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4/4/2016
DEPARTMENTAL BUDGET REVIEWS 2016-17
• FIRE DEPARTMENT
• POLICE DEPARTMENT
Fire Department and Police Department
Honorable Mason K. Chock
Honorable Ross Kagawa
Honorable Gary L. Hooser (present at 9:07 a.m.)
Honorable KipuKai Kuali`i (present at 9:06 a.m.)
Honorable Mel Rapozo -
Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura
Honorable Arryl Kaneshiro
The Committee reconvened on April 4, 2016 at 9:00 a.m., and proceeded as follows:
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay, good morning. I would like to call back to
order the Budget & Finance Committee, and the Fiscal Year 2016-2017 Departmental
Budget Reviews. On the schedule today we will be hearing from Fire and Police. And as
we do each morning, we will take public testimony right now. Anyone in the audience
wishing to testify on this? One person. Anybody signed up?
LAURIE CHOW, Senior Clerk Typist: Yes, we have Ray Blouin and Andy
Melamed.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay, Ray first.
RAY BLOUIN: Aloha and good morning, Council Chair Mel
Rapozo, Councilmembers, staff. Thank you so much for his opportunity to support the
Fire Department, our Fire Department, thank you. My name is Ray Blouin. I am the
General Manager of the Hilton Garden Inn Kaua`i, and thank you very much for this
opportunity to support your Fire Department, our Fire Department, and talk just about
four (4) things. Number one Prevention: In the 40 years I have been fortunate to live on
this island, I have learned more about prevention in the last three (3) to four (4) months
than I have in my entire 40 years combined, and that is because going through a
transitional period with the property on the island, you have a team out there that is
educating businesses to do the right thing. They need, the Fire Department needs
additional staffing, hopefully another lieutenant, to continue to share this information with
all businesses on the island because I am convinced and I know firsthand that not all
businesses are doing the right thing out there, and that there needs to be some additional
staffing for your Fire Department to share this knowledge and to educate businesses to
ensure that they are doing the right thing. In addition, the additional staffing is helpful
when it comes to the inspection process. The inspection process is really important because
the safety and security concerns that are in businesses, especially in the food and beverage
areas where you have high intense heat, in one mistake you could lose lives. And so, by
having these inspections, you will be assured that businesses are doing the right thing out
there and protecting their employees and protecting those around the kitchen areas, and I
cannot express the importance of that education and the inspection process more than just
that. I know firsthand that the Fire Department requires an incredible amount of
equipment and things have gotten extremely complicated in the last 40 years compared to
when I first came. You no longer have a slower pace of life as we once knew 40 years ago.
And the equipment that is needed not only for Ocean Safety, but also for your new recruits.
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Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Ray, I am going to have to stop you right there,
but you can have another three (3) minutes once everybody has gone through.
Mr. Blouin: Again, thank you for this opportunity.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I have one question for you.
Mr. Blouin: Yes.
Councilmember Chock: Good morning, Mr. Blouin, thanks for being here.
So are you saying in your testimony that what we need in the Fire Department is more
personnel for prevention as inspectors?
Mr. Blouin: Prevention as inspectors and also for education
as well.
Councilmember Chock: Okay, thank you.
Mr. Blouin: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Andy. The light is going to turn green, you have
three minutes. When you have thirty (30) seconds it will turn yellow, and then when the
three (3) minutes are up, it will turn red. But if you need more time, everyone has two (2)
three (3) minutes, so a total of six (6) minutes.
ANDY MELAMED: Okay, thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: State your name.
Mr. Melamed: My name is Andy Melamed. I am the event and
marketing director for the Kauai Lifeguard Association. First of all, I am not really
familiar with a lot of the procedures, so I just want to thank you for the opportunity for
letting appear like this. In forty-seven (47) years, I have never done this, so . . . I have done
other things, but with Kaua`i Lifeguard Association what we have done over the past few
years in particular is try to create awareness on ocean safety island-wide, as well as
support the Ocean Safety Bureau with equipment and just overall awareness for both the
visitors and the residents that go to the beach. We have found that in the past four (4)
years, the numbers of beachgoers has increased by about 800,000, from 1.2 million to 2
million people going to those beaches. What that has done, and those are the lifeguarded
beaches. What that has done is created a need and want and desire from the visitors and
the residents to go to other beaches, secluded beaches, areas that are serene, peaceful, and
also dangerous. What we have found over the years, no matter how many brochures, radio,
TV, newspaper you throw out there warning people, the most important way to deter and
prevent drownings and mishaps is face-to-face. That is why during our third wave we
raised money basically for PA systems and megaphones so that the lifeguarded towers have
enough access to be able to communicate to people one-on-one en mass, okay. At various
secluded beaches, in these past two (2) or three (3) months during El Nino, there has been a
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lot of rescues being held in areas that basically are unguarded. To have a roving patrol cuts
down the cost of having to have lifeguarded towers at those beaches. And at the same time,
it gives them an option and an opportunity to go to areas that are busier than most, either
the conditions would change or the number of people would change at those beaches. And
having trucks, trailers, jet skis, and first-aid equipment roving is, I think, the most effective
and efficient way at this time to help save lives. That is about it.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Thank you.
Mr. Melamed: Sure.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Anyone else signed up? Anyone else in the
audience wishing to testify for the first time? Seeing none, Ray.
Mr. Blouin: My name is Ray Blouin from the Hilton Garden
Inn Kaua`i. Councilmembers, good morning, and thank you for the opportunity to say a few
additional words. Again, I want to re-emphasize that staffing is critical, I believe, in the
Fire Department. Those that are out there behind me and those that are out in their
departments right now protecting our community represent not only the Council but every
member of this community in the best possible way. Again, I really have learned a lot in
the past few months about fire safety in the kitchens, and never before did I ever
understand as much as I do now how important it is for businesses to do the right thing
when it comes to food and beverage kitchen areas and also for the fire alarm systems
throughout properties. In order to continue to have safe environments, I believe your
staffing needs to increased, both on the education side and the prevention side. I do know
that there are businesses out there, from fire equipment maintenance companies, that are
under the wire, and those people are at high risk. If they are not doing the right thing out
there, then the risk, of course, is life-threatening. I also want to make mention of
equipment. Things have gotten a lot more complicated in the world and the fire science
industry has improved so much that fire equipment has improved, and I know that that
costs an incredible amount of money. My son is a firefighter on Oah`u and I was astounded
to know how much just his suit cost. But again, there is not a day that goes by that anyone
of us think about those that are protecting our community and I really believe that every
one of us should support this department as best as possible to ensure that they have the
state-of-the-art equipment because those individuals are our ohana. And with that, I
really want to thank you again for allowing me to say a few additional words.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Thank you. Anyone else in the audience wishing
to testify? Seeing none, I guess Chief, you have a presentation for us today? As always, we
are going to let him go through the presentation and then we will ask questions after. And
if possible, if we can break the questions out into the different departments, that is even
better, and ask them in the appropriate department.
ROBERT W. WESTERMAN, Fire Chief: Aloha Chair. Robert Westerman,
Fire Chief, for the record. Thank you for this opportunity. I have several staff behind me
today and some of our community partners here, and we are going to do some thank-yous if
you do not mind as we go through today because they are very good supporters of our
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program, plus we have some members of the department that have done some tremendous
work. What we are trying to do is to . . . you have our other budget presentation. What we
are trying to do is to support that with what have we done with the money that you gave us
last year and what are we going to do to continue to use that money effectively through the
next year. One of the great things that came out of our strategic plan was the move toward
improved EMS service and how we as a County are going to improve the continuum of care
and level of service to everyone on Kauai. So let me explain continuum of care. And first,
let me apologize if I get into coughing fit, I will have to . . . I have bronchitis pretty bad and
I have been trying to suffer through it, but I will step out if I do. Well, continuum of care is
a concept involving a system that guides and tracks patients over time through a
comprehensive array of health services spanning all levels of intensity of care. It is the
entire care cycle from onset of a disease or incident to a recovery. Clear as mud, right? We
all understood that? Well, basically what it means is that the minute someone recognizes
that there is a problem and someone else starts to take action, like doing CPR or first-aid
and then calls 911; that is really the start of the cycle of care that we are talking about.
Then the first medical care arrives, it could be a fireman and it could be an ambulance,.and
then they assess and they treat. Then they transport to a higher level of care and finally
they are discharged. That is the complete cycle and that is the continuum of care that we
are talking about. The first step to improve that continuum of care is to provide a higher
level of care and now for us it is upgrading all of our firefighters to the National Registry of
Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) and we know how thirty-seven (37) firefighters
trained as National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians with more to follow. The
recently graduated class... 26th recruit class was the second class to include that as part of
their basic training. This class was also certified by the International Fire Service
Accredited Congress (IFSAC) as firefighter 1 and 2 and Hazardous Materials Operator.
You will notice in the budget that we allocated one (1) firefighter to... reallocated one
firefighter to a firefighter 3, and moved it into the training bureau to assist with and ensure
that the proper training and certifications are maintained for our new EMT's. So we have
also expanded our community service to include fall prevention and home inspection which
include smoke alarm installation. We have partnered with... and I would like these folks to
stand as I say their names so we can say a big mahalo to them. We have partnered with
the State Department of Health Fall Prevention, Rachelle Bacaron. The County of Kauai
Agency on Elderly Affairs, Kealoha Takahashi, American Medical Response Cody Bonilla
and American Red Cross, Patrick Gallager. Thank you.
And we will talk about Brian in a minute... actually Mila will when we move. We
also have some benefactors, private and corporate, that are assisting with the funding and I
will turn it over to Firefighter Milo Spindt to talk about this very successful program.
MILO SPINDT, Firefighter I: Good morning Chairman and Members of the
Council. My name is Milo Spindt, Firefighter with Kauai Fire Department (KFD). I am
here to talk about Fall Prevention Coalition... providing a higher quality of care and
improved continuity of care to the public. I want to talk a little bit about how we came
about this. The mission of the Kauai Fire Department is to preserve and to protect life,
property, and the environment of the County of Kaua`i from all hazards and emergencies.
As part of the regular services provided to the public, Fire Departments across the nation
are becoming move involved in injury prevention programs. RFD has identified injury
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prevention as a key area to enhance our primary goal of preserving and protecting life. We
are using a program called, "Remembering When," which is a fire and fall prevention
program for older adults. The program was developed by the National Fire Protection
Association (NFPA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in order to
help order adults live safely at home for as long as possible. "Remembering When" is
centered around sixteen (16) key messages, eight (8) fire prevention and eight (8) fall
prevention developed by experts from national and local safety organizations as well as
through focused group testing and high fire risk States. The program was designed to be
implemented by a coalition comprised of local Fire Departments, service clubs, social and
religious organizations, retirement communities, and others. KFD is working in injunction
with the Kaua'i Agency on Elderly Affairs, American Medical Responses, Kauai
Operations, the Hawaii State Department of Health, EMS, and Injury Prevention Systems
Branch, the Injury Prevention Advisory Committee, the Friends of Kauai Fire Department,
American Red Cross, and IBEW Electrical Union. We will also be seeking program
assistance from community businesses and associations for the donation of time or
materials that will be tax deductible to the Friends of Kaua`i Fire Department's 501(c)(3) to
be used towards the implementation of program goals. Based on coalition discussions, the
primary target group for the Fall Prevention Program has been identified as individuals 65
and over, who are living independently without regular in-home caregivers. The goal of the
program is to provide information, education, and safety devices to assist the target group's
ability to live independently while preserving and preventing injuries from fires and falls.
Working in conjunction with the State by pact, the County Agency on Aging and
American Medical Response (AMR), we will be scheduling visits with our target group. The
Elderly Affairs is the primary contact to the group and will be setting up visitations. The
Department of Health has also set up our first set of visitations which we are doing live
with Lihu'e Court Townhomes which is a subsidized housing project. I wish I could talk
more about it. IPAC is assisting by providing funding for educational materials and AMR
and KFD will be working together on inspections and installation of prevention devices.
Friends of Kaua`i Fire Department is primarily going to be used as non-profit funding
conduit for donations. We would like to provide education and installation of prevention
devices for up to one hundred fifty (150) homes annually. In addition to in-home visits, the
coalition will be making group presentations at retirement centers and during Elderly
Affairs-organized gatherings. The baseline information derived from sample visitations
and presentations that KFD, AMR, and Elderly Affairs have conducted the following items
will be associated with program implementation. We are going to be put in smoke detectors
where we find them deficient, we are going to help by putting in night lights which we are
hoping that Kaua`i Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC)... we have been in talks with KIUC
about donating the night lights. The American Red Cross is currently working on
supplying us with smoke detectors. We are going to get some potholders to prevent burns,
grip tape for stairs to prevent slip and falls, reacher grabbers so that the elderly do not
have to bend down to reach things so they do not fall, shower chairs or bath bars, and other
presentation and education materials.
I just want to follow up and the Chief thanked everybody. I would like to thank
Cody Bonilla and Tita Villanueva from AMR, Kealoha Takahashi and Iris Parongao from
Elderly Affairs, Rachelle Bacaron from the State Department of Health... also people who
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are not here, Nick Kines and Stan Michaels who are at the State Injury Prevention Branch
on Oah`u... they have been a great help to us. Padraic Gallagher from American Red Cross,
Richard Jose from the local IBEW, the Board of Friends of Kaua`i Fire Department, and
Brian Alston, Resident Manager of Lihu`e Court Townhomes. Thank you. I would just to
say that it is kind of a new aggressive program. It is working well so far with Brian's
assistance. We are starting in Lihu`e Town Court houses and we are doing two (2) a week.
Chief Westerman: One of things to shoot for this year... this was
actually the picture of the CERT refresher. They have been working very good and adding
more and we have another picture later on. This was a picture of the annual training at
Kauai High School. We would also really like to thank Tad Miura and Steve Thrasher for...
you know, got the community comptroller and they kind of went inside of it and they like,
really, looped it out. I mean it is really nice where everything is inside, secure, and it works
well, so we have that for the team. And then they did all kinds of other things. Obviously,
they had to move... I do not know if you have been to Kaua`i High School... those big
cement post. They had to kind of figure out how to move those and stuff like that, so it was
a good fun day. So we are always happy to provide updates in our community programs for
prevention and education. We now have the retention staff... remember now both in
prevention and OSB. But before we get to that, we received a separate AFG Fire and Life
Safety Grant to install smoke alarms. The program through the grant and with the help of
the IBEW again, and their members and later on some additional smoke alarms from the
American Red Cross, we installed over a hundred smoke alarms in homes. So let us have
Firefighter Kevin Cook talk a little bit about that.
