then the third thing the t we really just learned about a couple of days ago, is we are going to be needing to develop and implement a totally new Voter Registration System and I will get into details at a later point in this discussion. For Fiscal Year 2013, evaluation goals and objectives. -012 as anticipated, was a really rough election because of reapportion and law suits and ea her primary. It seemed rather routine and uneventful but we need to stress that that was because of the sacrifice and hard work of Staff both in our Office as well as here in Council Services. They provided a lot of support for our operations and we would not be able to do a lot of what we do without their assistance. We want to take this opportunity to tha k everyone. We also need to thank the hundreds of people here on the island as well as tho sand across the State who volunteered their time to provide services to the voting public. We cannot do elections without them so we want to take this opportunity to thank them. We did provide some notable election specific statistics in our budget narrative. I will not go into much detail, just casually say that we did see some slight increases in voter regist ation counts. As far as voter turnout, as you all know, Primary Election was disappointin ly low. It was not the lowest turnout in the State. Maui County did have the lowest tur out in the primary. For the General Election we had the second highest turnout in the tate, City and County had the highest in the General Election. So, just some casual inf rmation about that. We did provide detailed turnout statistics in attachment prepared by the Office of Elections, entitled "Election Registration and Turnout Statistics Statewide" which has been updated for the 2012 elections as well. Voter fraud maintenance, we provided some general statistics concerning the file itself and we also provided some general information about Election Day recruitment and training efforts. These are the individuals that really provide the services to the voting public. As far as voter education is concerned, the Young Voter Registration Program which is a partnership between State Office of Elections and Department of Education, as well as our Office did contact all Kaua`i high schools. Out of the eight (8) Kaua`i high schools, three (3) opted to participate. Statewide there were twenty-four (24) public high schools, and thirteen (13) private high schools who participated. The program year ends with the school year, so we do not have any numbers on that. But they generally anticipate about two thousand (2,000) or so new registrants resulting from this particular 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 3 program. In last years' presentation we noted that we were looking at possibly micro filming our documents. But after going through and looking at the number of documented to micro film, we opted to postpone that for a year or so. We just did not have the volume of documents that would allow to us gain volume discounts from vendors. So, we will hold off and revisit that in 2014, that also allows us to do some in-house work via a scanner that we have requested for this year. We will now be using digitized images of documents and transfer that to micro film as opposed to having vendors physically take photos of documents as they used to in the past. So, we will be looking at that as well. The 2013 legislature opened with eighty-five (85) election related Bills and we ended submitting testimony on twenty-five (25) separate occasions. We did provide, towards the end of our document, a summary of Bills that are still alive this session. I believe there are seven (7), all of which will be going to Conference Committee to work out disagreements between the House and the Senate, one of which I will be getting into more detail because it does have some significant impacts to our operations. The final thing that we talked about last session that we would like to follow-up on now is our Signature Management System. We developed, with the assistance of a vendor, a system resulting from a Request for Proposal (RFP) that we issued in 2012. That system significantly improved our operations specifically in the area of the verification of signatures on election documents and return ballots. It really allowed a single person to do the work of perhaps two (2), maybe three (3) people without the systems. So, it really cut down on the amount of time that we had to spend taking care of those—processing of those ballots. For 2014, in order to again prepare for the eventually migration to vote by mail, we want to continue to upgrade the Signature Management System by taking a lot of documents that we currently have digitized and on file and capturing the signatures for those. Basically we are trying to increase the library of signatures that we have that we can use to then verify election documents, absentee ballot envelope, and so forth. We also want to improve the in-house scanning and indexing capability of that system. Those are things that we need to work with the vendor to try to resolve. Elections by mail is something again, that we have been working on for quite some time. Elections personnel Statewide actually are already talking to jurisdictions that already have elections by mail, trying to see what they already do that we can adopt it here. We are all for not reinventing the wheel if it works somewhere else, then we can adopt it here. I think that would save us a lot of time and effort and so we are doing that. Also, evaluating equipment and support services that are an important part of services that we provide. As far as the 2000 Election and the preparation for that Election, we will be having g contests for United States Senate, United States Representative, State, House, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Board of Trustee, Mayor, and of course County Council. In addition to routine preparation, we are going to be quite challenged by the following items. Poll worker recruitment and retention is a tough process for us. Over the years procedures have gotten so complex, not because we want them to but these things need to be put into place in order to maintain the integrity of the process. So, it has unfortunately gotten that way. The long day just makes it difficult for people to commit. Absentee mail operations, specifically the initial mass mail out appear to be outgrowing the amount of support services that are available in State. We currently only have one (1) vendor State who is able to meet the requirements that we established within that,short window that we have to work with and 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 4 they also contract with all the other Counties as well. So, they are being really stretched thin in terms of their resources as well. We are looking at perhaps even going out of State to work with some mailing houses on the continent. These mailing houses have been used for Special Elections with the City and County of Honolulu as well as the State. So, it is not like something new. We would be working with hopefully people that are already familiar with what the requirements we need to put into place. Early voting operations, has the potential to be significantly impacted by House Bill 321, which establishes Election Day or early voting registration. Basically, somebody