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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017_0523_CSC_Minutes_Open_Approved COUNTY OF KAUAI Minutes of Meeting OPEN SESSION Board/Committee: CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION Meeting Date May 23, 2017 Location Mo’ikeha Building, Liquor Control Commission, Meeting Room 3 Start of Meeting: 3:03 p.m. End of Meeting: 3:18 p.m. Present Chair Richard Jose; Vice Chair Jeffrey Iida. Members: Elizabeth Hahn; and Karen Matsumoto Also: Deputy County Attorney Theresa Tumbaga; Director of Human Resources Janine Rapozo; Commission Support Clerk Sandra Muragin Excused Fely Faulkner and Vonnell Ramos Absent SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Call To Order Chair Jose: I’d like to call the Civil Service Commission meeting Tuesday, May 23, 2017 to order at 3:03 p.m. Secretary, can you please do the roll call. Chair Jose called the meeting to order at 3:03 p.m. with 4 members present. Roll Call Commission Support Clerk Sandra Muragin: Fely Faulkner is excused. Elizabeth Hahn. Ms. Hahn: Yes. Ms. Muragin: Jeffery Iida. Mr. Iida: Here. Ms. Muragin: Richard Jose. Chair Jose: Here. Ms. Muragin: Karen Matsumoto. Ms. Matsumoto: Here. Ms. Muragin: Vonnell Ramos is excused. Chair, we have quorum. Director’s CSC 2017-06 a. 2017 May Civil Service Commission Open Session May 23 , 2017 Page 2 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Reports Director of Human Resources Janine Rapozo: Good afternoon, Janine Rapozo Director of Human Resources. The budget was finally passed by the County Council and Mayor Bernard Carvalho, Jr. has to decide whether or not he will accept it or not. They dipped into reserve monies in order to balance the budget because they did not increase property taxes. Mayor Carvalho is concerned about that and debating on whether or not he’s going to sign the budget. At this point our budget is in tack which is good. The other thing that is going on at the County Council is the various bargaining unit awards and the first one that hit the floor was the Fire Fighters Award. Last week Wednesday was the first reading of the bill and I went over to provide some background information. The May report has what the award was. In a couple of weeks the HGEA awards for Units 2, 3, 4 & 13 will be coming on the floor at the County Council and that’s also in my written report. Basically the amount of the award is relatively the same for these bargaining units and they will go through the Legislative process for funding. We will have Unit 14 left which is our ocean safety officers with HGEA, SHOPO our Police Officers, and UPW members our blue collar workers. All of these contracts will expire on June 30, 2017. We signed off on memorandums of agreement to continue their contracts until we get another one in place. We also signed off on our EUTF, which is our health fund rates for these units because that is included in their contracts and we needed to have it established even without a contract going forward as of July 1, 2017. These are all in place ready to go; it’s now coming up with a new contract as of July 1, 2017 for those units. That’s the highlights of last month. On a bittersweet note Debbie Ponce will be retiring at the end of this month and we put out a posting for her position. Ms. Ponce was very instrumental although she hasn’t been here very long with our new programs. She worked on the mission statement and also did all our training and drug testing programs. We will certainly miss her but her Civil Service Commission Open Session May 23 , 2017 Page 3 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION husband retired last year so I guess she sees what he’s able to do and decided it’s time to join him. We wish her well, that’s it. Mr. Iida: I have one question in regards to the ocean safety officers and what happened in the Legislature. If the County of Kaua‘i has to do it themselves whose budget will it come under? Ms. Rapozo: What happened in the Legislature is the State gave us liability coverage because the County of Kaua‘i manned Kē‘ē Beach which is a State beach and we have four positions there. Every year or every so many years the Legislature wanted to sunset the bill but we’ve been successful in the State continuing the liability coverage. This year the Legislature did not renew and it will expire June 30, 2017. County Attorney Mauna Kea Trask spoke with all of the ocean safety officers a couple of weeks ago about this. Basically the bill also changed who would defend them to the Attorney General if something happens at Kē‘ē beach. It does open the County to more exposure for liability and we are very disappointed with what happened at the Legislature. Is that what you were asking? Mr. Iida: You will have to have liability insurance is my question. Ms. Rapozo: We have general liability insurance and are researching whether we need to have additional insurance coverage now that this particular liability is gone or will be gone. Ms. Hahn: I have a question about that too. It’s not only Kē‘ē beach but what if the lifeguard goes off station? Let’s say they’re a lifeguard at Po‘ipū Beach and they get a call in Maha‘ulepu that someone is in trouble. They go off station, Po‘ipū Beach is their station, will that expose them? Ms. Rapozo: The County