KEVIN COOK, Firefighter I: Chair and Members of the Council, good
morning. My name is Kevin Cook, Firefighter with the Kaua`i Fire Department. A little
background on our grant, we applied for multiple grants, Fire Prevention and Safety
(FP&S) grants for smoke detectors... Prevention saw the need years ago for it. We applied;
we finally got it. We were able to purchase five hundred (500) smoke detectors...sorry, five
hundred (500) and put them into over a one hundred (100) homes. It took us three
Saturdays. We were able to work with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
(IBEW), Rich Jose. Like I said, it took us three Saturdays. We put up over 103 homes, yes,
one hundred three (103) homes. I have letters from homeowners that were happy to with
what we did. They were very grateful. We found high-need homes. The way we found our
names is initially I went to Kealoha and Iris from Elderly Affairs and we also went to
Tropic Care a couple of years ago and signed up . . . we had over three hundred eighty (380)
names, I believe, people signed up. We were only able to get to 103 because we ran out of
smoke detectors. So most of those went to the east side. We started on the North Shore
and went down. It ended in about...Kalaheo we did some, some in Hanapepe, and we are
continuing now with the Red Cross. But before this, we had never done, as far as I know,
in-residential inspections and installations. So this is a way for us to get into homes with
elderly that we did not know about before. So we were able to be proactive, get in, and we
learned a lot, met a lot of people.
Around the time that our grant ran out, after the performance period had ended, we
were contacted by Padraic from the Red Cross, and he had a bunch of smoke detectors that
they wanted to put in, requested if we could help. So I gave him the names on the list that
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we had left from the west side. We had two Saturdays we did that with crews that were
on-duty, one in Hanapepe. I think they did a little over ten (10) houses in Hanapepe and
then they did over ten (10) houses in Kalaheo. So those were on-duty crews that were able
to go and look at houses in their district and learn what kind of high-risk homes of the
elderly that were in their district and they could learn what they could do and where they
were. While they were in the homes, we did this both times, we did safety inspections.
They were informal. We did five things. We checked for GFI outlets near water sources.
We checked for egress, routes of egress out of the house, made sure doors and windows were
not blocked. In case there was a fire, they could get out and knew where to go. A big one
we had with the elderly was storing flammable hazards next to the stoves: rags, oven
mitts, paper towels, anything clear and drapes that could blow onto open flames. Daisy
chain power strips, if you know what daisy chaining is, plugging one power strip into
another, and that is a big no-no. We had a bunch of those. And the last one was tripping
hazards. That was something I got from Iris and Kealoha. We kind of integrated that in.
So we did a home inspection, walked through the house with the homeowner/the occupant
and just let them know the things that are wrong. We took the form, we gave it to them, let
them know what they could do to fix the problem, and we left it there so they could keep
looking at it.
So once we did all this, we started working with Padraic. We went in, did some
more. Firefighter Spindt, who was just up here, contacted me. They have this big program
going on and he wanted to work ours together because they wanted smoke detectors and
since the Red Cross is the source, they came to us. We had a meeting with the Red Cross,
Iris and Kealoha from Elderly Affairs, and Richard Jose from the IBEW, and we worked it
out to where, I believe, Milo and all those guys would go in, do their whole house inspection,
put in the grab bars and all this, and if they saw the need for smoke detectors, they could
let us know, and the Red Cross and the Fire Department could go in and install them. I
believe that is what we are doing now. So, from what I understand . . . okay, this is a
picture from the first time.
Chief Westerman: Sorry.
Mr. Cook: That's okay. This is the first time we went with
the IBEW. Red Cross and the in-district Fire Station will be going out to the houses and
installing smoke detectors that they needed. Other than that, that is all I have.
Chief Westerman: Thanks, Firefighter Cook.
Mr. Cook: Thank you.
Chief Westerman: Thank you. Okay, now let us Firefighter-III
Adam Hussey and WSO-III Gerald Hurd and WSO-V Manager Kalani Vierra talk about
what they have done in the past year. Adam will talk about STEM Projects as it relates to
the fire service, and Gerald and Kalani will talk about the new OSB Education Trailer and
proof that our messaging actually works. So, start with Adam. There you go.
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ADAM HUSSEY, Firefighter III: Good morning Chairman and Council. Thanks
for letting me present this morning. My name is Adam Hussey; I am a firefighter in the
Prevention Bureau. Before I can begin talking about our program, I cannot start without
recognizing the Kauapea Rescue, and we are going to talk more about it later that
happened on March 19. To me, just knowing the guys involved, their skill level, and what
they did, it is just . . . it is amazing to me. So I could not begin without starting with that
and recognizing it. But what it also did is it helped me clarify, actually, what we are doing
in Prevention. Specifically what I am going to talk about is our Career Day presentation.
Our new Career Day presentation is based on STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Math. So if you look at the first picture, this is kind of showing what we do. We are
incorporating hands-on learning using things that we do in the Fire Department for a way
to teach student, to get them excited and to inspire learning. Ultimately the reason that I
understood why this is important, there are two reasons. The first is to inspire future
generations and the second is fire prevention. So the way we inspire our future generations
is getting them to work together as a team. We are teaching them leadership. It is
hands-on learning of actual events that they are learning in school. The third grade this
year was taught Simple Machines by the Department of Education (DOE). So this example
fit in perfectly using a ladder gin with the students. The next picture . . . this picture is
exciting to me because one of the things it shows is that our students are actually grasping
what we are teaching them, and ultimately that is our goal, it is to make the next
generation better than us. And so by seeing kids put together a science experiment like
this . . . what this is, is we are showing how fire heats up air, creates pressure differentials
that causes an egg to get forced into a bottle, and the kids just grasped it. We did this at
the regional Science Fair over at the Vet Center and the kids were engaged and involved,
which is what we are seeking. We want them to be inspired to be the next leaders. We will
move onto the third picture here, and this is one of my favorite things that we do; it is a
bottle rocket. Water bottle rockets are basically a fire engine. It is a model for a fire
engine. It is a vessel that contains water. You add pressure using a pump, and you create
a stream with a nozzle. In this case, it is used to create thrust. NASA has a bunch of
information about how educational water rockets are, but what really solidified the process
to me was when we did this at Kapa'a Elementary for their Career Day, we got the rocket
stuck in a tree. And myself and another firefighter, we actually could not figure out how to
get it down. We wandered around for a few minutes, which is of course a little bit
embarrassing, but it is part of the process, right? And then this little voice in the
background comes up and says, "Why do not you shoot it down with the fire hose?" And it
was like, wow! And to me that brings our program, that is like, we are succeeding. They
are actually . . . they thought of something we did not. So it is great. We are engaging the
kids; they are learning science, and they are coming up with new ideas.
So, then our goal becomes to work on the second part of our program which is
prevention, and this is what makes us unique. A lot of times we will go back right here, the
third grade got taught Simple Machines. They get taught about levers and pulleys. And
for me a lot of times you sit in class and you do your paperwork and you see it on paper, but
you do not make that connection to how it actually works. So to get them out there putting
their hands on is the first step. Okay, we are inspiring them, but how are we getting safety
across? And so an example in this is what we will teach them is if you look at the ladder we
create a fall zone. Typically in the Fire Department we use one-and-a-half the length of
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whatever object it is. It is a rule of thumb. So in that zone you have to use a helmet.
Helmets are what keep you safe. And then we can talk about the safety of helmets for the
kids riding bikes. And this is the final piece of the puzzle. This is what kind of brings
everything together where . . . in Prevention we feel if you educate people properly all these
incidents are not going to happen. You are not going to have the loss of life; you are not
going to have the damage. So it is very exciting for us to bring these two components
together of inspiring the kids to learn and the safety message that keeps them safe
throughout life.
So, thank you for letting me present this morning. We are excited about this
program and appreciate it.
Chief Westerman: Next, OSO Gerald Hurd will talk about what we
are doing in the Prevention Program . . . him and Kalani in the Prevention Program and
Ocean Safety. Remember we just kind of added that in last year's budget. So, you can go
right ahead.
GERALD HURD, OSO-III: Hi, my name is Gerald Hurd, 050-III in
Training and Prevention. We have a . . . that is, you guys see in the picture there is our
new trailer. It is an educational trailer, which we have a TV, and it is basically mobile unit
we use for junior lifeguard. It carries all our boards, all our tools to do our programs. We
go out to . . . this picture right here is at the Coast Guard Station. We teamed up with them
that day and had Island School come by. We showed them all our equipment, what we use
and how they can stay safe when they go to the beach and have their fun days at the beach
and stuff with their families. We also go to the schools. Here is Cleve Zarba giving his
awareness of the signs to the little kids, letting them know to look out for the warning signs
when they go to the beaches because day-in and day-out we put up signs because of the
constant change of the beaches and the environment. We also . . . here is the Lights
Parade, which we team up with the Junior Lifeguard and do our Lights Parade with the
trucks and trailers and stuff also.
KALANI VIERRA, OCEAN SAFETY SUPERVISOR: Good morning, Kalani
Vierra, Ocean Safety Supervisor. I believe this Prevention Trailer is one of our biggest
assets we have to our Ocean Safety now. As you can see, the trailer itself it is a portable
classroom that we can go to anywhere on the island. We have a portable generator that will
provide power to the trailer itself that we can show our safety videos on our flat screen TV
that is located right on the side of the trailer. We have awnings and tents that you saw in
the picture before that we can bring the classroom out of the class and bring them to our
trailer and show all different types of safety equipment and safety videos. It also is a
training tool for our fulltime staff. We can bring this trailer to any particular beach. We
can show the safety skills on the video. Then we can just go in the water and execute the
skills and demonstrate the skills right there at the beach. So future goal is we want to
expand to any businesses or resorts that are requesting Ocean Safety. I think this would be
a valuable tool to educate more of our businesses and resorts around the island. This could
also be used as a mini-command center. For example, if there is a big search and rescue
somewhere down the beach that is kind of secluded, this can be a little mini-command
center if possible because of the portable power that we can use from the generator. This
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was all donated by the Kauai Lifeguard Association. With the help of the Kauai Lifeguard
Association, I think we are the first outfit in the state that we have an actual Prevention
Trailer that does preventions and education. So we really want to expand our services with
the trailer in the future. Thank you.
Chief Westerman: Thank you. So thanks Firefighter-III Hussey
and 050-III Hurd and OSO Supervisor Kalani Vierra, but we are not done yet.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: How many . . .
Chief Westerman: Couple more.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay, if you can kind of speed it up a little bit
and stick more to the budget.
Chief Westerman: Sure, Chair, but all these items are in our
budget. They are actually all line items in our budget.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I understand, I understand. I mean they are
showing what they have done throughout the year and we all know they do a good job, so.
Chief Westerman: As part of our education efforts, we are very
successful, and we, again, are leading the state in getting hands-on CPR into schools. So to
tell that story is Firefighter-III Ron Bush.
RON BUSH, Firefighter III: Hi, Ron Bush, Fire Department. I have got good
news and I have got better news. The good news is that if you have a heart attack in
Phoenix or Anchorage or Seattle, you are probably more likely to survive. The better news
is we are trying to model our program after those successful areas because right now
Hawaii is like everybody else. And what we are doing is hands-on CPR with all the
students. We are partnered with the DOE, and we had a meeting with all the principals
and vice principals. So a lot of them are excited about getting that training going on. It
does not take long. It does not take too many men or women to teach it. We are trying to
mentor the high school kids to help teach us with that. It goes along with our whole
Prevention and Education Team, and it takes a whole team to do this. So I am very
grateful and thankful to be a part of the team to be able to do this, and we not only do this
with the schools, we do this with the community. We had a county employee invitation for
everyone to come and do it. I think Chairperson Mel Rapozo came, along with some other
people. So hopefully we can do this another year and have 100% do it. And so we are open
to taking requests from community organizations. If you folks have anyone where we can
do that, to come and help that, and then Hawaii will be the better news because we will be
like the other . . . we will be better than the other cities that have high success rates. They
start with their community and some areas have . . . to become a high school graduate you
have to be certified in CPR. So that is why we are concentrating on our schools through our
Sparky Trailer. The picture above there is from our STEM Outreach, when we did it, which
we incorporate also, and we also incorporate it with all the prevention Sparky visits at all
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the schools that we do too for the first time this year. So that allows us to get to every
single school that we do. So thank you for this opportunity.
Chief Westerman: Thank you. So in order to continue and improve
these services, we have reallocated a Firefighter-I to the Fire Lieutenant, as we were
talking about earlier, in the Fire Prevention Bureau. Got to have a little bit of humor in the
situation, I think. I am proud of our department's willingness to be the guinea pig. We
have volunteered to be the test agent for automated payroll and automated timesheets, and
online job-performance-review as a large department. Here to tell you about it is our
Administrative Officer Rose Bettencourt. I guess we have to start cutting it short, Rose.
ROSE BETTENCOURT, Administrative Officer: Yes.
Chief Westerman: So, quick as you can.
Ms. Bettencourt: Good morning, Council Chair, Councilmembers. Rose
Bettencourt, Kauai Fire Department Administrative Officer, and I will be fast. We were
selected to work with the Executime Time and Attendance module which is going to be an
electronic payroll processing. The Fire Department, if you do not know, is one of the more
complicated, if not the most complicated payrolls to process. What we do is we have two (2)
members of our staff do the payroll. One person calculates and enters the payroll into the
current AS400 payroll module and the other person enters payroll data into individual excel
worksheets, and then they make sure that their two (2) processes balance. Payroll
processing for us takes approximately six to seven working days, and we are lucky if we
have six-and-a-half to seven working days, and I am sure the other departments feel the
same way too. So the first admin staff receives the manual timesheets; audits it—takes
two (2) days minimum—goes back and forth with the supervisors regarding discrepancies,
incomplete or missing timesheets, leave applications, and other supporting documents; then
calculates the pay adjustments and again follows up with the supervisors—one-and-a-half
days—and it depends on how many adjustments need to be made. We rarely have a payroll
period that does not involve some type of payroll adjustment. Then after all of this, she
enters the payroll into the AS400 Payroll System and runs the reports to balance. That
takes about two to three days, entry and the balancing.
The second admin staff with the same timesheets will enter the payroll data into
individual worksheets and then total and balance the worksheets. When that is done, they
check to see their two processes match. The reason we do this is for audit control. We have
one side doing it one way and the other side, that is per the Human Resources payroll
procedures. That is for everybody's protection. Then when the AS400 payroll entry is closed
for preliminary processing and they check to see if it balances, if it does not balance to
search where the error is and inform HR payroll of the correction action necessary before
the final closing of payroll. Once payroll processing is complete, they hurry to catch up on
other duties and by that time it is time to start processing payroll again. So, needless to say
we are very excited to participate in the move to electronic time keeping. With the roll-out
of the ExecuTime time and attendance module and the use of web browser and mobile
devices to collect data, we are looking forward to a great decrease in the amount of time it
takes to process our payroll, and increase in efficiency and accuracy. This model is slated
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to integrate with our records management system or (RMS) to transmit data regarding
incidents and corresponding premiums into ExecuTime for less possibility of human error. I
understand there are a lot of other features in the program such as the ability to track
projects and do job costing and other things. I apologize; I am not really familiar with the
total package so our IT personnel and Human Resources would be better to explain that to
you. We were also selected to start utilizing the Neogov job performance review module.