who may have missed the registration deadline, which occurs thirty (30) days before the election, they can come to early voting, register, and vote if this Bill passes. The current Bill does not contain any funding. However, we hope that while this Bill goes to Conference Committee, funding will be put into the Bill. I do not know if it will or not. But if it does not then this will be purely a County expense because presently early voting is statutorily a County responsibility. We just wanted to give you all a head's up on that. In addition to that, earlier we mentioned about needing to establish and implement a new Statewide Voter Registration System. This is as a result of a Bill that passed last year which established online registration and was signed into law as Act 225. We currently have a Statewide system that is housed and maintained by the City and County of Honolulu. However, we have recently learned, within the past couple of days as a matter of fact, that they will not be able to develop a system or supporting an online registration system. After some discussion, we really have no other alternative but to go and get a new Statewide system developed. Fortunately, there are Federal funds to be used to develop this system as well as funds provided through the Act. At this time, Counties have not been informed of whether or not additional moneys will be required to develop this system. But we are hoping that whatever funds that are presently available will be sufficient. The final thing that we are looking towards this Fiscal Year is voter education and voter registration efforts will be increased Statewide. We will be doing various registration drives. Dates, times, and places we are not certain at this point. A little too far out for that. But these will occur in the days immediately prior to each registration deadline and they will be done Statewide in conjunction with the media campaigns that the State provides. As far as succession planning is concerned, we do not foresee any immediate departures. However, three out of four (4) permanent staff members will be eligible for retirement in the next seven (7) or ten (10) years. We are already beginning to look at how we can pass on this institutional knowledge. What we do is not difficult, but the learning curve is quite long. It would be prudent for us to start looking at passing on this knowledge as we speak. We have been on some cross training and we are trying to figure out the best way to provide staff opportunities to assume supervisory and leadership positions in the Office. We are working on that as we speak. We have no vacant positions in the Office p p ce at the moment and as far as budget is concerned, the reductions are due to the fact that we are in an off-election year and we do not have any significant projects that we are working on. The actual cost projected seems to be consistent with the non-election year budget. That is all I have to offer. I would be happy to entertain any questions. Chair Furfaro: First of all, I want to thank you and your group during this last elections period that we had the second best turnout. We had really no 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 5 serious complaints in our County about the election process. Your staff seems to be very focused and it is very, very much appreciated. Are you on the ten (10) year cycle for your retirement? Okay. You are on the long end of the curve. Mr. Yoshioka: Unless something comes up sooner. Chair Furfaro: Okay. In comparing the budget graphics here, we incurred an additional one hundred eighty-four thousand dollars ($184,000) to actually run the election period comparing 2013 with 2014. Is that what I am seeing here, would that be a right assumption with the temporary staff that we bring in and so forth? Mr. Yoshioka: Oh, yes. We do require quite a bit of temporary help in the election year because of increasing workload. Chair Furfaro: So, that makes up the bulk of one hundred eighty-four thousand dollars ($184,000) variance in comparing the two (2) budgets? Mr. Yoshioka: The difference between this year and last year? Yes, I believe so. Chair Furfaro: That is the bulk of it, right? Mr. Yoshioka: Yes. Chair Furfaro: The temporary staffing. Have we thought through if the Bill passes, that creates total voting by mail only. Do we know if that is a cost savings to us or a cost increase to us, incurring all the postage? Does it get offset with the number of poll workers that we have? Do you have any idea what might happen there? Mr. Yoshioka: Initially, it would not be a cost savings because there would need to be some change over in the manner in which we administer an election. A lot really depends on what they charge for postage in the future. Right now, in order to expedite ballots getting out to the voters as soon as possible, we try to send them out first class just so that they get out there as quickly as possible. We try as best as possible to work with the postal service to get the first class postage down as much as we can, without sacrificing those ballots getting out there. It depends on how we set up the mail system. There are so many variables that we have not yet looked at. So, it would be a little premature to say how much of a cost savings would be the result. Chair Furfaro: But just in comparing the total registered voters for both the primary election and the general election, and it was all done by mail, it is about eighteen thousand five hundred dollars ($18,500) for postage for each election which would add about thirty-six thousand dollars ($36,000) to thirty-seven thousand dollars ($37,000) in postage? Mr. Yoshioka: I am not sure of the number. But I can go and look at that and get back to you. 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 6 Chair Furfaro: I am just taking it off this number we had forty-one thousand two hundred (41,200) potential voters registered. We had twenty-five thousand six hundred (25,600) that actually voted. But if we went to total mail, times the postage, forget the costs related to the printing of envelopes and so forth. It is at least thirty-six thousand dollars ($36,000) minimal. Mr. Yoshioka: Well, with all mail voting with the numbers, say for example in 2012, in the General Election we had forty thousand seven hundred thirty-eight (40,738) voters. Each one of those votes -we would be required to send a ballot out to everyone. So, you can take that number, times it by whatever postage rate we could get would be just the postage costs. Of course there would be other expenses associated with that as you mentioned the envelopes. We just cannot get that volume of ballots out in that small window we work with. So, that would require us to contract with a vendor to basically assemble the mail pieces to get those out into the mail stream as soon as possible. It would be a little difficult to guesstimate at this point. Chair Furfaro: I know it will take some research. Mr. Yoshioka: We can get that to you. Chair Furfaro: I would like, if you can, just to have some estimate of what that would bring to Elections as far as costs and all the things that need to be considered along that line. Now you are getting a scanner this year, am I correct? Mr. Yoshioka: Yes. We have requested for a high speed digital scanner that will be used to support our Signature Management System. Chair