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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016_0108_Minutes Open_APPROVEDCOUNTY OF KAUAI Minutes of Meeting OPEN SESSION Approved 2/5/16 as circulated Board /Committee: SALARY COMMISSION Meeting Date January 8, 2016 Location Mo'ikeha Building, Meeting Room 2A /213 Start of Meeting: 9:03 a.m. End of Meeting: 9:53 a.m. Present Chair Charlie King. Members: Robert Crowell; Michael Machado; Lenie Nishihira (9:08 a.m.); Jo Ann Shimamoto Also: Deputy County Attorney Teresa Tumbaga; Boards & Commissions Office Staff. Support Clerk Barbara Davis, Administrator Jay Furfaro Excused Vice Chair Sheri Kunioka -Volz. Member Cammie Matsumoto Absent SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Call To Order Chair King called the meeting to order at 9:03 a.m. with 4 members present. Chair King referenced a recently published article, which showed there are 5 people in the City and County of Honolulu that are paid more than their Mayor, which has been a concern of ours from time to time. Election Election of Chair and Vice Chair for 2016 Chair King said he thought that whoever was the Chair and had brought the process through, up to presenting it to the Council, should take it to getting it through to the Council. The Charter says you elect a new chair each year and the Commission's Rules state the Chair is elected the first meeting of the year. This being the first meeting of the year and the Vice Chair is not present, Chair King asked the Deputy Attorney for a clarification. Attorney Tumbaga cited Charter section 23.02 G which says each board or commission shall elect its chairman or other officers. The term of office of the chairman............ shall be for one year and no member ............ shall succeed himself as chairman for the term immediately following the expiration of his term. The Charter does not actually say one calendar year, so it could be interpreted from July to July. The Commission's Rule No. 7 C Salary Commission Open Session January 8, 2016 Page 2 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION says the members of the Commission shall elect annually a chairman and a vice chairman to serve for the ensuing year ............... The election shall occur during the first meeting of each calendar year or as soon as possible thereafter. It is the Rules that specify the first meeting, but because the Charter states the term as one year Attorney Tumbaga did not think there would be a violation. Ms. Nishihira entered the meeting at 9:08 a.m. Chair King said he was not unwilling to shepherd this process through to July. Mr. Machado moved to defer the election of officers. Ms. Shimamoto seconded the motion. Motion carried 5:0 Approval of Open Session Minutes of November 18, 2015 Mr. Machado moved to approve the minutes as Minutes circulated. Mr. Crowell seconded the motion. Motion carried 5:0 Business SC 2015 -02 Information at�g, review, discussion and possible decision - making with regard to establishing the maximum cap for salaries for the fiscal year 2016/2017 for Councilmembers and all officers and employees included in Section 3 -2.1 of the Kauai County Code (On- going) a. Salary Recommendations by position reflecting Cost of Living Increase b. Salary summary indicating 4 tier level from Administrator Furfaro C. Qualifications of Executive Appointees as prescribed by the Kauai County_ Charter or Hawaii State Laws d. Draft Resolution 2014 -1 rejected by the County Council on January 7, 2015 e. Resolution 2012 -1; Resolution 2012 -2; Resolution 2012 -3; Resolution 2013 -1; Resolution 2013 -2 as relates to the salaries of County Salary Commission Open Session January 8, 2016 Page 3 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION officers and employ Chair King noted the earlier circulation of the Preamble he had written and to which Ms. Matsumoto had offered additional suggestions. Chair King also noted a communication from the County Attorney's Office which describes their duties as requested by the Salary Commission. Mr. Furfaro distributed a spreadsheet of the bargaining units followed by the detail of the last salary summary submitted by the 2007/2008 Salary Commission. That spreadsheet scheduled three 3.7% increases spread over 3 years to get the salary grades up to par. Only two of the recommendations were implemented. That information is all summarized in the memorandum that is on the front page and summarizes what the union increases were by the bargaining units ranging from 12% for some blue- collar supervisors up to 29.3% for the police over the same period of time. Mr. Furfaro noted he had added narrative to the second page if the Commission wants to use that to summarize that there are now division heads /department heads that are supervising people that are earning a larger wage base than the department heads. Mr. Furfaro then distributed the job description for the engineering division from Larry Dill. Mr. Furfaro said with the exception of Parks and Recreation, as they have added some responsibilities and a Park Planner, which is being revised, all the others are correct. Chair King pointed out that they do not have a proposed Resolution and assuming the Commission can come to an agreement on the amount they would need to reconvene for that. Staff said that in the past the Commission agrees on the caps and the attorney puts the Resolution together for the Commission's review and approval. Ms. Shimamoto said where they are moving positions to different tiers she recommends leaving Housing at Tier III. The scope of work involved for the Salary Commission Open Session January 8, 2016 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Director is not only Housing but Community Development. Mr. Crowell stated they have been waiting months for the County audit .......... Mr. Furfaro said they are now anticipating the CAFR about the third week of January. Mr. Crowell said the question after that is can the County afford what the Commission is asking for, and is the Commission prepared to go in with a recommendation now without knowing the CAFR. Chair King said they were waiting for the CAFR so the Council would have that information, but it is not up to the Commission to judge whether the County can afford it or not. Mr. Machado noted that one