This module will send prompts to supervisors to let them know a review is due for a
particular individual and send on-time alerts. We understand there are layers of security in
the program as appropriate to individual supervisors. The reviews will be done through the
Neogov system, making them easier and faster to complete and process and again, our IT
personnel would be better to give the details and benefits of utilizing this system to you.
Thank you.
Chief Westerman: Thank you Rose. Graduating class two weeks
ago...CERT in Kilauea. Good group of folks. So we will move through real quick. We have a
real quick video. This was the public taking a video of this and actually that is a young girl
that got swept off the beach. That is one of our OSOs, John Cammack and we will ask him
to stand in a minute. Bringing her out of that yay, John! I want you to remember that
video, because that is about— I am going to guess 50% of how people get into the ocean and
get into trouble. The last 5-6 have all been somebody in the wet sand, waves come and took
them out. So I am going to read you a letter and I am going to ask all the people to stand,
because they all participated in the latest rescue. Some of them are not here because we are
actually doing two rescues and fighting two brush fires right now, so some of the people are
not here. If I could have OSO II Chris Pico and OSO II Jonathan Martin, Station Fire
Captain Sam Lee, Firefighter III Mark Andrade, Firefighter Jodi Simpson and rescue
crew, Brian Doo, Aaron Hawthorne, Blair Yamashita and Paula and if you all could stand
up. Nobody can really say it better than Dr. Downs, so, I am going read this phenomenal
rescue by Dr. Downs. Understand that this lady got swept into the water just like this
young girl did, but the difference was, she got swept out. Thanks to the heroic effort by
some agencies working together, Kauai was spared great tragedy on Sunday March 19 a
visiting woman physician in her 30s was standing in waist deep water on a rough day at
secret beach when he she got taken off her feet and swept out to sea. 911 was immediately
activated and Hanalei firefighters got to the remote beach in 15 minute as did the Hanalei
jetski patrol. Fortunately the woman managed not to panic and she performed drown
proofing in the rough seas as she could. Our Hanalei firefighters are terrific watermen; they
jumped into the ocean with the rescue tubes and stabilized her. After amazing 15-20
minutes in the seas they found her to be utterly exhausted in the rough waters as it swirled
and smashed around her near the rock ledge. They estimated she would not have survived
another minute on her own. Meanwhile our lifeguards on their jet ski had arrived from the
bruising open water full throttle and half borne run from Hanalei. With the way the seas
were swirling around the rock ledge they were having difficulty positioning themselves to
pick up the victims and the firefighters.
As a miracle from on high a lifter basket suddenly appeared next to the firefighters
and the woman. Helicopter Air One had arrived after a full scramble response from Lihu`e
airport. The woman was in the basket and on to the beach in seconds and our paramedics
were waiting with their advance life support equipment. The woman was in severe medical
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distress and her lungs were full of water. The EMR paramedics sedated her with
medications and actually got a breathing tube into her windpipe and hooked up to a
ventilator with 100% oxygen flowing into her lungs. Then onward lights and sirens to
Wilcox Hospital and ICU where staff continued to provide advanced medical support.
Sunday morning as I write the patient is doing well there the ICU, and she will recover to
continue her life's work as a physician. Congratulations and great thanks are owed to Chief
Westerman and the fabulous men and women. To William Bailey and his EMR medical
response paramedics and Wilcox Hospital CEO, Jan Chahanovich and her staff. I was saved
great suffering by these excellent people and by remarkable air and seas and land and seas
systems. Now the matter of improving our Kauai Lifeguard Association and visitor
industry education efforts to keep people from getting into danger at our beautiful beaches.
We are trying. How can we do better? The answer my friend is blowing in the winds. Monte
Downs M.D., President - Kaua`i Lifeguard Association.
I would like to have said it better, but Dr. Downs is so eloquent in his writings.
Thank you very much. Thank you all for your efforts. We are going to pass through this
one because Kalani and I will talk later about our beach sign and the efforts that we have
been working on to get them done. What I would like to do in the last section is talk a little
bit about while we are here, we want to talk a little bit more about the roving patrol
concept. That is in our budget also. Before I do that, I really have to thank Dr. Downs and
Andy Melamed for their hard work that they continue to do in support of ocean safety,
especially the junior lifeguard program and safety equipment. For the last few years KLA,
with the help of Mr. Andy Melamed have held annual fundraising events to raise over
$232,000 to provide donations to the ocean safety bureau and support the Junior Lifeguard
Program. As you can see all the money that they have used in their fundraisers, the
$155,000 of jet skis, jet ski trailers, and equipment for the Ocean Safety Bureau and then
the support of the junior lifeguard program and travels for their 12 straight years as state
championships and winning second in the national two years ago. I would like to thank
them very much, and I would be remiss if I did not thank the Rotary Club for their great
work in building two Jet Ski dollies for us. So as you can see the Kauai Fire Department is
very good about their community partnership in trying to work together. Finally I would
like to have Kalani talk about the roving patrols and we will go into line by line in the
budget and I would be happy to answer any questions for you. Kalani...
Mr. Vierra: Hello again. Kalani Vierra, Ocean Safety Bureau
Supervisor. As we talked about our rescues at different beaches around the island, where
we do not have lifeguards, we always dreamt about putting a lifeguard tower at all of our
beaches around the island. But due to the budget constraints, we will be looking at millions
and millions of dollars. So we kind of came up with a plan on how we can service the island
without a big cost. So we came up with a plan on creating roving...three roving patrol units,
one in each district. We were kind of following the sample of the city And County of
Honolulu, 20% of their operations are roving units. And they visit beaches that have no
lifeguard towers with a truck, Jet Ski and all the necessary rescue and first aid equipment.
So we came up with this idea. So obviously we were going to need a few positions to create
this idea. With the help of the Kauai Lifeguard Association; if our budget is approved they
will be helping fundraise to help get some of the equipment for the roving patrol. So we will
have one roving patrol per district, one on the north, one in east, so the north to be from
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Ke`e to Secret Beach, for example, the east will be from Moloa`a to Kalapaki, and the
southwest district will be from Po`ipu to Kekaha. And again, day-to-day, all depends on the
conditions, or the hotspots or the crowds. That is where they will be patrolling per day and
we will be visiting different beaches around the island like Anini Beach, Lumaha`i,
Shipwrecks, Kalapaki, like Salt Pond, Kekaha, and all of the different beaches that we do
not have lifeguards. So we came up with this idea on how we can expand our services
without going into the millions of dollars? So we asked for six part-time positions and those
part-time positions will help us staff the tower and we will take our experienced guys from
the towers and put them on the roving patrol units with the Jet Ski and the trucks. They
will be visiting different beaches, passing out information, preventions, primarily is most of
all is preventing injuries and warning people, and they can be patrolling by roads, water or
boat and that is the idea of the roving patrol unit without going into the millions of the
dollars.
Chief Westerman: Thank you. Sorry for taking up too much of the
time. Now we can be happy to answer any questions, and however you want to go,
line-by-line in the budget.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I think just for future reference, we know the
Fire Department does a great job, and they have a lot of programs that they want people to
see, and we can always...you can always request to be on the Council Meeting agenda item
as a communication, where they can present all of the great things and the community
outreach. When comes to the budget, we like to just see what is going on. What is being
affected? And like Kalani's last presentation is perfect, because that is the line item that
will directly affect the budget and it is an additional service. Those types of things we like
to see highlighted. Just for future reference. It is not to take away from anything that the
Fire Department does, but a lot of those things can be done in a communication during
regular Council Meetings. Do we have any questions on the presentations or also, if you
have any questions on the paper presentation or also if you have any questions on the paper
presentation also. Councilmember Hooser.
Councilmember Hooser: Yeah just real briefly and I agree, our agenda is
open any time to hear the great work that you are doing. And I really appreciate knowing
what you are doing on the ground, so it ties the money to the actual services and I felt like
applauding every single speaker who came up. It really makes me feel good about the Fire
Department and the various components out in the community teaching and educating, and
I would like to hear more about it. I really appreciate the work everybody put in today to
come up here and spend their time to deliver that message. It ties it to the budget. Thank
you very much. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: And again, we will take the questions on the
presentation. If the question can be done in the particular division, that is even better.
Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you, Chief, for your presentation. I want
to say firsthand that I am very excited about your prevention efforts where you are going
upstream, so to speak, before the accident happens, and this kind of community-based
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coordinated effort is very exciting. I have spoken before about the Seattle effort and it really
saves lives. So congratulations on that effort. I sense that to your strategic planning
process, you have really begun to look at the realities of the Fire Department today. So that
is very, very good. And I just want to echo your mahalo to the Kauai Lifeguard Association
for their incredible support for ocean safety. And I want to acknowledge your guinea pig
project. I am so impressed with what Rose has presented. And also have been waiting for
over five years for this time in attendance system. I do know that the Fire Department is
the most complicated of payroll. So that you folks are willing to make this big shift in the
name of efficiency and accuracy is very exemplary. So thank you very much. I have some
questions about prevention.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Let me say this also, Chief, use your discretion.
If the question should be in a particular division, let us know and we will put the question
on the side and ask it then, so we do not have people coming up back and forth. Because
even me, I am not really exactly sure where my particular question goes, but it might be
more efficient...just say this should be asked in the Administration, or Ocean Safety. And
then we can...rather than having somebody to continue to come up to answer the question.
Chief Westerman: We will bring a couple of them up.
Councilmember Yukimura: I am going by the order of your presentation.
That is my question.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Perfect. So we will start with Administration.
Councilmember Yukimura: Prevention was their first.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Prevention is our third though.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay, well, if you want to go with
"administration," I want to get clear about the goals and objectives for next year...not in
term of your long-term strategic plan, but in terms of things like prevention and some of the
things that are being talked about. However, you want to proceed, Chair.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: If you have a budget line item question.
Councilmember Yukimura: I thought we were dealing with "prevention,"
before line-item budget.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: If you have a budget line item question, I would
save it for the division. But if you have a general question on prevention, let us get it out
now.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay mine are general questions. So initially
the effort was prevention of fires, and I am really excited that, in fact, I see as significant
the fact that your mission...I did not check last year's mission, but this year's mission is "to
preserve and protect life, property, and environment of Kauai County from all hazards and
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emergencies." To me, that is a wonderful acknowledgment that your firefighting is like 3%
and that the need in the community is for larger emergency response. So that you are
addressing prevention in that sense, too, not just fire prevention, I see as a very excellent
thing. My question was in your ocean safety prevention, are you including the issues of
diving head-first?
Mr. Vierra: Yes. We are trying to follow in our USLA
guidelines. There is some information about diving headfirst, entering headfirst. So we are
addressing some issues, especially during the spinal injury incidents we had in the past,
like Shipwrecks or Brenneckes and we do talk about spinal injuries even at Kekaha Beach.
When we go to the career days at school we do talk about spinal injuries and how to enter
the water without diving head first. If you do not see the bottom, you do not dive in; you go
in feet-first. So yes, we are.
Councilmember Yukimura: When you have all of these kids learning about
fire prevention, are you talking about not diving headfirst? The reason I ask this is we have
had some really significant tragedies. They do not happen that often, but their severity is
so great; right? It just totally disables a person and it is just that one little piece of
knowledge about not diving headfirst. I mean, I have three acquaintances over the
last...admittedly, 40 years, where their children were just playing in the ocean and diving
first and they are paraplegics and if somehow that piece could be included, we could really
prevent some major tragedies.
Mr. Vierra: Councilwoman Yukimura that is why we added
the Ocean Safety Bureau Prevention 2 programs. Fire Prevention does not discuss those
issues, Ocean Safety does and every opportunity they go together, so both messages are
going out, Fire Prevention and Ocean Safety and education and ocean safety. So every
opportunity, we have them side-by-side.
Councilmember Yukimura: Well I guess that is my request and I see it
already happening. So the integration, so it is not just fire prevention and ocean, but it is
one prevention program that covers all. Just because you are doing such a massive effort
for Fire Prevention, which is really good, because ocean safety is such a widespread issue
among our kids especially. If you could somehow integrate it, that would be wonderful. It is
just a request.
Chief Westerman: We will look into that.
Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: You can continue...do you have further
questions, Councilmember Yukimura?
Councilmember Yukimura: Yes.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Go ahead.
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Councilmember Yukimura: You know, I find it phenomenal, your fall
prevention program. I am sorry, some of your fall prevention people have left, but related to
the budget, what are the costs of this fall prevention program to the County? I see some
very wonderful integrated efforts. So I see that the Department of Health and others, but
are we doing overtime for fall prevention?
Chief Westerman: There is some overtime and there is some
on-duty time. It just depends on when we can do the on-duty and when we cannot do the
on-duty.
Councilmember Yukimura: And STEM is also overtime?
Chief Westerman: No, those are career day presentations. Those
are done by the on-duty fire prevention folks.
Councilmember Yukimura: I mean, you know, I do not think we should use
overtime.
Chief Westerman: Part of the dilemma comes in that...when we put
the trailer out and we do a large group of kids. We have to have a large contingent of
firefighters. We cannot do this with one or two firefighters. There are only two firefighters
in fire prevention, so we take -- and that is what that fee is that we get out of our
permitting, and we use some of that for the overtime costs to cover when that education
trailer goes out and does the large groups.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. If fires are 3% of our budget, and 90% or
80% of our budget is fires or is it accidents? So one of my questions that came up as I looked
at your budget if fire is 3%, why are fire engines the main form of mobility for our
department?
Chief Westerman: Because we always have to have the fire engines
to fight the fires. Yes, we realize the fire engines are the most costly and least work that we
do, but we have to have them in order to do that work. Let me explain --
Councilmember Yukimura: Sure.
Chief Westerman: And an example is right now today, if I schedule
a school, the schools do not want us there, but they want us there. So when we schedule a
school, we have to be there, we have to be on-time or we are going lose our slots because the
teachers have such a big caseload. But they understand how good it is. So if I use all
on-duty crew all of the time...for example today, I would have to cancel Wilcox School if we
are scheduled today, because they are out fighting fires and doing rescues. So we try to use
a combination of the 40-hour workers that we can do that with and some overtime
firefighters in order to make sure that we have adequate staff to present all the programs.
We do, oh, gosh, 60 programs a year, 60 times a year we are out doing things. So it is just a
matter of logistics and having the right people in the right place at the right time.
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Otherwise, we lose the school, we lose the whole opportunity and then we probably will not
get them for a whole other year.
Councilmember Yukimura: Well maybe, but maybe that is our priorities?
Safety and emergencies first. Or maybe we need people who are not firefighters doing some
of the education programs or have one or two firefighters, but have other staff — I am
looking at cost factors. You know, a firefighter is very expensive. And so I am just raising
these questions because we do have a very limited budget and fire and police, because we
put such a high priority on public safety is over half of our budget, the county's budget. You
know? And so we need to ask you for your help in not using really expensive personnel for
things that do not need that type of fire training. I do not know the combinations and I am
not saying do not use any firefighters at all, but I am asking for some real considerations
about overtime and cost-controls.