Furfaro: And how are we currently documenting the signature specimens? Mr. Yoshioka: Right now every voter registration affidavit is scanned into the County's Laser Fiche System. What we do is we then index them with voter information so that we can pull them up randomly. Now, with the Signature Management System, what we want to do is basically take all of those images and the indexes and just crop just the signature. Our system now allows us to — if any of you have voted by mail, you know that there is a bar code on that ballot envelope. That is an encrypted barcode that contains encrypted information which we scan with the scanner and it automatically pulls up the corresponding voter's signature. So, rather than having to manually keying in some information off of the envelope, we just hit the barcode and the signature comes up. That is part of what we envision doing with the scanner just to speed up the scanning process. Chair Furfaro: That is good to know. In rough numbers, because I sign off on all the travel vouchers, I suspect the issues relating to the past election amongst the State Office and calling the Clerk and Staff into Honolulu, we incurred about three thousand dollars ($3,000) of travel expenses to participate in those meetings? - _ 04-15-2013 County Clerk as Y er ( ) Page 7 Mr. Yoshioka: If you are referring to workshops to support our counterparts on the other end of the State... Chair Furfaro: Yes. Mr. Yoshioka: We actually made two (2) trips. One (1) to participate in a workshop on Maui, in Maui County, and another one that was done combined the City Clerk's Office as well as the Office of Elections. Those were the two (2) workshops, of course, Big Island did not provide a workshop. But in all, we spent just about one thousand four hundred dollars ($1400) in travel. Chair Furfaro: I guess I am also referring to the number of times that Elections was called into Honolulu for discussion, not just the workshops. Mr. Yoshioka: Oh, yes. These are standard meetings that we normally hold throughout the year. We tend to meet more in off years than on election years. Chair Furfaro: Okay. Mr. Yoshioka: We normally meet at least once a month, sometimes twice a month. My counterparts and I would meet with the Section Heads of the Office of Elections to basically prepare and plan for the upcoming election. Chair Furfaro: Okay. So, is that reflected in an off year, which this is for travel? Do you feel comfortable with what you have in the travel budget? Mr. Yoshioka: Yes, I do. Chair Furfaro: Members, questions for Elections? Mr. Watanabe: Just to expand a little more what Lyndon responded to the travel question. We also hosted a workshop here for the other Counties' Elections Officials. This was done for the benefit of all of the Counties to standardize and see what each County was doing as far as elections. It was mainly because we encountered some problems on the primary election on the Big Island so we reached out to the other Counties also. Chari Furfaro: Ricky, am I correct though, when we hosted that other event we did not pick up any costs to be the host? Mr. Watanabe: No, it was done in-house and pretty much Lyndon conducted the workshop. It was well-received. We got a lot of compliments and it was well run. Chair Furfaro: Yes. I did see some of the compliments. You are to be thanked for presenting our County Elections Office, as well as you did. Thank you 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 8 very much. But those were the costs only related to the two (2) workshops. The question that I had about the other travel related to going to meetings and so forth, that was consumed in your regular travel budget? Mr. Yoshioka: Yes, yes. Chair Furfaro: Okay. Questions for Elections? Councilmember Yukimura. Ms. Yukimura: First of all, thank you for your good work. I think it was notable that we had such a smoothly occurring Election, especially considering all the other problems experienced on the other islands. So, we really appreciate your leadership. This was your second election under the new Clerk? No, first election. It was the first election under the new Clerk. Mr., Yoshioka: First one. Ms. Yukimura: So, we had a change of leadership. Congratulations on that. On your statistics for voting, page 14 of your presentation. Shows in 2012 Election there was about nine hundred (900) more turnout in the General Election than the Primary Election and last year, 2010 there was a larger gap between the Primary Election and the General Election. Mr. Yoshioka: I am sorry, which page? Ms. Yukimura: Page 14. Which is to be expected. Is there another column you could make in terms of eligible voters? Mr. Yoshioka: Yes, we could... Ms. Yukimura: Then voter turnout, do you have the percentages? Yes, you have Primary Election was thirty-nine percent (39%), I guess of those registered to vote and General Election, sixty-two point nine percent (62.9%) of those eligible to vote. Chair Furfaro: Page 24, Councilmember Yukimura, has a great recap of us and all Counties going back to Statehood in 1959. Mr. Yoshioka: I do not know if that contains eligible voter counts however. Chair Furfaro: Yes, it says "registered voters," "eligible," it does not have. You are right. Ms. Yukimura: Yes. But thank you for referring to that, Chair, because in 1959 the voter turnout on Kaua`i was eighty-five percent (85%). 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 9 Chair Furfaro: Yes, unbelievable. Ms. Nakamura: It was Ninety-four percent (94%) in the General Election. Ms. Yukimura: Very good. Council Vice Chair is pointing out that in the General Election, I knew it was up in the 90's. In 1959, it was at ninety-four percent (94%). In fact, until 1970, it was in the 90's. Ms. Nakamura: I have a follow-up question. Ms. Yukimura: So, now it is at sixty-two point nine percent (62.9%), so sixty-three percent (63%) was last General Election which is a considerable drop. The other statistic that is also interesting is the number of eligible voters. I am not sure how you get that figure. Maybe the census would tell us how many are at least of age to vote. Mr. Yoshioka: Yes. We actually have something on file that I can provide to you. The thing with the census numbers though, it does contain non-citizens. Ms. Yukimura: Good point. Mr. Yoshioka: The information that I can recall does contain non-citizens. But the majority of the numbers reported there would be for eligible voters. So, we can forward that information to you. Ms. Yukimura: Because if it is sixty-three percent (63%) of those registered, it still may be less than half of those eligible to vote. It would be interesting to have those statistics and I think the Vice Chair has a question. Chair Furfaro: Nadine, you have the floor. Ms. Nakamura: Thank you, again, Lyndon for your presentation. Just to follow-up on that point. I recall that what was real striking in previous data that I looked at on who voted, was that in that age group between eighteen (18) and twenty-five (25), there were very few voters, like less than one hundred (100). I would think there are many more in that category that are eligible, but are not voting. I think that data would be helpful, what Councilmember Yukimura is asking for because if we could break it down even by the ethnic groups or by age categories, then you can devise strategies around how