Attorney’s office would be better able to answer Civil Service Commission Open Session May 23 , 2017 Page 4 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION that question. At the last budget session we implemented the roving patrols. The lifeguards now roam they don’t just stay at their assigned tower or particular beach, they roam to other destinations. That’s concerning and it opens us up to more liability because now our coverage has become much greater. There was concerns and talk about whether or not to continue roving patrol now that this liability is gone. What was important is that Mr. Trask told all of the ocean safety officers to just do your job and you’ll be fine. It’s basically gross negligence in any way; like if you’re drunk on the job, or whatever. We’re going to lose. He said just do your job, do it well and you’ll be fine. Mr. Trask said people will die, we will get sued and we need to be sure we have a good case. Mr. Iida: These roving patrols could open up more liability because what if a lifeguard left their assigned station to check on another beach and something happened at their assigned station? Ms. Rapozo: Yes. Mr. Iida: Now you’re in trouble. Ms. Rapozo: That’s some of the things we’ve looked at and obviously you cannot be at two places at the same time. Did the lifeguard roam and were they with someone and did they do something they shouldn’t be doing? Then we have a problem. But if they went and can actually show from their reports and documentations that it was legitimate, they were doing their job and it just so happens something happened here, that’s what was stressed to all of the workers. Make sure you continue to document because that’s going to help us in these lawsuits when they do come and it will come, it’s just a matter of when. Civil Service Commission Open Session May 23 , 2017 Page 5 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Ms. Matsumoto: The State brought up the fact that firefighters and police officers have that kind of assignments too and are covered under liability insurance except for general liability. Ms. Rapozo: Yes they did bring that up as to why are only the ocean safety officers getting this? Ms. Hahn: So if there is a fire and somebody decides to sue the Fire Department and the individual fireman are they covered? Ms. Rapozo: If they were in the line of duty they would be covered. Now again if the firefighter worked outside of its job scope or did something on the job outside of their job scope, those are the things that will get us into trouble. But if they do their job they’ll be covered by the County Attorney’s office. They have a great litigation team and they would defend them. They have been doing a great job and many of our cases have prevailed. Chair Jose: Anymore questions? As far as negotiating for Police and UPW do you think it’s going well or go into arbitration? Ms. Rapozo: It will probably go into arbitration but I’m still crossing my fingers. Chair Jose: Any other questions? Thank you Ms. Rapozo. Executive Session ES-009 Executive Session Minutes of April 25, 2017 Chair Jose: Next on the agenda is Executive Session but we only need to go into Executive Session if we have any questions about the minutes. If we have any questions or discussion then we need to go into Executive Session, if not we don’t have to. We can stay in Open Session. Civil Service Commission Open Session May 23 , 2017 Page 6 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Ms. Hahn: Do we need to approve anything? Chair Jose: We only need to approve the Executive Session minutes and that can be done in Open Session. Ms. Hahn: Are there any other actions from Executive Session or is it only the minutes. Chair Jose: No, only approving the Executive Session minutes. If there is no discussion we can stay in open session and approve in Open Session. Mr. Iida: I make a motion to approve the Executive Session Minutes of April 25, 2017. Ms. Matsumoto: I second. Chair Jose: Any discussion? (None) All in favor? (Unanimous voice vote) Motion carried 4:0 Mr. Iida moved to approve the Executive Session Minutes of April 25, 2017. Ms. Matsumoto seconded the motion. Motion carried 4:0 Approval of Minutes Open Session Minutes of April 25, 2017 Ms. Hahn: I move that we approve the Open Session Minutes of April 25, 2017. Mr. Iida: I second. Chair Jose: Any discussion? (None) All in favor? (Unanimous voice vote) Motion carried 4:0 Ms. Han moved to approve the Open Session minutes of April 25, 2017. Mr. Iida seconded the motion. Motion carried 4:0 Announcements Next Meeting: Tuesday, June 27, 2017 – 3:00 p.m., Mo'ikeha Building, Liquor Conference Room. Civil Service Commission Open Session May 23 , 2017 Page 7 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Adjournment Chair Jose: Can I have a motion to adjourn. Ms. Hahn: I move to adjourn. Mr. Iida: Second. Chair Jose: All in favor? (Unanimous voice vote) Motion carried 4:0. Ms. Hahn moved to adjourn the meeting at 3:18 p.m. Mr. Iida seconded the motion. Motion carried 4:0. Submitted by: __________________________________ Reviewed and Approved by: _________________________________________ Sandra Muragin, Commission Support Clerk Richard Jose, Chair ( X ) Approved as circulated. 07/25/17 ( ) Approved with amendments. See minutes of ___________ meeting.