Chief Westerman: We do control the costs in overtime. But at some
point in time, overtime is more efficient and better spent than hiring more people.
Councilmember Yukimura: Especially if you are hiring more firefighters.
Chief Westerman: And eventually, at some point in time, the
overtime does become to the point where it is cheaper to hire more people.
Councilmember Yukimura: Chief that is especially true. I agree with you. It
is especially true when you are hiring firefighters.
Chief Westerman: Exactly, yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: So I will go on. Thank you. So on your accident
prevention program; have you studied the accidents to know what the greatest accident
need...accident prevention need is? What are the most frequent...because I am aware that
the Department of Health has this whole accident focus, and that I think accidents are the
highest or the second highest cause of deaths for young people, I think, and might be...I am
not for example, familiar, but I am assuming that you would want to target it to the most
lowest hanging fruit and you would be addressing the accidents that are the greatest. So I
was wondering if you have done that kind of analysis.
Chief Westerman: That is why we have the Department of Health
on, too. They helped us with that.
Councilmember Yukimura: Yes. And I love that you are doing that kind of
partnership.
Mr. Spindt: So specifically the fall prevention program is
oriented towards older adults because of the demographic shift. So we are seeing greater
falls and emergencies from medical conditions, which is why it is a collaborative program
with AMR and Fire. So we can do a medical assessment, as well as a fall and fire
prevention assessment.
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Councilmember Yukimura: I think...I do not have any problems with your
focus on falls among elderly. Because I think that is a major problem, which is why the
Department of Health has a fall prevention person. And as someone who has a mother who
just fell before Christmas and fractured her femur, thank you Dr. Downs, I understand the
impact on families and on the elderly. So I do not have any problem and I think the work
that you are doing is phenomenal to actually be able to go in and help. Now I am concerned
about overtime, again. But if you can do it without overtime to the extent that can you do it
without overtime and using the community networking is really wonderful.
Chief Westerman: And I think to understand the concept of our
point of view, is, if we are in the home and we are eliminating the trip and fall hazards,
Cody is doing an evaluation medically with the folks and making sure their medications are
right and they are not fighting each other and they are doing their things to do. We do this
in a non-emergency response mode. We have saved...I will tell you $1 million. Because
simply the fact that I run a fire engine code 3 through the middle of town to go to a trip and
fall hazard that I could have avoided, and have the opportunity to have an accident, this is
the concepts that we are working with. So we support the programs as best we can in
non-emergent mode and that is what prevention education is all about. So we avoid the
emergency response.
Councilmember Yukimura: Chief, you are speaking to the choir.
Chief Westerman: Yes, thank you.
Councilmember Yukimura: That is why I am so excited about prevention,
because it is far more cost-effective.
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: Whether you are dealing with drug use in
another arena, or fire prevention, or fall prevention, it is all much more cost-effective.
Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I have a follow-up question on the overtime. You
know, with our budget constraints getting tighter, has the Fire Department thought about
scaling back on educational type of things and have firefighters available to fight fires
rather than spend the overtime on these educational type of projects?
Chief Westerman: We do not do it all on overtime and we actually
reduced our overtime in the budget. Eventually, just what you are saying, Chair, you
reduce my overtime to a point I cannot support the program, I just cannot support the
programs. If you cut it much more, I will come back and tell you, I am going cut out certain
programs. And again, that is with us actively reducing our overtime year-to-year-to-year. I
personally think we are kind of at a balance and if we reducing more overtime, I am going
to have to start reducing programs. We simply have a lot of overtime. Remember in
overtime in my budget, the overtime we are talking about is just a very small amount.
Because everything counts for overtime in my budget, right? Rank-for-rank, holidays, all of
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that is all of this big overtime pool, but this overtime that we are doing these programs is
very minimal.
Councilmember Yukimura: You are talking about prevention, excuse me?
Chief Westerman: Prevention, education, OSB, all of that is very,
very minimal, and we have. I understand, I truly understand.
Councilmember Yukimura: How much is it?
Chief Westerman: I can get you the figure, but I do not have it
exactly off the top of my head. I know it is the smallest percentage of everything that we
spend in overtime.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I am not saying cut it all or do more, but we have
to be cognizant, what is it costing us to do? Do we get to a certain point that rather than
doing a program we save on overtime and use it to buy some type of equipment that you are
desperately in need of?That type of thinking. Councilmember Chock.
Councilmember Chock: Just along the lines of the conversation, does the
CERT group also help with some of these programs, the prevention programs on a regular
basis?
Chief Westerman: No.
Councilmember Chock: Could they be utilized as well in the same
capacity as someone, like some of what Councilmember Yukimura is talking about? Maybe
it is not about...maybe it is just about the goal you have for prevention. Expanding the
ideas and lessons and educational aspects if that is the goal?
Chief Westerman: We could look into it and see if we can provide
them the education they would need in order to provide effective programs.
Councilmember Chock: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kagawa.
Councilmember Kagawa: My question is similar to Councilmembers
Yukimura and Kaneshiro, and in relation to salaries overtime, for the whole budget, I am
asking this question now, because I am wondering...the same question I asked to Public
Works. Because we found out that there is a lot of grants, like Hardy Street improvements,
and the TIGER grant that is coming up, where they are being able to charge a lot of their
salaries and overtime to the project 80/20 match or 85/15 match. So I am wondering is
there any salaries and overtime in receiving in grants that are not being reflected in the
Fire budget?
Ms. Bettencourt: No, not at this point.
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Councilmember Kagawa: So it is not like Public Works' Federal grants?
Ms. Bettencourt: We have people who actively look for grants to
apply for, but at this point, we do not have any for...that are not in the budget.
Councilmember Kagawa: So there are no salaries or overtime that are not
included in this budget?
Ms. Bettencourt: No.
Councilmember Kagawa: Thank you.
Chief Westerman: Well, we have Ocean Safety, but it is not
included in our budget. That is a State...I guess it is a grant-in-aid that the State pays us
to do the towers.
Ms. Bettencourt: It is included in the integrated budget, the
information.
Councilmember Kagawa: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We have $200,000 in State funds for Ocean
Safety and $14,000 in funds for Prevention. Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: So I am not saying do not do prevention, but I am
saying please look at your overall configuration of the Fire Department and see how you
can fund it without overtime? And then I have a question for your CPR program.
Chief Westerman: Ron.
Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you for the work on creating this program.
I went to school in Seattle, and so I keep track of that city. They say if you have a heart
attack and there are three other people around in Seattle, one of them is likely to know
CPR. That is what I heard and that is pretty phenomenal. So if we are trying to move in
that direction that is good. I would like to know for each division, what your goals are for
the year? You know, like, in this particular program, do you have a goal for this year,
training so many kids in hands-on CPR? So that is kind of an across-the-board question for
each division, because I do not see it in your presentation. I was going to ask you can you
train Councilmembers and you said the chair has already been trained. So please let us
know the next opportunity, so that we can learn, too. I did learn it at Kukui Grove once,
but I could use a refresher. Can children do hands-on CPR on adults?
Mr. Bush: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: So is it more effective to train children first than
adults?
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Mr. Bush: Our goal is to train them all.
Councilmember Yukimura: Yes. I know, but you start with the ones where it
would make the biggest difference, I would guess, or not?
Mr. Bush: Since we already have our prevention trailer,
which we got from a grant a few years ago. This year we included hands-on CPR, that is
where we get our biggest audience, In addition to all of the other prevention trailer
activities that we do on the weekends and events, things like that.
Councilmember Yukimura: Well, I know that children have saved adults in
certain instances. So that is a great thing that you are enabling them to do that. How do
you avoid duplication of the training? I mean are you going to train these kids at every
age-level over and over again?
Mr. Bush: Our goal is to...as far as the students are
considered, K-12, our goal is to hit the elementary schools every time we go out every year
for our prevention week activities. And to hit the middle schools at least one grade, and the
high schools at least one grade. So the reason is because the time they graduate, they will
be exposed at least three times in middle school and high school. That is what we are using
Seattle's model for that.
Councilmember Yukimura: So when you do elementary schools you get every
child?
Mr. Bush: If we...for the prevention trailer, we do K-12, and
we also do preschool. But the preschool, we have not done —we are not doing the hands-on.
Councilmember Yukimura: I do not know if preschool.
Mr. Bush: We are not doing preschool, but we are doing
K-5th or 6th grade.
Councilmember Yukimura: You do every class and every grade-level?
Mr. Bush: Yes. We schedule the whole school to go through
our prevention trailer.
Councilmember Yukimura: Every year?
Mr. Bush: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: So they are going to get this CPR training every
year?
Mr. Bush: The K-6 will.
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Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. I hope you can have them also learn about
not diving headfirst. Thank you.
Mr. Bush: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions from the Members?
I do know CPR training is important, and I think the training has evolved over the years.
So what you may have been taught ten years ago is different than what it is now. Any other
questions? Councilmember Yukimura?
Councilmember Yukimura: I think that is it.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: If not, we will start hitting the line items and
start with Administration. Councilmember Kagawa.
Councilmember Kagawa: Thank you, Chair. Do we have a Deputy Fire
Chief right now?
Chief Westerman: No, sir.
Councilmember Kagawa: Are we recruiting?
Chief Westerman: Well, if the budget is approved, there is no salary
for a Deputy right now, so once the budget is approved, yes.
Councilmember Kagawa: The one I am looking at has.
Chief Westerman: The budget that will be coming will have a
deputy.
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes. It is fully funded fiscal year 2017, currently
dollar-funded.
Councilmember Yukimura: It does not look dollar funded.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: It is dollar-funded this second.
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes. Right now it is dollar funded.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: In the future budget it is fully funded.
Ms. Bettencourt: Because in the future budget it is fully funded. I
am sorry.
Councilmember Kagawa: What is the intention? That we are having
difficulty filling that, because I guess, the top-level management can make more...
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Ms. Bettencourt: Yes.
Councilmember Kagawa: So that is why we are having difficulty?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes. It is kind of hard to give up all of that to get
more responsibilities for lower...essentially lower pay.
Councilmember Kagawa: So what are the...what is the likelihood of seeing
that position filled?
Chief Westerman: We do not know. All we can do is go out and
attempt to recruit. As you said, 35 people are making more money than the Deputy in
salary. So that is going to make it difficult. Even if you said, well I will take a $10,000 cut
in pay that is still twenty-four (24) folks that are senior, that could possibly fill the position.
But that does not count out everybody. We will just have to see who the likely candidates
may be?
Councilmember Kagawa: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Follow-up?
Committee Chair Kagawa: I have a follow-up. So how is the Fire
Department been handling without the Deputy Chief now and how will it be different with
a Deputy?
Chief Westerman: I have had bronchitis for a month-and-a-half and
the doctor tells me it is because of stress. I will be quite honest with you, he tried to put me
on pillsyesterday and I told him, "no, it is just the job." It has been difficult. The
Administrative Officer has had to take on additional duties to help me out. The Battalion
Chiefs are working a lot of overtime to get those jobs done. Our on-duty Battalion Chief is
not here today, because is he working the calls this morning. He wanted to be here today,
but we just have to push the responsibilities other places and sometimes it costs us
overtime. That is kind of how we have been handling it.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock.
Councilmember Chock: Hi Chief, just looking under Administration. I
wanted to see if you could shed some light on it looks like the overtime has gone down a
little bit, and then there is the new item rank-for-rank is in $51,000, as well as premium
pay went up. So page 129 "Administration." I just wondered if you could explain the
challenges.
Chief Westerman: Yes good question, Councilmember. Like in all
the other divisions we did not have rank-for-rank separated in Administration. Where we
were eventually separating them all so you knew where the rank-for-rank line was versus
overtime. We have classified rank-for-rank for that division. That is why it was not funded
before and it is funded this year.
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Councilmember Chock: Is that consistent for all?
Chief Westerman: Now they have it all listed separately in each
division.
Councilmember Chock: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: So the regular overtime line item is actually
overtime and nothing to do with collective bargaining?
Chief Westerman: It is all collective bargaining. It is overtime for
holiday, overtime in their pay. It has very little "other overtime" in it. As you can see on
the line item, holiday pay and it has overtime pay. The holiday pay in this case is 62, but
regular overtime is only 20. Again, that is a good example of the percentage of overtime
that we use other than the collective bargaining requirement.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: So that overtime pay line item is how much is
above and beyond the collective bargaining?
Chief Westerman: A little bit of that is still on their pay, is it?
Ms. Bettencourt: Well, overtime is essentially...it is part of
collective bargaining. If you have to work beyond your normal hours or called out it is
overtime and we have to pay it. So it is collective bargaining, it is not. What you are asking
is it an automatic type of pay? It is not. The holiday premium on the other hand is
something that is scheduled. They have to have...they get the premium pay for every
holiday that they actually work. As far as for the premiums, the scheduled overtime is an
automatic. It is based on their salary, and paid to them semimonthly.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I guess, when we look at the budget, it is really
hard to decipher what is the guaranteed overtime that you have to pay based on collective
bargaining, and what is like actual overtime where, say, somebody was just about to get off
and they are fighting a fire and they cannot get off their shift at that time, and they
actually incurred overtime. So I guess for us, it is kind of hard to determine. So you are
saying in the "overtime pay" line item, that is mostly overtime that a firefighter is fighting
fires and has to be there versus a holiday overtime is a fixed cost and there is nothing you
can do about it.
Ms. Bettencourt: You are right. Overtime pay itself is for the
unexpected. The working after the shift or somebody calls in sick and you have to call
somebody back into work. That would be under the regular overtime. The other two are
fixed.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Thank you. That helps. Councilmember Kuali`i,
Follow-up.
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Councilmember Kuali`i: So with regards to your statement about
overtime and rank-for-rank, the overtime just here in the administration was reduced by
$5,000 but the rank-for-rank was increased by $51,000. So is that compared to last year you
under budgeted for overtime, and rank-for-rank? And if that was the case, did you already
have to do a transfer to refill the budget or rank-for-rank account for this year? Because I
did not see any in the budget appropriation transfers report. I only saw for mileage and for
workers comp.
Chief Westerman: In the regular overtime right now. We are
estimating that we are going to be $2,000 short for that salary line item. So you are right,
we have not transferred into that line item yet. But as we continue to reduce the overtime
side, and we have transferred everything to rank-for-rank, and even rank-for-rank, we do
not fund 100%. Because some guys simply do not get them all in the time that they...in the
time that they are allotted. So I am not sure I answering your question. But yes, you are
right it is a line item that we have transferred it. We did reduce some and reduced the
rank-for-rank, when we classified the rank-for-rank dollars.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Are you forecasting in the new fiscal year you are
going to be utilizing more overtime and more rank-for-rank?
Chief Westerman: No.
Ms. Bettencourt: If I may answer, rank-for-rank is a provision in
the collective bargaining that was negotiated several years ago. And it started out with a
few...you could do three days of rank-for-rank. Then it started to increase and now it is at
the point that each person, ranked individual, can work up to 244 hours of rank-for-rank.