to target those groups. There are different ways that people in that age group communicate and it is not by mail, it is not even by E-mail. We need to figure out how to get to those groups, but we will not know unless we have a strategy. I think that that is one (1) of the Charter tasks for your Office, is to get out to those groups. From what I am reading in your report, there are a lot of Statewide strategies. But it would be, I think, good to have County strategies as well. I do not know whether you see that? Is it something that you would be 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 10 willing to look at and to try to pursue some County strategies that might be different from some of the Statewide strategies? Mr. Yoshioka: Most definitely. In fact, Ricky, Jade, and I have been speaking of this and we are trying to bounce some things off of Staff to see what we could do. I would like to note that with the online registration, that I mentioned earlier? That in speaking with my counterparts across the State who have been in contact with other jurisdictions that already have online registration, that seems to be based on what they have gotten from other jurisdictions, a very popular way for younger voters to register because they are online most of the time. An interesting note with that is they have found that once that online registration system is up and running, some jurisdictions reported up to sixty percent (60%) of their new registrations coming from that system. So, once we get this thing up and running and start seeing these things, it might also require us to rethink how we have our operations and maybe start to slowly phase away from paper and utilizing that online system much more. So, things are being discussed and we need to figure out some other way. Ms. Nakamura: Then, by looking at what those gaps are by eligible voters and people who are actually voting, we can even target ethnic groups that are maybe not voting as much as they could, age groups, I do not know how you break it down. But that is a start by having that good data to work with. Chair Furfaro: I just want to say, you also might want to follow-up our economy has changed substantially. We have gone from an agriculture, sugar/pineapple economic base to now, what is a resort base. Mr. Yoshioka: Times have changed. Chair Furfaro: To target the resort activities as well. Councilwoman Yukimura, you want to add on? Ms. Yukimura: Yes. Along those lines we could even, sort of like the United Way System, draw upon employers to help register their employees. That is another thought. But what I was thinking of as the discussion unfolded here is the Council might want to convene a group of young people in the maybe sixteen (16), seventeen (17) to twenty (20) year range and have them advise us how to reach their colleagues. That might be an interesting government involvement project. Chair Furfaro: I like that. Ms.Yukimura: So, that might be something that Elections would help us with. If we convene a group of young people to advise us on how to reach young people like themselves? That might be a way to involve them in government. Thank you. Mr. Watanabe: I concur. I think we could proceed. But we would have to take it out a little further because we do not want to jeopardize the integrity 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 11 of the system and if the Council were to do it, and not the Elections Division, then there might be a little concern. Chair Furfaro: I think we meant Elections. Mr. Watanabe: If that is the intent, then we are willing to cooperate and work together. Chair Furfaro: If you have a group of sophomores to seniors at the three (3) high schools and the private high schools, Kaua`i Community College (KCC) for their student government activities, and so forth. It might be certainly well worth pursuing through the Elections Division. Vice Chair Nakamura. Ms. Nakamura: The reason why I see the strategy is so important this fiscal year is because it is a non-election year. So, this is the opportunity to try to push some of this and lay the groundwork for it because we know next year is going to be a busy one for you. Chair Furfaro: Okay. Continued comments for Elections? No? I am going to give the Administration... oh,go ahead, JoAnn. Ms. Yukimura: I have one (1) question about your micro filming project. Are you getting advice from Information Technology (IT) on this? Are they involved? Mr. Yoshioka: No. We have just worked and spoken with vendors that we have worked with in the past, as well as our counterparts who just may have recently done micro filming jobs. Ms. Yukimura: It may be valuable to just check with them because they are working with documents around the County and they may have come upon certain systems and something that might be helpful or cost effective. I know they are up to their heads in projects. But still, I know some of those projects are about documents and so to the extent that they may have some insights might be helpful. Mr. Yoshioka: Thank you. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you. Chair Furfaro: I would like to know on behalf of the Council asking the Administration, since this section comes under the Council body, is there any testimony that you gentlemen have for us? Yes on Elections? Ms. Yukimura: I have one (1) question. Chair Furfaro: Okay. Councilmember Yukimura. 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 12 Ms. Yukimura: You talked about the online voter registration that the system presently housed in the City and County will not be available for neighbor islands. Mr. Yoshioka: No. When Act 225 was signed into law, we approached them to see if they would be able to assist in the development of an online registration system because Department of Information and Technology (DIT) is where our current system resides. But for whatever reason, they indicated that they would not be able to assist in the development or support of that system. So, we have to establish a whole new system with an online registration component. Ms. Yukimura: Is that County by County or are the neighbor islands going to be doing it? Mr. Yoshioka: It is going to be a Statewide system, the same as it is now. Basically, they have one (1) Statewide database that we all link into. Ms. Yukimura: Okay. Are we drawing on IT's expertise in this area, too? Mr. Yoshioka: The only time IT gets involved in this is to ensure that we can connect to that database and when it gets time for that particular portion of the development to occur, of course we will consult with them. Ms. Yukimura: Okay. I see that City and County's was managed by their IT Division. Mr. Watanabe: Yes. They, run, and maintain and administer the SVRS, which is the Statewide Voter Registration System. Ms. Yukimura: Alright, thank you. Chair Furfaro: Any more questions? There is no one in the audience to cover this Elections portion. I would again like to say on behalf of the County Council, thank you very much for your fine work. Mr. Yoshioka: Thank you. Chair Furfaro: It is much appreciated. Mr. Watanabe: Now we are going to move on to the beginning of Council Services Division and Deputy County Clerk Tanigawa will make the presentation. JADE K. FOUNTAIN-TANIGAWA, Deputy County Clerk: Good afternoon Councilmembers, Council Chair Furfaro, and members. Chair Furfaro: Good afternoon, Jade. 