of Mr. Furfaro's handouts showed there has not been a change since 2009 except for the Chief of Police and Fire, etc., and the way that looks should be very helpful in the presentation. The last Resolution may have been untimely because of the tax increases, but maybe it will be more acceptable now. Mr. Furfaro explained that he planned to use that sheet in 4 or 5 slides as a PowerPoint. Ms. Shimamoto said the narrative Chair King put together was really good and made it understandable while the suggestions from Ms. Matsumoto fit in well. On page 1, Yd paragraph Ms. Shimamoto suggested clarifying the next to last sentence by adding to the Council following the wording "all relevant budget data was available ". Chair King suggested before getting too far into the presentation he would like to see if there is a consensus on the actual salaries. Chair King noted Ms. Shimamoto proposed moving Housing Director from Tier IV to Tier III to which the Commission was in agreement. Also the Director of Human Resources position has also been discussed before, which is shown in Tier III, but they had talked about it being in Tier IL Mr. Furfaro pointed out that prior to the four tier presentation, HR was in Tier V so it actually moved up to III. Chair King noted the benefits are reflected (in the spreadsheet and the Tier listing), but technically the Commission does not have to show it. Mr. Furfaro noted the Commission is not required to show that as part of the cost Salary Commission Open Session January 8, 2016 Page 5 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION — only salaries. Chair King said it would be beneficial for the Council to look at. Mr. Furfaro noted there is a separate line for deputy attorneys in both the Prosecutor's Office as well as the County Attorney's Office and the spreadsheet is based on single positions but there are 8 attorneys in Mr. Trask's office and 11 attorneys in the Prosecutor's Office; that number is summarized at the bottom. Chair King asked for a motion to approve the salary maximums to be presented to the Council. Mr. Machado moved to approve the salary maximums as amended by moving Housing to Tier III. Ms. Nishihira seconded the motion. Mr. Crowell said at the last meeting they discussed the Transportation Director and Elderly Affairs and questioned if they should not address those positions in this Resolution because they are not appointed. Chair King said he would strike that from the narrative if they were not to be part of the Resolution, and then called for the question. Motion carried 5:0 Chair King called for comments and suggestions on presenting the information to Council. Something he discussed with the Staff was perhaps doing a PowerPoint. A concern is how the information should flow. Attorney Tumbaga was asked how long it would take to draft the Resolution to which she answered she believed that would be Attorney Bracken, and she did not feel she could commit a timeline for him. Staff asked if the Commission wanted to wrap everything from the past into one Resolution so that they are not looking at 4 separate Resolutions to which various Commissioners said that would help in the future. Mr. Machado asked if they knew what type of questions to expect with this new Resolution so they can get ready for that. Chair King thought the major concern was going to be the amount of the increase. In '07 it was 24% and that was broken up over 3 years, but it Salary Commission Open Session January 8, 2016 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION actually only went for 1 year. Given that, the full 11 % is justified now. If that gets turned down it is conceivable the Commission could reconvene and present something that is staggered, but at this point they have approval for the full 11.2 %. Chair King said last year there were questions out of left field that they never could have anticipated from the information that had been gathered by the Councilmembers. He would hope they will be presenting the Council with enough information now to make a reasonable decision. Mr. Furfaro posed a question to the County Attorney if they could check on the supplemental budget that is submitted after the initial draft to see if there is time to come back with a new proposal that is staggered in steps and make that presentation in the reforecast. As far as solicitation of department heads testimony it would probably be best to look at the files they have from the Police Chief, the Fire Chief, and the Planning Director, in addition to positions that have been vacated, and work that into the narrative. Mr. Furfaro suggested for the PowerPoint presentation that they include the 2008 Resolution that shows the big valley where people went 6 years without raises. They should also give a history of the Consumer Price Index because they have a situation where at 11 %, people who were working for the County in 2008 are now only making 89% of what their dollar bought, and maybe do a profile of the other counties, especially when it comes to the engineering department in which the duties by county are not equal. Mr. Furfaro said he would be happy to put those 5 sheets together for a PowerPoint. Staff advised the Commission that they need to start working backwards, timeline -wise, as the Resolution has to be to the County Council by March 15. A discussion of dates as relates to posting and placement on Council's Salary Commission Open Session January 8, 2016 Page 7 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION agenda ensued with the suggestion that the Commission's next meeting date be sometime early February. In the meantime, Staff will send Chair King's Preamble out to the members for further comments and suggestions. Commissioners provided their availability within the first nine days of February; Staff will check on meeting availability and confirm back to all. Ms. Shimamoto questioned the difference in the percentage on page one of 2.24% and the percentage on page 3 of 1.6 %. Chair King said he would take a look at that. Adjournment Mr. Machado moved to adjourn the meeting at 9:53 a.m. Ms. Nishihira seconded the motion. Motion carried 5:0 Submitted by: Barbara Davis, Support Clerk O Approved as circulated. () Approved with amendments. See minutes of Reviewed and Approved by: meeting. Charles King, Chair