So that is why it is increased now, where it was not before for admin, for the Battalion
Chiefs. They did not have it. Now they do. That is why it went from...what was it? Zero to
$50,000.
Councilmember Kuali`i: So the basic understanding for that is so
somebody else is out, and they are filling in. And they are getting the pay of the higher
rank, is that what it is?
Ms. Bettencourt: What it is, if a Battalion Chief, for example, goes
on vacation, and another Battalion Chief will work in his place on an overtime basis, and
that is called "rank-for-rank."
Councilmember Kuali`i: Like the whole time is overtime?
Ms. Bettencourt: The whole day, the whole shift is overtime, yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. And so did the rate change? Did it go up?
Ms. Bettencourt: Well the number of hours.
Chief Westerman: The number of hours they could work increased.
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Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura:
Councilmember Yukimura: The rank-for-rank is based on salary, so if there
was an increase in salary per collective bargaining raises will also goes up.
Ms. Bettencourt: Right.
Councilmember Yukimura: So in your Administrative division, there is just
three officers that are getting rank-for-rank?
Ms. Bettencourt Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: So it is three officers divided into $130,000. So
they are getting an average of$44,000 a year overtime, which includes rank-for-rank?
Chief Westerman: The rank-for-rank dollars is only $51,000.
Councilmember Yukimura: I am putting overtime and rank-for-rank
together. Rank-for-rank is another kind of overtime. So then it is $130,000, if you put the
two overtimes...types of overtime together right?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: And it is going to go to the three Battalion Chiefs
in your divisions, so that is an average of $44,000 in overtime per year in addition to their
regular salaries, which are about $120,000.
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes. I just want to add some of that overtime, the
regular overtime is used by my administrative staff for payroll reasons.
Councilmember Yukimura: How much?
Ms. Bettencourt: I would say about $5,000 to $8,000.
Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Council Chair Rapozo:
Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. So on the "rank-for-rank," we
budget...because you said not all of the firefighters use all of their allocated or authorized
rank-for-rank hours.
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes.
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Council Chair Rapozo: So when we budget though, are we budgeting for
the entire 240 something hours? Or are we using the trends over the last few years to kind
of determine what that number is?
Ms. Bettencourt: Well we calculated...when I do my calculations, I
budget 100%. But then from there, we take it...we adjust it...
Chief Westerman: Working with the Administration, we work with
the number close to the previous year. And even we do that with overtime. It could be a
reduction of 10-15%, as much as 10-15%.
Council Chair Rapozo: So the rank-for-rank is about 10-15% less than
what the authorized dollars...
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Council Chair Rapozo: And that is for the entire department, not just
Administration?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Ms. Bettencourt: In each bureau, yes. There was a reduction.
Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kagawa.
Councilmember Kagawa: Under...with premium pay also be added into the
overtime? She added...for overtime she added the overtime line plus the rank-for-rank, but
do not have to also add premium pay?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes, if you calculated what they grossed, yes.
Councilmember Kagawa: Can you explain what the difference is between
"overtime pay" under regular over time and scheduled overtime? What is the difference?
Ms. Bettencourt: Scheduled overtime, well, this came about way
before my time. The firefighters on their basic schedule worked, I believe it was three
hours extra per week. And they used to call it "black shift." I think I talked about this
before. They were paid for it in their payroll under the pay code of "black shift." what
happened was during negotiations, they agreed instead of calling it "black shift," they
would call it "scheduled overtime" and annualize the pay and pay each individual who
worked the 24-hour shift pay it on a semimonthly basis. There is a formula for it.
Essentially it is based on how much you make a firefighter, multiplied by a formula and we
come out with this amount and it is paid to you semimonthly...complicated.
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Chief Westerman: Scheduled overtime is part of the collective
bargaining agreement; it is not something we can adjust.
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes. It is a collective bargaining item.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Council Chair Rapozo.
Council Chair Rapozo: I have another question involving the Payroll
Specialist. In your budget presentation, this one here, on page 2, number 5. You say,
completed reclassification of vacant position to Payroll Specialist, recruited and filled
position. Is that the Payroll Specialist in the Administrative budget on page 97?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes.
Council Chair Rapozo: And what position did you reclassify that from?
Ms. Bettencourt: It was an Account Clerk who was essentially
doing the same job though.
Council Chair Rapozo: He or she was doing the same...
Ms. Bettencourt: The person was doing the same as the Payroll
Specialist, yes.
Council Chair Rapozo: And the reclassification was required?
Ms. Bettencourt: It was.
Council Chair Rapozo: What was the cost?
Ms. Bettencourt: We were advised to reclassify to Payroll
Specialist and add other duties, which we did. And ultimately from what I understand, and
I am not sure how it is going to happen, but the ultimate goal was to take that position from
us once the whole payroll system was set. And that position would be passed over to
Human Resources.
Council Chair Rapozo: One more for them?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes, that was my understanding.
Council Chair Rapozo: I believe you. They do not have enough...how
many others in your department do HR functions?
Ms. Bettencourt: Essentially, just myself, well the payroll people
do some HR functions when comes to pay calculations you know, reallocations and that
kind of stuff. But other than that it is just me.
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Council Chair Rapozo: What was the budget impact from the Account
Clerk to Payroll Specialist?
Ms. Bettencourt: I believe — I am not sure, but I believe the Senior
Account Clerk may have been paid somewhere in the range of $36,000. I am sorry, Senior
Account Clerk $36,000 annually.
Council Chair Rapozo: $36,000.
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes, a SR-13.
Council Chair Rapozo: So a $7,000 increase?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: So reclassification/reallocation, same thing.
Ms. Bettencourt: No. Reallocation is what happened with this
position.
Councilmember Kuali`i: When did this happen?
Ms. Bettencourt: In 2015, sometime, I believe.
Councilmember Kuali`i: In Fiscal Year 2015? Or prior to June probably?
Ms. Bettencourt: I believe it was 2015, because...
Councilmember Kuali`i: You know the month approximately? I am
looking at the reallocation report and I do not see it on there. So I was just wondering. You
said $36,000 to $43,000.
Councilmember Kuali`i: September 2014.
Ms. Bettencourt: It happened September 2014.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay.
Council Chair Rapozo: Real quick.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Council Chair.
Council Chair Rapozo: Your report is showing that it was completed
reclassification of vacant position to Payroll Specialist. I am assuming it was...
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Chief Westerman: Yes it was done prior to this.
Council Chair Rapozo: In this fiscal year?
Chief Westerman: No. It was actually done prior to that. I was
presenting to you what was already done.
Council Chair Rapozo: So it was not done this past...
Chief Westerman: No.
Council Chair Rapozo: Yes, because when I read this it tells me this is
all your accomplishments this year.
Chief Westerman: Yes, yes.
Council Chair Rapozo: Are there any more in here that were done prior
that you are listing?
Chief Westerman: No, that is the only position that we reallocated
that is not.
Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you.
Ms. Bettencourt: I do not believe it was 2014. Because we just
hired our Payroll Specialist like six (6) months ago, six (6) or seven (7) months ago. I am not
sure.
Council Chair Rapozo: We get a list all and apparently it was not on
there.
Chief Westerman: The paperwork might have got started but the
hiring process did not take effect.
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes. That did take a while for us.
Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I have a question on the EM-3 positions. Are
those increases based on collective bargaining, or is the increase something else?
Ms. Bettencourt: The Excluded Managerial positions by law and I
hope I am correct, it is either no less than or equal to. So whatever the included members
get, the excluded members get. So when our firefighters get a pay increase, the EMs get an
increase also.
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Committee Chair Kaneshiro: So as far as no less than or equal to, who
determines? Have we ever budgeted more than what the increase was?
Ms. Bettencourt: No.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Who makes that determination?
Ms. Bettencourt: Well Human Resources will come out with what
they call an executive order that details their pay increases for a specific period. But I do
not recall us ever going over.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: So it is the same number?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: You know, the total salaries increased by
156,000. It is a 17% increase. Is that increase only for raises or was there any part-time or
full-time new positions?
Ms. Bettencourt: For admin?
Councilmember Kuali`i: Admin.
Ms. Bettencourt: Well they fully funded the Deputy's position so
that is part of the increase. And yes the other parts of the increase are due to salary.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: Yes going back to rank-for-rank, the narrative or
the description in the line-item budget says, "Program designed to increase continuity and
service when leave is taken by ranked personnel."
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: Is there a value, a training value in temporarily
assigning somebody just below the rank to do it on a short-term basis?
Chief Westerman: Yes. The days we do not have rank-for-rank, we
have TA captains, to BC, same way with Firefighters IIIs. When the Captain if there is not
a ranked Captain, they take the Fire Captain position.
Councilmember Yukimura: How many TA days are there?
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Chief Westerman: I do not know, but it is collective bargaining. I
have no choice, but to put captain in rank-for-rank and what days left are days available to
me for training.
Councilmember Yukimura: So you as Chief do not have anything to do with
collective bargaining?
Chief Westerman: Absolutely not. I can give my inputs, but...
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock, follow-up questions?
Councilmember Chock?
Councilmember Chock: On the E-797 Private Secretary position. On
July 1st, 2015, the salary was $63,168. On January 1st, 2016, that position got a 4.1%
increase to $65,736.
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes because the Secretary got a pay increase, a
step movement. This is the same as what are included HGEA members got, across the
board increase and step movement based on years of service.
Councilmember Kuali`i: And that step that movement was 4.1%?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes, because if I am not mistaken, the difference
between the steps in the pay grade table is about 4%.
Councilmember Kuali`i: And then the budget, you are budgeting for
July 1st, $67,464. It looks like there is some other proposed increase that is called "lump
sum," for $1,200.
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes, there is.
Councilmember Kuali`i: And from the analysis I got from HR shows
$67,972. Why is your amount $67,474?
Ms. Bettencourt: I am not sure...this amount came from Human
Resources.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. It will probably be a correction before the
next submittal, because it is not the same figure. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions from the Members?
Councilmember Kagawa: I have one.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kagawa.
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Councilmember Kagawa: Thank you. I am just trying to understand
again the overtime. So you say the Battalion Chief...is off. The Captain from the crew
would take the Battalion Chiefs position in his absence?
Ms. Bettencourt: From his crew, no. The rank-for-rank program is
designed to do that. When a Battalion Chief is off, whether on sick-leave or vacation,
another Battalion Chief will work for him in his place on a rank-for-rank basis. If there is
no other Battalion Chief who will work it than the TA system comes in.
Chief Westerman: Then you get a Captain from another station.
Councilmember Kagawa: So it is like a snowball. If the Captain works in
that position, the Firefighter moves up to the Captain?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Kagawa: Then we got to also...the Firefighter absence
creates the need for another firefighter who has maybe a day off to take that firefighter's
place?
Chief Westerman: Well it can. You can go through a day where you
will not have any call-back because you have enough guys on each shift in each station.
Where one person is gone on vacation for example and there is no BC to work, then a
Captain TA, and Firefighter III TA, and a firefighter qualified to drive can TA, and that
still leaves four people in the station and you do not need to recall somebody. Not every
position gets a recall for overtime. The only time we recall for overtime is to keep a
minimum staffing of four and even with that we do 80 of 95%, the 80 is the minimum. So
somedays we have stations that only have three in the station without recalling overtime.
Councilmember Kagawa: So you can operate with one short?
Chief Westerman: Pardon?
Councilmember Kagawa: So the crew can operate with three?
Chief Westerman: With three, but it is not recommended and we try
to keep it from being stationed next to a station, like one station in an area. Those kinds of
things.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock.
Councilmember Chock: Thank you. Chief, I was looking at the cost of our
hangar on a monthly basis. I think it is $9,000. Can you give me an update where we are
with that whole construction?
Chief Westerman: Yes. The DLNR Board approved us to have a $25
a year lease. We got that signed off, and then they realized that the lot they were going to
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give us, someone is already on. So we are going back to DLNR, and they are in the process
right now. It is just a formality to give us the lot next to it. Once we get that lot, then our
rate will change, but we still have to build the facility. So some of that cost will be there and
some will not. Right now we are paying a little bit higher price until we can be satisfied in
the lease.
Councilmember Chock: So this budget is reflective until we get that
transition?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Chock: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: Forgive me. What lease are we talking about?
Councilmember Chock: I believe it is on page 134, the hangar for the
helicopter.
Councilmember Yukimura: It is for the helicopter?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: We are not putting it at the airport?
Chief Westerman: We are at the airport.
Councilmember Yukimura: On DLNR land? You are talking about DLNR
department?
Chief Westerman; The Board has to approve us to get the lease?
Councilmember Yukimura: The DLNR board?
Chief Westerman: The Bureau of Land Management. BLM.
Councilmember Yukimura: For a place at the airport?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: At the airport?
Chief Westerman: Yes. They control all of the leases at all the
airports.
Councilmember Yukimura: Really, that it strange. Okay thank you.
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Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I have a question and it is small numbers for
equipment and computers and accessories. We have desk and chair, Assistant Chief. What
position is the Assistant Chief?
Chief Westerman: Glad you asked that question. When we first
proposed the budget to the Administration, we actually proposed two (2) Assistant Chiefs in
lieu of Deputy Chief, and that third position in rescue that we were converting. We did not
take that out. However, in the supplemental, we were going to come back with that third
conversion for one Assistant Chief in the Administration Bureau.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: So right now we have a vacant spot for the
Deputy Fire Chief?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: And if you add...you are going to put in the
Assistant Chief on the basis we were not going to get a Deputy Fire Chief?
Chief Westerman: No. We are putting in an Assistant Chief to have
both the Deputy and Assistant Chief. We went to the Administration for two Assistant
Chiefs and got rid of the Deputy Chief, kind of what Police did. They preferred that we keep
the Deputy, and try to get the Deputy hired and then come back in supplemental on the
Assistant Chief.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: And what is the benefit of getting an Assistant
Chief? Is it more hirable? What is the cost?
Chief Westerman: It is more hirable. I personally feel we need both.
I think we need all three, but the budget is what it is and we can only do so much. The
workload there is a tremendous amount of workload and the rank structure is needed to
help be able to manage the level that is below it.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura:
Councilmember Yukimura: So you are saying we need a Fire Chief and a
Deputy Chief and an Assistant Chief, and three Battalion Chiefs?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: And that sounds really top-heavy. So how do we
justify that? I mean is that how the other counties are being run, their fire departments?
Chief Westerman: Yes. Actually they have multiple Assistant
Chiefs. Of course, there is a size difference. But it is very similar to the structure in Police.
They have three Assistant Chiefs.
Councilmember Yukimura: So what is the justification?
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Chief Westerman: The justification is the workload and the work
that needs to transpire and get done and responsibilities.
Councilmember Yukimura: What is the workload?
Chief Westerman: I do not know, there are a lot of things that I
have not gotten done. I have several correspondences I have not been able to return to the
Council, because I just do not have the time to get to my level of responsiveness and
capability to get it done.
Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Why would you not have put it in the budget?
Why would you wait for the supplemental budget?