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 13 Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: I can never get used to being on this side of the gallery, it is very awkward. I wanted to start, Ricky touched upon the mission a little bit. The mission of the Council Services Division is to serve the Kaua`i County Council in its legislative function and to provide services to the community efficiently, accurately, and with respect. Our mission has changed. This is the second year we have had the same mission and really wanted to the focus to be on community services, service to the public, as well as really stressing the importance of our employees. Our Division is made up of four (4) sections, which include the Research Section, the Legislative Assistants and the Legal Analysts, Records Management, Support Services, and the Support Services Section with the Secretarial Assistance. The Division goals would be to recognize that all members of our staff are valued and that the contributions they each make strength our organization and help to carry out our mission of efficient public service, to treat everyone that comes into contact with the County Services Division with respect while at same time recognizing the importance of providing exceptional customer service, to efficiently and accurately provide staff and support services to the Kaua`i County Council and the general public in preparation of Council and Committee Meetings, and to perform any necessary follow-up work, and to provide information and related documents on legislative under County matters when requested by the public. We have kind of broken it down into various section summaries with goals and objectives. But that was primarily the highlights of our Division. I am not sure how much detail you would like me to get into. But there are a couple of things that I wanted to highlight as far as successes and achievements this year. One, in working with the Administration and thanking both Brandon and Mandy, we have received an (A+) rating by the Sunshine Review for government transparency and that was something that was a real accomplishment after so many years of hearing the public not so happy with that type of service that we provided. We have also reorganized the Council's website to be more user-friendly and utilizing Optimum Character Recognition (OCR) software. Council agendas and attachments are available to the County Council's website and it can easily be accessed. But that was not the one I was telling you that you would be very happy to hear. We have established a social media policy which we launched in December which is the County's Facebook page. We have had some interesting results from the Council's Facebook page and it is managed by Yvette Sahut in our Office. We were able to weekly reach about a total of three hundred fifty-eight (358) people, broken down to sixty-four percent (64%) female, thirty-six percent (36%) male. The most popular demographic is about forty-five (45) to fifty-four (54) years old and they are more interested in Council Certificate presentations. I guess normally when they cannot make it, families or grandparents cannot make it when the kids are recognized, and they can easily access the information online. We have developed and implemented the Council Services Media Plan, successfully as Lyndon discussed, carried out the 2012 Primary and General Elections, and we were able to complete the codification of the Kaua`i County Code 1987, which will be available online. That is the one. Yes. In fact, coincidentally enough it is available and online tomorrow. We are at a staff of approximately twenty(20) people, we have four (4) vacancies. Last year when we discussed the number of projects that our Office handles, it was kind of interesting and I do not believe Councilmember Yukimura you were here. I think you had to step out for a little bit. But everyone was quite surprised at the number of projects that small or large that comes across or through the Office. This is from 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 14 simple items to more complex. From up until February 28th, we are at four thousand six hundred ninety-seven (4,697) requests or projects and that was pretty significant, about a thousand or so more than last year. This Council has been keeping us very, very busy. Upcoming initiatives, we are working on formulating a staff survey to identify areas that staff members feel they need assistant with or training with so we can develop more specific training plans. We will also be focused on team building and effective communications. We are currently preparing to host the 2013 Hawai`i State Association of Counties (HSAC) Annual Conference and again, preparing to host the 2015 National Western Interstate Region (WIR) Conference. We will be continuing our succession planning for Council Services and the Election Division. We are also working to develop a County Council community outreach component in order to be more accessible to the public. Often times we have gone into the community for meetings, around the island, and just to kind of find the balance, not everybody can make it into Lihu`e and we would like to kind of go out into each community. Hopefully we can develop something where it is issue driven. So, important to the community, where we can get a lot of community input versus someplace else, where things are not as important or as interesting that week, just the normal Council agenda. That is all I had as far as items that I would like to discuss. We are open to answering any questions that you have. Chair Furfaro: Jade, can I ask you folks to acknowledge to everybody where our current Business Plan Training for the staff is located. I think Ricky has a copy. Mr. Watanabe: Yes, we have a copy. One of our Administrative Assistants is in charge with maintaining the up-to-date records of our training that we have undertaken and we will have a copy for all the members. Chair Furfaro: Just if anybody wants to see the current training. Mr. Watanabe: We have actually two (2) pages worth of training that we participated in this current fiscal year and we have tried to maximize the use of County offered training, as well as State and in-house and free training, webinars. So, we have been participating in training. Chair Furfaro: I just wanted to make sure that they knew it was available. This will be our third year that we actually have a Business Training Plan for the staff. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Another thing I want to at least mention because it is really a wonderful thing. Darrellyne developed this Standardization Guide. She, with Scott, put this together to assist the Clerical Staff in really standardizing everything that comes out of our Office whether it is memos, certificates, everything has a standardized look. It was really important so people would not have to guess and I think it is, for the most part, has served everyone very well. In addition to that, the Clerical Section must really be commended. They have started developing peer training, where they work together. They are able to identify areas that they are either unsure themselves, have 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 15 questions about, and both Scott, and I guess, primarily Scott with Darrellyne have worked to have the Clerical person that has a question say whether it is about motions, for example. They would develop a presentation that would be made available or presented to members of their Clerical Team. They would really explain it. So, it really worked to help them learn about motions, answered questions, but also to be able to present and get a good idea and good feedback from their fellow colleagues, really, with questions and they are able to answer. So, we felt that was a really innovative way to get the message across and for everybody to benefit in learning. Chair Furfaro: I also want to say, I would like to compliment our Staff as different individuals have taken on new types and kinds of key result leaders in certain areas. As you mentioned, Darrellyne, working with our two (2) Clerical people on coming up with standard operating forms. Certainly the command Scott has taken in the budget. I also want to say you mentioned Yvette who handles our public relations communications where necessary. Then we have Ashley, who is kind of our point person for the legislature. Everybody has taken on a little more everywhere to give us some real focus. Then of course, Eddie has been working through the facilities management piece. He is cross trained now to run the meetings and certainly also backup for Elections. So, everybody has taken on some additional work and they have become very effective. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: It is very nice to see and it is nice to see everybody developing and not just staying stagnant, but really developing. It is promising because we have a very young staff. So, it is really good. Chair Furfaro: I think it is also okay for me to say to the three (3) of you, thank you very much for constantly making improvements, as I know we meet periodically on the needs. But you folks have been very focused on taking on small improvements and it is appreciated. Councilwoman Yukimura, you have the floor. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you. I have to affirm that there has been such a surge of energy and work and changes since we have had a new Clerk and Deputy and I think it has been very positive. I especially appreciate the openness to suggestions and feedback about how things are working, sometimes not working, but always in openness to take a look and see how to make things better. I think to a person, staff has shown such great effort. I really appreciate that. I had a question about electricity. I see in the notes that that line item has been moved to Buildings, but I would like to request—I mean, first of all, my question is have we achieved what we have wanted throughout the County? That is an energy bill that shows us what we alone are using so that we know we are accountable for the line item or is it there are so many other people on the meter or whatever it is that we have no idea whether we are moving towards saving energy or moving in the other direction? Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: It is a little bit of both to be honest. I do not believe that we have an energy bill that we could say is just Council Services or is just Elections. But from my understanding, I know with the Historical Society, Ben Sullivan and his group are going to do net metering and kind of like a pilot project. The one hundred fifty thousand dollar ($150,000) energy appropriation for our Office was transmitted to the 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 16 Buildings Division. They have been paying our energy bill for quite some time, if I remember correctly. So it is to be properly allocated that way. But as far as an energy bill for us, I will definitely check into that and see if we can have an idea of how much we generate and where we can save. I know there is a computer program that will show you when maybe your air conditioner (AC) is a little too low. I think seventy-two (72) degrees is where it should be and when it is at sixty (60) degrees, I have been one to get an E-mail that says Jade, is your AC really set at sixty (60) degrees and have I to send an apology that yes, it is. So, I know they are aware of those things. But I will have to double check. Mr. Watanabe: Just to provide some clarification. The Historic County Building, we can get an electric consumption. Ms. Yukimura: We can? Mr. Watanabe: However, attached to our meter is the Historic Preservation's usage. Chair Furfaro: Let me get a little clarification so you all know. The first assignment we have given Mr. Sullivan is to either determine for us if we can put the Historic Society on a separate meter or measure the consumption that they have currently so that we can adjust the agreement. Now in the agreement, they are charged with a fixed amount each month. But it is an amount that was determined in the year 2000. So, it is something that he has been tasked with. Now, the rest of the building is on a separate meter and we can get that as soon as we get the Historical Society information correct. The problem with the Historic Society is because of their documents, they are running twenty-four (24) hour AC and it is something that we really need to express to them. They have to pay their fair share because that is what is in the lease. So, that part is happening and Ben has been nurturing that as a side project and I think we will have a conclusion soon. Ms. Yukimura: So, if we could for a year's goal, this next year's goal, maybe aim to at least get the separation or at least the definition and so that we can track our energy usage. As the County Council, I would love to show an example, "walk the talk" so to speak, since we are asking the other County Departments and Divisions to hold the line on energy. I would like us to see if we can do the same. I know that Eddie is on the Green Team. Chair Furfaro: Yes. Ms. Yukimura: And I would like to work with him as a little subcommittee with anybody else who wants to work on all the different ways we might be able to set some sustainability targets for ourselves, whether it is recycling, or energy use, or whatever. Chair Furfaro: Can I make it official? You have all the parts you just volunteered for. 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 17 Ms. Yukimura: I just want to be a peon on Eddie's Committee, is what I want to do. Chair Furfaro: But one (1) of the things that I am still distressed about, they now read the thermostats and they send you note about your energy reading is set at sixty-eight (68) degrees. But they still have not answered the questions about the chill water. So, JoAnn, would you work on that for me? They have the chill water set too low. It can go up some more. Ms. Yukimura: I will make sure we will look into that, Chair. Chair Furfaro: Thank you. Go ahead, you have the floor. Nadine. Ms. Nakamura: Thank you very much for your presentation, Jade. I wanted to ask you about your page 9, item number. 7. The County Council Community Outreach Program. Can you tell us a little bit about what is envisioned here? Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: This was, in fact, in discussion with the Chair earlier this year, he had — and other members had also mentioned that we really need to get out into the community a little bit more whether it is a meeting once a month in various neighborhood centers. We used to go out into the community and meet when it was issue specific. So, if it was a Zoning Bill having to do with Po`ipu, you would have a community meeting out in Koloa. But this would be to maybe expand on that a little bit more and to kind of take the Council on the road in various areas to see what the response would be like. I know often times response really is based on the issue, whatever was on the agenda at the time. But we are hoping if people know about it and they have advance notice and we do have something that would be kind of critical or of interest to their community, we could somehow plan the agenda around it and we could get at least get members to come out and sit and have that interaction with the Council. Ms. Nakamura: Thank you. Ms. Fountain- Tanigawa: You are welcome. Chair Furfaro: Mr. Hooser, I am going to give the floor to JoAnn again or did you want the floor? Mr. Hooser: Just a brief question. Chair Furfaro: Go ahead. Mr. Hooser: You had mentioned that there were four (4) vacancies. Is that three (3) plus the one (1) that the Council Services is asking to be included in the new budget or is it four (4) plus one (1)? Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Four (4) plus one (1). 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 18 Mr. Hooser: Four (4) plus one (1), because I believe in the last conversation I had, it was three (3) plus one (1). There was an Analyst, a Clerk, and I think a Secretarial Assistant. Mr. Watanabe: The one that we missed was the Administrator's position. Chair Furfaro: Ricky's old position. Mr. Watanabe: My former position. Mr. Hooser: Right. I thought that question had been asked. Mr. Watanabe: I thought we had removed it and dollar funded the position. However, it is in the budget. Mr. Hooser: Okay. So, that is four (4) plus one (1) that we are requesting in the new budget. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Yes. Mr. Watanabe: Well, we are not requesting four (4) plus one (1). We already have four (4). Mr. Hooser: Right. You are requesting one (1). Mr. Watanabe: We are requesting one (1). Mr. Hooser: So, that would be five (5). What is the dollar amount for the one that I missed? Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: The Council Administrator is approximately ninety-five thousand dollars ($95,000). Mr. Hooser: Thank you. Chair Furfaro: And that again, I want to point out to Mr. Hooser, that was Ricky's position which we are actually operating without that being filled now. The other three (3) positions are the vacancies from Elizabeth, our Analyst that went over to the Prosecutor's Office, and... Mr. Watanabe: Morgan. Chair Furfaro: Oh, yes. Those are the three (3) we talked about. But we have not made any plans about that other position you just heard about today. 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 19 Mr. Hooser: Right, because I had several conversations and we have been discussing three (3) vacant positions. This was the first I heard that we had a fourth one. So, that is why I just wanted to clarify that. Thank you, Chair. Chair Furfaro: I think some of us assumed it was not funded. But it was as we looked at it again this morning. Mr. Hooser: Thank you. Chair Furfaro: I want to reconfirm at this time, Mr. Hooser, you folks do not have a plan to fill that vacancy as it is showing? Mr. Watanabe: Not the Administrator's position. That position was kept in because I came from Civil Service. Chair Furfaro: We understood what we were required to do for one (1) year there. Gary are you finished? Do you have any more? Mr. Hooser: No. Chair Furfaro: Okay, JoAnn. Ms. Yukimura: It is a follow-up. On page 12 you have the positions listed. So, the Council Services Administrator is the ninety-five thousand dollars ($95,000), is that what it is at? Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Yes, it is. Mr. Watanabe: Yes. Ms. Yukimura: Then the Legal Assistant position is? Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: The Legislative Assistant. Ms. Yukimura: Legislative Assistant, I am sorry. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Approximately fifty-one thousand dollars ($51,000) or fifty-two thousand dollars ($52,000). Ms. Yukimura: And then... Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: The Secretarial Assistant is forty-two thousand dollars ($42,000)—forty-three thousand dollars ($43,000). Thank you. Ms. Yukimura: Then the Council Services Assistant? Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000). 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 20 Ms. Yukimura: And the Secretarial Assistant that we are requesting? Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: I believe thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000). Mr. Watanabe: Thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000). Ms. Yukimura: Okay. Thank you very much. Chair Furfaro: We are pushing 3:00. We had planned to be finished at 2:30 today. Are there any more questions for the Clerk or for Elections? If not, I am going to let Mr. Heu come up. He has a question. You folks, thank you very much. Unless it is a question directed at you, I will not need you to come back up. GARY K. HEU, Managing Director: Thank you, Chair. Aloha members of the Council. I did not so much have a question as I wanted to make a few comments. Number one, I wanted to say thank you very much to Ricky, to Jade, and the entire Council Services Staff. They have been of incredible value as we have tried to work ourselves through this new type of budgeting process. Just the working relationship that exists between our Budget Team, as well as Council Services has been of immeasurable value, I think, in terms of even though it was a very difficult budget to deliver. I think that open communication and exchange of information was very helpful in the delivery of that budget. So, we thank them for that. I was not here on Friday, when apparently there was a discussion on the floor regarding a line item in the Mayor's Office budget. The Mayor's contingency line item for about five thousand dollars ($5,000) or so. I went back and I reviewed the tape over the weekend to see where the discussion was heading and all. I just wanted to provide some clarification on the floor relative to that particular line item. That line item is a text for a line item "Other Services" and will you find that same line item in any number of Departmental budgets. The purpose it serves is the same purpose that some line items in the Council Services budget serve. I think in Council Services you have line items titled "Other Services," you have "Special Projects and other Commodities." Our line item as far as Special Projects goes, is used there the same type of way. So, in other words, I think it is just good for the public to understand because they hear the Mayors contingency and they are thinking oh, is the Mayor going out and having free lunches on the County and that sort of thing and that is just not the case. That line item is used for Very Important Person (VIP) honorariums. In other words, if we have dignitaries coming in from other Countries and the Mayor wants to present them with leis or that a gift of that sort, it comes out of that line item, just like it would if the Council was recognizing some dignitaries and that sort of thing. I just wanted to get that on the floor, so that again, to clear up any public perception