Chief Westerman: Well there is still discussion on what was going
to happen and they needed to get the budget over.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: It is going end up in the supplemental budget?
And we do not have desk space for an additional position of Assistant Chief?
Chief Westerman: Yes, we do.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We do?
Chief Westerman: Yes. We have to buy a computer for them, a
computer and desk. We have space, we just have to buy a computer and desk.
Councilmember Yukimura: So exactly what is coming in the supplemental?
Chief Westerman: An Assistant Chief.
Councilmember Yukimura: And you want the Deputy Fire Chief fully funded
as well?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions?
Councilmember Yukimura: Yes.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: Are you looking for a Chief for three shifts?
Chief Westerman: No, 40-hour worker, not a shift worker.
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Councilmember Yukimura: Okay.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions for Administration?
Council Chair Rapozo: I have one.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Council Chair.
Council Chair Rapozo: I am going to ask this question here. How many
new positions besides the one you just talked about are you asking in this budget?
Chief Westerman: None of those are new positions. They are all
reallocations.
Council Chair Rapozo: Assistant Chief?
Chief Westerman: Reallocation from firefighter in rescue in Lihu`e.
Firefighter III that we discussed for training is a reallocation of a firefighter that is in
Lihu`e and rescue. And the other Fire Lieutenant for prevention is the third Firefighter III
from the rescue crew, in Lihu`e, to that position. So those are not new positions. The only
new positions in the — new/new positions that are not reallocations in the budget are in
Ocean Safety. That is 6 OSO 1 part-time.
Council Chair Rapozo: What about on page 10 there is...
Chief Westerman: Page 10?
Council Chair Rapozo: Yeah on this one here.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Of the presentation.
Council Chair Rapozo: You talked about a new EMS Captain. Is that in
the budget as well? Strategic initiative number 3?
Chief Westerman; Yeah that is the strategic initiative, but what we
are going end up with is a Firefighter III.
Council Chair Rapozo: Not the EMS Captain?
Chief Westerman: Not the EMS Captain, but Firefighter III and his
primary objective will be EMS.
Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i.
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Councilmember Kuali`i: Just along the lines of, it sounds like there is a
lot of activity and you have the flexibility to figure out your needs and reallocate positions.
When I look at the reallocations report, the only ones I am seeing have to do with
Firefighter Trainee and Firefighter 1, and how you allocated two positions in Koloa, two
positions in Waimea and maybe two reallocated two also in another place, and the reason
says, "to recruit at lower-level." So the Koloa and Waimea done February 1st of this year
and the other two, I do not have the date on that...prior to November 15. I am not sure
when the date is missing from this report. You are mentioning these other positions and I
am wondering if we could get a report on all of the reallocations?
Chief Westerman: Well they are not done yet. We have to wait for
the budget to be approved.
Councilmember Kuali`i: So these are newly proposed reallocations?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: But these are the one that is done?
Chief Westerman; Yes and to understand, what we hire in the Fire
Department we have to reallocate...after they are done with their training in the first-year,
we reallocate them to Firefighter 1 and they are no longer a recruit and same thing with
OSB. We were doing lifeguards and we were going to stick with the OSO I. So a lot of those
reallocations are simply because they were hired as a recruit and were promoted to the first
position.
Ms. Bettencourt: If I may correct...
Councilmember Kuali`i: We kind of jumping to the other...
Chief Westerman: They are reallocated. I am sorry.
Ms. Bettencourt: Once they obtain the required certifications and
required training and years of service at that level, then they can be reallocated higher,
which is what is standard for all of our Firefighter Trainees and our Ocean Safety Officers.
Councilmember Kuali`i: I am going to ask about those specific salaries,
but later when we get to that division.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura and Councilmember
Hooser. Follow-up, Councilmember Yukimura?
Councilmember Yukimura: I think so, but I am not sure. I mean, I just want
to understand...it is off of this conversation the reallocations from rescue...you are
reallocating from rescue two firefighters...one to it become an Assistant Chief?
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Ms. Bettencourt: No that one is Firefighter III and the other is a
Fire Prevention Inspector II. It is in the budget.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. And these are new positions in those
divisions?
Ms. Bettencourt: Fairly new.
Councilmember Yukimura: You decided you did not need the rescue
positions?
Chief Westerman: We do not need the fifth rescue position.
Councilmember Yukimura: But you are taking two rescue positions?
Chief Westerman: We are taking three, one for each battalion, those
three which is the fifth person and going back to four and reallocating them over here. So it
is 5. One on each shift, A, B, and C shifts. And the fifth position, A, B, and C shifts are
going to be reallocated to another position.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. So you are going to have more overtime
when you do not have four in that division or something?
Chief Westerman: In the rescue?
Councilmember Yukimura: Yes.
Chief Westerman: I do not think we have that much more overtime.
Because remember...we did have 30...we have 42 people assigned in that division every
day. And we have 8 people that are eligible for sick-leave, vacations, all those other things
before we get down to 4 in every station. And in some cases we can go down to three. It is
very convoluted and every single day that decision is made and supporting the department
rather than the rescue positions.
Councilmember Yukimura: So you did not really need those two positions?
Chief Westerman: Well I thought we did and as we have gone
through this with those, there is actually extra burden with that particular crew versus an
engine. Because we did both, remember in Lihu`e? We added three to the engine and we
added three to the rescue. There is a lot of extra burden in the rescue, because they do a
different task than E engine. We thought it was going to be the best way to go and it was
not the best way to go to put them to function dally basis.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I am sorry, but right now we are going to come
back to Councilmember Hooser, as soon as we get back. But now we have to take a
10-minute caption break.
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There being no objections, the Committee recessed at 10:59 a.m.
The meeting was called back to order at 11:12 a.m., and proceeded as follows:
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Welcome back. So we are going to leave...we are
going to start where we left off and Councilmember Hooser.
Councilmember Hooser: Thank you, thank you Chair. Thank you, Chief.
Again, thank you for all the work you and your Department are doing in our community. I
appreciate it. A lot of questions have been asked about positions and allocations and what
started off clear, the more questions asked got less clear and I kind of want to restate with
the new budget proposed, how many new positions that result in new bodies are included,
besides the Water Safety Officers?
Chief Westerman: None.
Councilmember Hooser: None. So the rest are reallocations which mean
that either positions or people working in other areas that will be moved to a different
responsibility or different task?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Hooser: So you are doing reallocations, but not any new
positions except for the Water Safety Officers?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Hooser: Okay, thank you very much.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Thank you. I guess, it brings me kind of back to
my point earlier. I liked the presentation on the programs that you guys are doing, but I
think you can see a lot of questions are coming towards this. If you guys are doing a lot of
reallocations or transfers it would have helped to have the presentation focused on that. We
could have probably hopefully eliminated a lot of the questions. I guess, I am going to be
sending over a formal request on a question. It is basically going to be...as Councilmember
Hooser said, the more we get into it, the more confusing it gets. I will try and break it down
as simple as possible. If we can get a breakdown of reallocations and transfers, the financial
impact to the county and the justification for them? Obviously some of the reallocations are
transfers. I do not know but you might reallocate it and the positions are a higher pay or
something like that. Just to get a clearer picture of it. Obviously, I did not put new-hires
because we know that the only new-hires are the partial Ocean Safety guys for the roving
jet skis. Any further questions on Admin.?
Councilmember Kuali`i: I just want to say thank you for that because I
had the very same written question.
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Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. If there are no further questions for the
Administration, we will move on to "Operations." Any questions in Operations?
Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura; Chief, I guess going back to a question I asked
earlier you know, your statistics and I really appreciate the way they are broken down on
page 2 of your narrative, you are showing that fire responses 3% of the calls. Emergency
medical is 72%. I do not know what the 20 other are?And maybe you can...well, maybe you
can tell us now and then I will go on to my question.
Chief Westerman: Well, there are other classified, whether public
assist, address materials, those kinds of things paid to the public.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay, okay, still 20% is pretty big and so that
requires a fire engine to go out to those calls?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: Yes. So maybe for just our edification, you can
list the variety of calls so we get some idea of what those are. That is not now. I will just do
a follow-up question. So my question is, if 72 of all responses are EMs, why is our main
mode of transportation a fire truck? I know you said we need to keep our firefighters close
to the truck, so they can respond in case there is a fire. So I guess I am asking and this is a
long-term question and not something that I expect you to have an answer to off the cuff. Is
there another way to address our issues, keep our integrity with respect to fire response,
and still not send a fire truck out every time we do an emergency medical call? And I am
recalling that you told me at Princeville at that discussion about the new urgent care
center; that you had just come from a fire department in California where they...for certain
kinds of calls they were sending out a nurse in an automobile?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: I just wondered if you could have your brilliant
team, because you have some really great thinkers on your team. I am hoping that the fire
departments around the country are looking at this, too, finding new ways of responding in
the 21st century. And tied to this is something someone told me about getting better
dispatch discrimination that is not the right way to say it. You probably have a better
term, but better dispatch capacity. So that we can discern or the dispatch can discern and
the callout can be more targeted and therefore, perhaps more cost effective. Is that
something that your department...especially as you are working on a strategic plan?
Chief Westerman: There is. That is kind of what it is in the
strategic plan. And we have looked at all of these avenues and what other fire departments
are doing. The situation we are in and that is why we are starting with just upgrading our
capabilities to the national registered EMT. All of these other departments that we have
discussed, they already have paramedics in their department. Some provide ambulance
service and some do not. They still have community partners. So they have the capacity
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already do some of the programs that we have discussed. We could get there. It is going to
take time. As we move through this slowly and that is kind of what we have identified in
the strategic plan, how do we move through this? And our first start is getting our
skill-levels up to the EMT-level.
Councilmember Yukimura: So you are then also looking at merging the EMT
services between the state and the counties?
Chief Westerman: That would be down the road.
Councilmember Yukimura: Well, there is major duplication. And if you
merged it and you had a paramedic unit, in the Fire Department, then you could have
different kinds of equipment going out to different places, right? But if you keep these two
separate entities having all of the same different overhead and different management and
all of that, it seems like the classic governmental duplication because that is the other
question I have. It is like we are having all of this response, two different systems, and fire
trucks going to emergency medicals. Somewhere there is a better system. Well, I want to
encourage a really aggressive look at this, because I do not think we...the State is hard-up
for money, counties are having a hard time. We have to find cost-effective non-duplicative
service, or there is going to be other cuts that are not appropriate. You know, there are
going to be major cuts and we do not want that either. Thank you very much.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmembers we are in Operations.
Councilmember Kagawa.
Councilmember Kagawa: Thank you Chair. You know in 2014-15, I looked
at the CAFR, and from our CPAs, we lapsed about $800,000 in Fire. Do you have any idea
what the amount and it is not a bad thing to lapse means you have leftover moneys in the
budget that was not expended in the fiscal. And so I am wondering what this year's
projected lapse?
Chief Westerman: $213,000.
Councilmember Kagawa: That we project we would have? And where is
that $213,000, majority, sitting in?
Ms. Bettencourt: Where is the majority sitting?
Chief Westerman: It is all through the budget. Some are
over-expended already. And some are under expended. It is just all through the budget.
Councilmember Kagawa: Say you had majority sitting in Operations,
hypothetical, of that overage, would you be able to transfer within the Fire Department?
Say Water Safety had a shortage, are you able to internally move those funds?
Chief Westerman: Yes we do that today. The only one we were
restricted on was salaries, if we move them out of salaries, salary to salary.
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Councilmember Kagawa: Salary to salary account.
Ms. Bettencourt: Right. You can do some salary from overtime. I
am sorry. You can...it has to be from a salary type of account to another salary type of
account. If you wanted to do, say you were short in overtime in operations, and you wanted
to transfer from...put moneys in there would have to come from another salary type of
account.
Councilmember Kagawa: I see some overlap with the Administration, in
the Battalion Chiefs and with the Operations. Because you have the Captains that
sometimes can TA, and so it seems to be a little bit of mixture where one could say that
Battalion Chiefs belong in operations.
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes, you are right.
Councilmember Kagawa: Thanks.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: So the lapsing was $213,000. Out of a budget of
$29 million? So you actually are doing like a 7%. You are doing pretty well in terms of your
budgeting, I would say. Because this is quite a bit lower than what it used to be in your
budget?
Chief Westerman: Last year, it was $600,000 last year, I believe.
Councilmember Yukimura: $600,000.
Councilmember Kagawa: $800,000, in 2014-15.
Chief Westerman: I do not recall it being that much but part of that,
year.
Councilmember Kagawa: Well the CAFR does not lie.
Chief Westerman: Well part of last year was we had $222,000 on a
lease we did not get it encumbered before the end of the fiscal year because we were having
trouble getting it so that kind of things rollover. There is not much we can do about them,
but the rest of them, we do best we can and save where we can and end up with what we
have. But you are right. I will tell you $213,000 out a $29 million is not 7%, but .07%.
Councilmember Yukimura: Oh yeah .07%. Sorry.
Chief Westerman: I will be honest with you. I do not know if I will
make it or not, because that is awfully close. Awfully close. We have been there before.
About five years ago, we were there.
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Ms. Bettencourt: Some of the reasons for the 2015 return were
that the Deputy went back to the line. So we had the salary and a Senior Account Clerk
resign and had her salary and as the Chief said, the lease payment and retirements and
resignations. And then Ocean Safety was very, very short-staffed. So that their
salaries...there were not any bodies to pay the salaries to. At one point they had like ten
vacancies that we were desperately trying to fill. A lot of it is people who left us and their
salaries.
Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: That is a great analysis, too. Those are the type
of things that will help us along through the budget. I have a question on collective
bargaining. The number went up a bunch from the prior year, and if you look at the trend
of how much it is, is it usually around $230,000? We have budgeted $329,000 last year and
only spent about $200,000 now. But we are budgeting for 25. Is there a change, a
significant change to that line item?
Ms. Bettencourt: In operations, the salaries?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: In operations, collective bargaining line item.
Ms. Bettencourt: What page, I am sorry?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Page 150. It is at the top.
Ms. Bettencourt: The new allowances per collective bargaining
negotiations, it went from $8.50 to $10 per meal, including our meal account. So that is one
of the increases.
Chief Westerman: Uniform Allowance.
Ms. Bettencourt: The uniform allowance also went up. Uniforms,
purchasing uniforms.
Chief Westerman: The uniforms also went up.
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes. And the cost of purchasing uniforms.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: And that was all based on collective bargaining.
Chief Westerman: Everything in there is collective bargaining.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: On these reallocations, and I did locate the other
two 630, well one of the other two. 630 were reallocated on 8/1/15. And it was in Lihu`e. So
they all, the two in Waimea, the two in Koloa, this one in Lihu`e, and then 631 I have not
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found, but it is the same amount. They are all budgeted for...I am assuming 631 is also. I
understand that reallocation was done at a lower-level and one said "recruit lower-level"
and another says "career progression." I guess it means the same thing. But the range was
$54,420 to $74,478. It looks like you are budgeting higher than the entry-level of the range.
Why would you do that? If it is a new position this is a trainee? Because one thing I brought
up during the salary resolution, we want to be able to give people the step increases, the
graduated increases to their pay, the raises that they deserve. And the way to ensure that
is to make sure that you start them at the starting step.
Ms. Bettencourt: I am sorry, what position number did you say?
Councilmember Kuali`i: Let us start with 756, Firefighter I in KOloa. It
was reallocated to Firefighter Trainee on February 1st. I am assuming that...and it was
budgeted...it is budgeted in the current year at $50,304. Which is...well, the range that
we have here is for Firefighter I, $54,420. But in the new budget it is budgeted at $56,784.
So if the range...and I am assuming that you are saying that the training will end by July
1st or is that the trainee pay?And for how long?
Ms. Bettencourt: It went from Firefighter Trainee to a Firefighter?
Councilmember Kuali`i: It went from Firefighter I to a Firefighter
Trainee. And the reason is to recruit at lower-level. It just seemed like it is over-budgeted
and if we need to follow-up with human resources, so that they are budgeting for what the
actual position is.
Ms. Bettencourt: It could very well be that someone else moved
into the position and firefighters, there is a range.
Councilmember Kuali`i: What do you mean by someone else moved into?
If it is a trainee, is it not an entry-level position?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes, it is. I am really not sure about that one.
Yes, maybe we need a follow-up question.
Councilmember Kuali`i: There is like six occurrences of that.
Chief Westerman: I think what is confusing is there are six of them
on a SAFER grant, so their salaries are different.
Councilmember Kuali`i: SAFER grant.
Chief Westerman: Yes. They are on SAFER until April. So their
salary would be now in the new year, the base salary 100%. So that is the $56,740.
Councilmember Kuali`i: So the SAFER.
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Chief Westerman: I would have to verify, but it might be what you
are talking about.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Back to the range right? If that is the range of
the position.
Chief Westerman: No that is not the range. It is just that some of
the salaries are being paid for by SAFER.
Councilmember Kuali`i: I want to follow-up.
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes. I think that might be a better way to answer
you.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: So in your Fire Operations, how many...well,
how many are covered by your salaries, number of firefighters?
Ms. Bettencourt: How many positions are covered?
Councilmember Yukimura: Yes.
Ms. Bettencourt: In the new budget, all of them will be...you want
the number of positions themselves?
Councilmember Yukimura: No, just number of bodies covered by this "Fire
Operations" budget?
Chief Westerman: 130. 120? 120.
Councilmember Yukimura: It is 120?
Chief Westerman: Yes. 15 per station, 8 stations that is 120.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Thank you. So the $2.1 million in overtime
is what covers these employees?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. If I add up rank-for-rank, premium pay,
and regular overtime.
Chief Westerman: Yes.
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Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmembers? I have a question on the
equipment line item. It is on page 151, equipment. We have treadmills, stationary bikes.
Are you replacing equipment that is broken?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Is this something that is required to have in a
fire station?
Chief Westerman: It is part of our wellness and fitness program and
yes, we are replacing about a third of what is broken or extremely worn. We have gone
through a repair cycle, a couple of repair cycles and now it is to the point that they need to
be replaced.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: With the wellness and fitness training do we get
grant money for that type of equipment in there? Or is it just for peace of mind?
Chief Westerman; Not currently, but we did get a donation from the
YMCA about a year ago for three units, I believe. We took three units of theirs. So we
accept donations for replacements.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Not to be a stickler, but I know for me, when
budgets get tight, do we need a treadmill in every fire station? It would seem more like a
want than a need at some point, if the budget gets really tight. Any more questions from
the councilmembers in operations? For the lease line item the expenses gone down. Is the
lease line item is that part of the vehicle replacement schedule?
Chief Westerman: Yes, that one was.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Sorry.
Chief Westerman: It has gone from zero to original budget to zero.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Sorry. I have it written down for the wrong
department. But it is zero. Looks like we encumbered some money last year but all of your
vehicles and equipment replacement are on a scheduled cycle, right? You have a scheduled
for them?
Chief Westerman: Yes. And so you know, we did cancel one in this
coming budget. One of the leases that expired that we were going to replace engine 3 with,
in order to help save money in this budget, we put it off for another year. So it will show
back up in the `18 budget. So again, realizing that the budget is short, we figured we can
get one more year out of that engine, especially since we got the grant for in station 4. We
can move that engine, and it is a little bit younger than 3.
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Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Were you anticipating spending on another
engine in the next year or that year was not going to have anything so you were able to
bump it and not affect the finances?
Chief Westerman: We intended to purchase an engine. But like I
said, because we were successful with the grant, then we could bump that one more year,
and we can move the engine from K6loa and get one more year out of that other engine. We
have been trying to use grants effectively as we can. Again, like Councilmember Kagawa
said, we get very little grants where we can do salaries. Most of them are for big-ticket
equipment items and really helps reduce the cost in our budget.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I remember us getting that grant for the fire
truck. As I talked to the auto maintenance guys, if we can try to level out our leased
amount of equipment and have a schedule that we were purchasing or leasing a certain
amount of equipment every year, according to a schedule. So we do not get these big spikes.
Where one year we need four fire trucks and the next two years we do not need anything
and get another spike for more fire trucks. It helps level it out and helps budgeting wise,
we do not get the spikes. I know you have a lot of pressure to keep your budget level or
down anyway. But that spike will really affect other budget.
Chief Westerman: I could not agree with you more.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Follow-ups? Councilmember Yukimura?
Councilmember Yukimura: It may not be in the division, but the principle
just discussed applies under your narrative where you talk about challenge and you say
major reductions in grant funding will affect your budgets going forward. You are asking
for 50 automated external defibrillators at $250,000. Another 50 self-contained breathing
aspirations at $385,000 and 144 sets of firefighter turnout gear at $323,000. Which is
$1.2....that is a big chunk. Is there not somewhere where we can do a replacement schedule
that is more gradual?
Chief Westerman: Good question. When we first worked on
submission of the budget, one of the things was to do just that with the AEDs by a certain
amount this year and certain amount next year, because it is significant. A grant became
available, so we applied for the grant and we were not going to know until probably after
the budget session is over. So the AEDs are not going to be in the budget. We were also
hoping two other grants, one would take care of the CSBAs and one would take care of the
turnout gear and we since heard it is not happening. So back to your comment about grants
are harder to come by. And even though we struggle and our attempt to get grants every
day. I have a grant committee that works very hard at getting grants and I think it reflects
in our budget, in our presentation about how much grants we have gotten over the years.
But when they go away, we did now have to pay for things out of the budget. Can they all
be done? SCBAs, no. SCBAs are a compliment on the engine and cannot have different
models and that is 100% compliment replacement. Turnout gear, we could probably do a
number of turnout gear and number of turnout gear. But then the problem is the lifecycles
are all kind of screwed up. We have another set coming up on lifecycle and we do not want
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to get too much out of lifecycle. Does that make sense? It is one of those. As I said, in the
past we replaced both of those on grant. So both of those sets that we have now were both
replace by grants in the past. And the grant opportunities for those are no longer here. We
are now stuck with looking forward in the budget, but we are still hoping for the AEDs.
Councilmember Yukimura: So the lifecycle of these things, even though there
are certain rules after so many years you just have to get rid of them, because you cannot
trust them to work, is that it?
Chief Westerman: And the cost of repair. An example is the turnout
gear. Because they are going on ten years, actually most are 10 years and we are having
them repaired, cleaned, and inspected and certified for use. And we were spending
$350-$450 per turnout cost and we can buy a new one for $650. At some point in time the
cost to repair it is just not worth the cost of replacement. The SCBAs as an example if one
of the valves is going bad it is about $2,000, so just the one piece of repair which seems to be
the one failing more because of age is very costly. So we are at the point where it is cheaper
to buy new and get ten years of longevity out of it then to continue to replace.
Councilmember Yukimura: So as you look at the grant landscape, or you
have applied for, AED is possible?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: But the other two categories, the self-contained
breathing SCBAs and turnout gear are things that you see as things needed in this budget?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i:
Councilmember Kuali`i: Besides the Deputy Fire Chief as vacant, you
have a position 671, Fire Captain in Koloa, just vacant now since 2/20/16.
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: What is the status? Are you in recruitment? Do
you expect to fill within 1-3 months?
Chief Westerman: Yes. We actually have interviews tomorrow.
Councilmember Kuali`i: So in the interviews tomorrow...in the vacancy
review report it lists the current annual salary range as $74,000 all the way to $101,000.
In the current budget it has $93,000. So now in the new budget it has $99,000. The
position is vacant. So somebody got promoted, or left?
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Chief Westerman: Retired.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Retired. And so somebody from another, like
firefighter III will probably get promoted into this? So why is the range so wide $74,000 to
$101,000? Because it is likely that a Firefighter III, who is getting maybe I do not know,
something like more than the lower end of the range, you could not promote them into this
new position with the beginning of the range? Because they are already making more,
correct?
Chief Westerman: Yes, that is correct.
Councilmember Kuali`i: So the range is not really realistic, the low-end of
the range. Do you ever hire somebody into...because somebody is not going to be hired
outside?
Ms. Bettencourt: No. It depends on where the individual is, who is
promoted, where they are at their current range, and when they get promoted. Yes, it may
not be a correct number there, but you never know who is going to go into the position.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Right. So you are kind of like budgeting enough?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Because it also does represent like a 6.5%
increase but you do not know. You do not know who is going to be recruited. So you are
trying to accommodate...but that $99,000 is a lot higher than the firefighter 3 current
salary, right?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Because they are like $78,000, $87,000. So what
is the justification for picking that amount? If you know that the highest paid 3 and if you
are intending to...
Ms. Bettencourt: It would be somewhere within that and not
necessarily the highest, but somewhere around that area, I would think.
Councilmember Kuali`i: But the $99,000 is high.
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Too high, actually it should be adjusted down
next.
Ms. Bettencourt: Well if we are looking at the fact that they are
getting a pay raise in this upcoming fiscal year, then it is not really unreasonable and not
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really something that is not possible. Because in July they do get a pay increase which will
bump everyone up.
Councilmember Kuali`i: By $10,000?
Ms. Bettencourt: If we are looking at an SR-21, the highest is
going to be in July $91,000 a year.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. So $91,000, but the budget is $99,000.
Ms. Bettencourt: If they are going to a Fire Captain.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Yes.
Ms. Bettencourt: So the Fire Captain, the high and the low is
$78,000 as of July 1st. And high is going to be $107,000.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Right.
Ms. Bettencourt: So the $99,000 is somebody not quite at the end
of the spectrum, but maybe two pay ranges.
Councilmember Kuali`i: But it is more than halfway?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: From $78,000 to $107,000, $99,000. So this is
another opportunity to give somebody obviously a significant increase because it is a
promotion, but to also leave room for growth in the future.
Chief Westerman: No, no, no. They do not get paid that $99,000.
They only get paid what they would be on the salary scale. They might only get paid
$91,000. Just because this says it is $99,000 does not mean that that is what that person is
going to get paid. They are going to get paid wherever they fall in the range.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Right.
Chief Westerman: But the range could put them all way up to
$100,000. If they are a senior firefighter 3 and got promoted, they actually could get paid
more than $99,000. They are going to get paid wherever they fall on the scale as a Captain.
Does that make sense? Actually this $99,223 is a guess. Because we do not know who is
getting promoted. If it is a senior firefighter 3 with 25 years already he could be on the very
far end of the scale. Whereas if a junior Firefighter III that gest promoted, he is on the
other side of the scale. It is kind of a guess when you are filling a promotion like that.
Maybe it might end up being $99,223, I am not sure, but it is kind of a guess.
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Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions for operations? We can
move on to prevention. Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: The other vacant position is in Hanapepe. 716-
-Fire Captain III. So, vacant since August 1st, 2015 dollar-funded in the current year and
proposed to be dollar-funded in the future year. Is that correct?
Chief Westerman: The Firefighter III?
Ms. Bettencourt: Fire Captain.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Firefighter III.
Chief Westerman: The Firefighter III.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Firefighter III-716. It is dollar-funded. So you
would not be recruiting?
Chief Westerman: That position actually got filled effective April.
We moved the Firefighter III.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Do you see the bottom of page 110, on the top or
146 on the bottom?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Can you tell me what actually happened?
Chief Westerman: That firefighter we just—we just—we just...
Councilmember Kuali`i: Just filled it?
Chief Westerman: Well we did not fill it, but moved firefighter 3
from training out to Hanapepe. So his salary will transfer there after we do that.
Councilmember Kuali`i: So that is one of the trainees moving there and
the salary transfers. So it will not be a dollar-funded position going forward.
Chief Westerman: No.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Would the position that person coming out of?
Chief Westerman: Yes, the salary will transfer.
Councilmember Kuali`i: The salary will come here to Hanapepe, but
where the salary is coming from is the position remaining dollar-funded?
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Chief Westerman: No.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Is it a trainee position?
Chief Westerman: No, it is in training. It is in the training bureau.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Oh okay, same position?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We are moving on to "Prevention." Any questions
for Prevention? Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: I want to say that again, I am really impressed
how the prevention program is reaching out more, and thinking more not only of Fire
Prevention, but other ways to prevent accidents and injury. I do have a question about our
business support such as Ray Blouin testified at the beginning. I see the value of that
service that we are offering. And is it something that the private sector can provide?
DARYL DATE, CAPTAIN, FIRE PREVENTION BUREAU: Good morning,
Councilmembers, Darryl Date, Captain Fire Prevention Bureau. What Mr. Blouin was
talking about was when we go out and do inspections, we like to educate the tenants or
owners of fire prevention and tell them exactly what we are looking for and the reasons
behind it. And this has come about because the other year we made a really big push to
increase our business inspections on the island. We found that most of the people we were
speaking to had no idea what we are looking for. As far as to answer your question,
someone from the private sector would have to have the expertise and knowledge and
experience that we have in order to communicate the right messages.
Councilmember Yukimura: What about retired firefighters? I mean, I am
just thinking someone could actually start a business, and insurance companies should pay
for it, you know? And you would still do your inspections. I do not think private sector can
really do the inspections, but in terms of cost-effectiveness, timewise and everything, I
think you could actually create a business to advise people, especially if they are coming up
with inspection...I do not know, they need to get a certification or something? But it was
just a question, just because inspections take a certain amount of time. Education takes
another amount of time. I guess I do not believe in government doing something that the
private sector can easily provide in the form of business. So I just wondered whether there
was any private sector business that was looking into this.
Mr. Date: I am not sure. But when we do conduct the
inspections, we have a member from the business accompany us on the walk-through. That
is when we educate them when we are walk through and finding things.
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Councilmember Yukimura: It sounds like Mr. Blouin was very appreciative
of that and I can see the value of that, just wondered. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kagawa.
Councilmember Kagawa: Yes, looking at this, looking at the overtime line,
and so about $40,000 for fire safety trailer, and another $35,000 for school appearances for
the fire safety trailer. How is that overtime incurred again?