that those funds are in any way used for special privileges for the Mayor himself. That is just not the case. The other thing I wanted to mention, the way I view it, it is kind of like you have got the legislative branch or as I view it, the legislative Department and under that Department have you various Divisions. You have Council Services, you have the Elections Office, and then you have the County Auditor as we see it. So, there was discussion on the floor and I know — and I am sorry he is not here today, but 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 21 Councilmember Rapozo seemed fairly upset that there was a dollar funded position in the Auditor's Office and questioned whether it was appropriate for the Administration, the Budget Team, the Mayor to take that sort of action? While it may seem objectionable to certain people that action was taken, the bottom line is that per the Charter, the Mayor is irresponsible for submitting a balanced budget. Beyond that it is pretty much a wide open game. I think for this year, this year I think was the first time that some of the legislative Divisions came over and actually went through their budget with the Budget team, just like we have all the rest of our Departments come through and made their presentation to the Budget Team. So, Jade and Scott came over and presented the Council Services budget. Ernie and his team came over to present the Auditor's budget. So, there was that back and forth discussion there. I think there was representation that there had been no notification or indication that that position was going to be dollar funded and without going into great detail, my understanding is that, in fact, there was discussion that notification was provided relative to that position being dollar funded. I just wanted to correct the record on the floor and kind of set that record straight. Again, I think as a matter of practice, that is true that I think that if we look back over the decades, there has not been very much of the Administration reaching into the legislative branch and fooling with their budget. But the bottom line is that you folks also have your opportunity to make adjustments to that budget. As an example, if the Mayor for some reason saw a line item in Council Services that he thought was inappropriately funded, he could have made the adjustment, it would come over here, and then you folks would have deliberated and said no, we think we need to adjust that. That is just how process works, it is not good, and it is not bad. That is just how the process works. So, thank you for letting me have this time to put that on the table and make those clarification. Again, the bottom line I think, is it has been a very good budget process up to this time and we certainly appreciated the openness and dialogue that we have been able to have with your Staff, as well as you, Chair, and members of the Council. Thank you very much. Chair Furfaro: I would like to have a moment with you and Steve after this meeting. Mr. Heu: Sure. Chair Furfaro: If we could talk and I have a comment to that. But, JoAnn, you have a comment? Ms. Yukimura: Yes. Thank you for your comments today. The way I have seen it is that there is this system of government with checks and balances. I think we learned that in high school. The Mayor's check on the Council is his veto power, his budgetary power. Our check on him is our budgetary power. So, that is what I learned United States Government is about and same thing with the Auditor and the Prosecutor, who are somewhat independent kind of entities in the County. The Council has a check on their budgets. They have a check on us, in terms of their mission and responsibilities and that is sort of how I think government is set up. Sometimes the checks and balances do not work well for a variety of reasons. But in general, that is the balance that the system is trying to strike. So, thank you. 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 22 Mr. Heu: Thank you. Chair Furfaro: Gary just quickly. Actually this was the second time we have sent our Staff over to review the budget. We did last year as well, just so that you know. I know there was a lot going on for you last year and we did not see you as often here, but they are going over at any direction. Mr. Heu: I appreciate that. Chair Furfaro: They will continue to as long as I am Chair. On another note, I do want to say to you though, when it comes to the Auditor, informing the Council management about moves with the Auditor. The Auditor does not report to them. The Auditor reports to me. I am the Council Officer as the Chairman and that is where the liaison is. I found out about the dollar funding after the discussion had already taken place. I am saying in the future, if there is discussion about doing something in the Auditor's budget, please feel free to call me. Mr. Heu: I appreciate that and I will have to go back and double check because I was assured that there was discussions. Chair Furfaro: Depending on what you call a "discussion," I was told. I did not have an opportunity to discuss. There is where the difference lies and the fact of the matter, as the Chair, I have interaction with the Clerk and the Deputy Clerk. I have interaction with Elections and I have interactions with the Auditors specifically by Charter. I heard about it two (2) days after the change was made and what I am saying is that we are separate and different from you folks and our process was—the narrative along with that was well done by Councilwoman Yukimura. It is called "checks and balances" and five (5) votes to override a veto by the Mayor. But it was not discussed with me. I was informed that it happened. Ms. Nakamura: Just to loop back around to your first item, Gary, regarding the contingency fund for the Mayor. I just to let you know, the way I left it and my feedback was that I did not think that it warranted a high priority on the Auditor's list in this upcoming fiscal year. I did not—because we, through that discussion, clarified that the Council does not have a Discretionary Fund, we do not know about that the Prosecutor and Mayor had this five thousand dollars ($5,000) Contingency Fund, that I did not think that warranted the kind of attention for the Auditor's Office because I think there are many other priorities. I just wanted to let you know that was my opinion. Mr. Heu: Thank you. Chair Furfaro: If you followed the rest of the dialogue, I do not think any Councilmembers really felt that it was that kind of priority and we certainly do not want to send our Chief Executive Officer out into the world with sister-cities and entertaining others, that he had no money to do any justification for entertaining. I think that was a mutual feeling. 04-15-2013 County Clerk (aa) Page 23 Mr. Heu: Thank you. Chair Furfaro: Would you concur with that? Okay. Gary, thank you very much. Mr. Heu: Thank you very much. Chair Furfaro: If you and Steve could give me a minute, I would really appreciate it. Thank you so much. We are in recess until tomorrow morning 9:00. We have Planning 9:00 to 12:00. We have break for lunch at 12:00 and then we go into CIP. For the Administration, I would like to start with Housing and Transportation for the CIP review tomorrow. Housing first, yes. We are in recess. There being no objections, the Committee recessed at 3:10 p.m.