Mr. Date: When we bring out the fire safety trailer out to
community events, and to the schools, we have members from operations man the trailer
and run the kids and adults through it. That is where the overtime is going.
Councilmember Kaneshiro: So the people in Prevention, they have regular
hours of work 8-4:30.
Mr. Date: Monday through Friday, 40-hour workweek.
Councilmember Kagawa: So how would they incur holiday pay? Overtime?
Because regular county workers we all have regular holidays scheduled off. It is only
$5,000, but why would we need that?
Ms. Bettencourt: If they were to go to a public event on a holiday.
Councilmember Kagawa: Okay.
Ms. Bettencourt: It would be considered holiday pay by collective
bargaining.
Councilmember Kagawa: Thank you. It is kind of frustrating, like, to see
all the overtime and under everyone it is CBA, collective bargaining, collective bargaining.
The fact of the matter is that we have to either take money from somewhere else, or raise
taxes. And it is kind of difficult for us...I just read an article on governing.com and the city
of San Jose gave pink slips to 49 employees, Jacksonville, Florida as well. I mean, it is
coming to the point where we have got to either get solutions from you guys, or we have to
drastically tax the public or issue pink slips. It is getting to the point where Fire and Police
have gotten out of hand with the salaries and overtimes. I do not know what we are going to
do. We are either going to work together or I do not know. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Council Chair Rapozo:
Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. The business inspections, the new
fire code that we are updating is going to allow us to collect some fees right?
Mr. Date: Not on our regular periodic business inspections.
It is more for new development inspections.
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Council Chair Rapozo: Right. So like Mr. Blouin was talking about the
inspections you do for him that is free?
Mr. Date: For his one, they did reconstruction work at that
hotel. So that would entail some of the inspections that I would create a fee for.
Council Chair Rapozo: How rare, or uncommon is for counties or cities
or municipalities to charge the business sector for those inspections? Because they require
those inspections and they can be provided by the public, right? Private business can do
inspections. I am not saying that they do it to the level of the Fire Department, but as far as
the requirements, they can do it through a private business, maybe not on Kauai, but in
some jurisdictions the private sector can do those inspections or not?
Mr. Date: I have not heard of any private sector doing the
business inspections in lieu of the county or city government. But I know of departments
throughout the nation that do charge businesses to do the inspections.
Council Chair Rapozo: That would entail just an ordinance, right?
Mr. Date: Yes.
Council Chair Rapozo: Well that is something that we have got to
explore. Because I appreciate Mr. Blouin coming and yes, that is why he is here, because he
does not pay. Businesses do not pay. And they require those inspections to get the permits,
correct?
Mr. Date: Yes.
Council Chair Rapozo: And those permits are worth quite a bit of
money. So like Ross said, we have to find some way to pay for the services we provide. And
one of the things that I guess I will not get into that today, the TAT. I do not know...I have
not seen much testimony from the private sector hotels or anyone else, or even from the fire
union/police union for that matter, supporting that, more money, and yet, the recipients of
those funds would be public safety. So that is something that I think...I do not know if the
union guys are here, but something that I would like to see before it is too late. They meet
tomorrow to vote. Get on the phone and start calling people and saying support more
money. Because we cannot provide those services for free. And I do not think the taxpayers
should be paying you folks to go do an inspection for a hotel or resort to get a permit. That
is just my personal opinion. I will definitely work with you to see what the other
jurisdictions are charging and see if we can get an ordinance introduced. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: So you mentioned that the holiday pay was for
when our firefighters are working on holidays. So it would not be for kids, because they are
not in school on holidays, right?
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Ms. Bettencourt: Right.
Councilmember Yukimura: So what type of holiday work do we do?
Ms. Bettencourt: 4th of July and New Year's.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay.
Chief Westerman: 4th of July.
Councilmember Yukimura: Is the main one?
Ms. Bettencourt: The main one is 4th of July.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay.
Chief Westerman: People do firework shows not just on the 4th of
July and New Year's, they do firework shows all the time and requires our guys to do
inspections especially if the shows are very large. It could be on a holiday. It could be one of
our holidays and they are not used to it. That is just mostly where that comes from.
Councilmember Yukimura: Where a business puts it on, that would make
sense to charge. Maybe we can add that to the fee schedule?
Mr. Date: When there is a public fireworks display, there is
a inspector's fee that the fireworks company pays the local county, in the sum of$200.
Councilmember Yukimura: So is that covering our cost? It is an inspector's
fee for fireworks?
Mr. Date: For public display shows.
Councilmember Yukimura: Ah. Does that cover our costs?
Mr. Date: Depends on how many inspectors are sent to the
show.
Councilmember Yukimura: Depending on how big the show is?
Mr. Date: Yes, and for them to get the exposure, because
we do not have too many fireworks shows on the island compared to the other islands. It is
kind of a turnaround in my bureau as well with new inspectors who constantly need new
training and the exposure to the shows always helps.
Councilmember Yukimura: We can still charge for it, though, it is still a
service, right?
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Mr. Date: Well in the H.R.S., the companies are required to
charge $200.00 and nothing more.
Councilmember Yukimura: Is it an H.R.S. provision, and does it prohibit any
other charges?
Mr. Date: It just states $200 for inspector's fee.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. We can be creative and think of some
other rationale, all right. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions from the Members?
Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: So I found 631, position 631. Here it says,
"Fire Prevention Inspector II converted from Firefighter I." And HR's reallocation report it
talks about the reallocation from Firefighter I to Firefighter Trainee, but you do not see
anything that talks about back to Firefighter I and then to Fire Prevention Inspector II.
You referred to this as position change, Fire Prevention Inspector II previously I. So there
was a Fire Prevention Inspector I. And there was a Firefighter I. It is two separate
positions. What do you mean by"converted?" Is that the same as re-class and reallocate?
Chief Westerman: Reallocation yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Where did the Firefighter I come from?
Chief Westerman: That is the Lihu`e rescue firefighter.
Councilmember Kuali`i: The Lihu'e. And it keeps the same job number
the whole time, 631?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes, the position number remains the same.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Even though the position changes completely?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Everything changes.
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes. The job duties can change.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Salary changes and everything.
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes.
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Councilmember Kuali`i: So why is this not Fire Prevention Inspector I?
Why is it a II? Because it is almost like you did two changes at once. You went from a
Firefighter Ito a Fire Inspector I and made it a II. You are saying it used to be a I.
Chief Westerman: That is the name of the class.
Councilmember Kuali`i: We no longer have I's.
Chief Westerman: We do not have Fire Prevention Inspector I
right?
Ms. Bettencourt: The Firefighter IIIs, in Prevention, their working
titles are Fire Prevention Inspector I. This is a lower level than the Fire Prevention
Inspector II.
Councilmember Kuali`i: And it is not in this division?
Ms. Bettencourt: In Prevention it is 799-798 Firefighter III.
Councilmember Kuali`i: And the need is for this to be a Fire Prevention
Inspector II at the $83,480 salary level?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: That level is what you are proposing?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions for Prevention?
Councilmember Yukimura?
Councilmember Yukimura: You show rank-for-rank going from
$21,000 to $61,000. Why is there such a big increase?
Ms. Bettencourt: The number of hours of rank-for-rank that they
are entitled to went way up to 244.
Councilmember Yukimura: 244?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes per year, per person.
Councilmember Yukimura: From what to what? How many years?
Ms. Bettencourt: I believe it was...it may have been six, four or
six. I am not sure.
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Councilmember Yukimura: It was 4 to 6 hours and went up to 244.
Ms. Bettencourt: It was 4 or 6 so they are entitled to 12 shifts at
24 hours per shift, which is supposed to come out to 244.
Chief Westerman: It went from 144 to 244 hours. 122 to 244 hours.
Councilmember Yukimura; It doubled almost. But I thought Prevention was
not on shifts?
Ms. Bettencourt: They are not.
Chief Westerman: They are ranked personnel and they work on the
line as ranked personnel.
Councilmember Yukimura: I do not get it. Sorry.
Chief Westerman: Rank-for-rank is entitled to all rank firefighters.
Ranked firefighters are Firefighters II and up.
Councilmember Yukimura: So they go on the line from their Prevention job?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: And you get an overtime person in Prevention?
Chief Westerman: No.
Mr. Date: No we are allowed to do it on the weekends.
Chief Westerman: On the weekends.
Mr. Date: And that is it. Not weekdays.
Councilmember Yukimura: I see. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions for Prevention? We are
going to move on.
Councilmember Yukimura: I have one more question in Operations.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: You want to go back?
Councilmember Yukimura: It just, actually relates to your question about
workout equipment. Are there fitness requirements that firefighters have to maintain?
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Ms. Bettencourt: There is a physical abilities listing of tasks that
they have to be able to perform, including dragging hoses and carrying up to 100 something
pounds and running and swimming and all of that. So there is a value to having the
equipment for them to stay in shape.
Councilmember Yukimura: Well that is why I asked the question, because if
we have a requirement, I can understand that.
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: But do we test and hold people accountable to a
fitness-level? I believe the police are doing that now.
Chief Westerman: That is part of our wellness and fitness program.
We measure them every two years on their ability to maintain all of their level of fitness.
Councilmember Yukimura: If they are not able to maintain, is there...then
what happens?
Chief Westerman: Well we have not had anyone who has not been
able to maintain yet.
Councilmember Yukimura: That is great.
Chief Westerman: We would put them on some kind of plan in order
to get their recovery back up.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay.
Chief Westerman: The same if they go out for injury. We would
work them back up.
Councilmember Yukimura: Their capacity back up.
Chief Westerman: Their capacity back up.
Councilmember Yukimura: Well I am impressed if you have not had anybody
who has not had...
Chief Westerman: Of course I do not participate, so let us qualify
that. Although Chief Perry could probably do all the ones for Police.
Councilmember Yukimura: Well you are not the one that carries the hose
though Chief?
Chief Westerman: No I am not the one that carries the hose.
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Councilmember Yukimura: But in terms of all your rank and file, that have
to go out to fires, they are required to maintain a certain standard of fitness.
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: Which is tested every two years and you have
had full compliance?
Chief Westerman: Yes. We also do an annual physical; the cost for
physical is in there, annual physical that you cannot catch just doing a physical agility test.
Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you very much.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We are going to move on to "Training." Any
questions for Training? I have a question. Did we add two positions or reassign...reallocate
two positions to Training?
Ms. Bettencourt: We reallocated one.
Council Chair Rapozo: I have a question.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Council Chair Rapozo.
Council Chair Rapozo: So what happens to that Firefighter III position?
That came from where, Operations? That you converted— I am sorry, Firefighter I.
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Council Chair Rapozo: That came from Operations?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Council Chair Rapozo: So how do you deal...
Chief Westerman: That was one of the three from Operations.
Council Chair Rapozo: Huh?
Chief Westerman: That was one of the three from Operations.
Council Chair Rapozo: Right, this one here?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Council Chair Rapozo: So how do we deal with that now that we are one
short right from Operations?
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Chief Westerman: That is the rescue crew I talked about earlier. It
is a four-person crew. It is not a five-person engine company. So we moved it back to a
four-person rescue crew.
Council Chair Rapozo: So you are okay?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Council Chair Rapozo: Manpower wise?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Council Chair Rapozo: So we do not need to come back with a new
position to make-up for the one that went to training?
Chief Westerman: No.
Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you.
Councilmember Yukimura: Follow-up.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: If you do not have the five, the chances that you
do not make the four on a regular basis, which is what your goal is.
Chief Westerman: Right.
Councilmember Yukimura: Than you will have more overtime in the area.
Chief Westerman: The example in Lihu`e, there is an engine
company there. So if they were one short, someone from the engine company would move
over to the rescue crew. Then they are four and four. Again, the movement of people
happens every day. Whether they are gone from...
Councilmember Yukimura: But you just took two from the rescue crew.
Chief Westerman: There are only four and there can be three.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay.
Chief Westerman: We stabilize them 4-4 if we can on a given day.
Councilmember Yukimura: May I?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We have a follow-up question.
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Councilmember Yukimura: Go ahead.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kagawa.
Councilmember Kagawa: Are we on overtime; right? No?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We are on the regular salaries. You can go
ahead.
Councilmember Kagawa: So looking at all these breakdowns of different
overtime by training or different training programs. Are these overtimes for the 3
employees under "training," or is all of this overtime for the people in operations?
MIKE SCOVEL, FIRE, TRAINING CAPTAIN: People in operations, the
whole department.
Councilmember Kagawa: The whole department?
Mr. Scovel: Yes.
Councilmember Kagawa: So I mean, again, Councilmember Yukimura
pointed out that the numbers, the $10 million is overall firefighter budget and when you
add all of the $2.1 million, so that is 20.1% of the salaries is added in overtime. You also
have to add more overtime from these, if you want the true number, right?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes.
Councilmember Kagawa: I just wanted to make sure that the $300,000 is
more overtime for the operations.
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes.
Councilmember Kagawa: Okay. Thanks.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I think we asked this last year. That is because
the training cannot happen during the regular work hours?
Mr. Scovel: Yes.
Chief Westerman: We do, do some training during the regular
shifts, but these are ones that you cannot do during regular shifts.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: First of all, I want to say that I really want to
acknowledge how critical training is, and also, how I feel based on what I know, how
well-done it is. In your department it is so critical that people are well-trained and kind of
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unpredictable things that they are called to do, show that the training is well-done. Thank
you for that. Do you have training goals for this year?
Mr. Scovel: Mike Scovel, Training Captain. We have to
maintain annually and we try to complete those in a timely manner. Our training goals, we
are trying to improve our ems section, by adding more EMT's. And we are trying to come up
with at least one class a year, hopefully two.
Councilmember Yukimura: I would love to see that kind of goal, one class
more per year, whatever it is. Or so many people trained in EMT in one year in this coming
year. That tells us what your training budget is going to be doing or trying to accomplish. I
mean, I would love to see that in every division. Right, because if you do not set out goals or
you will not meet them or the chances are less likely. So we might send a follow-up, and I
am glad to hear that. My other question is given that fire is 3% of your responses and EMT
is 72%, does your training budget reflect that...
Mr. Scovel: It is starting to. It is a slow process and it is a
long process.
Councilmember Yukimura: Right.
Mr. Scovel: So we are slowly adding as we move forward. We
have gotten a lot of grant money to run our first EMT class is through grant moneys so far
and we have one more and rest we will have to add that to our budget.
Councilmember Yukimura: So again, it is about the end in mind. If we are
then putting a lot of money into becoming the EMT agency that we are being called to be,
and we are talking about TAT moneys from the state, and the burden on the taxpayers. It
gets harder and harder to justify that there is no real integration of state and county
emergency medical services. So all of the training that we are doing there has to be an end
in mind for this in terms of how emergency medical services in the 21st century on Kaua`i is
going to be, and I guess, I just want to reinforce that we need to have that and I presume
we are going to work with the state in doing that. At some point, there going to be a
proposal, but we cannot keep funding two separate operations, I do not think. Thank you
very much.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions for training?
Councilmember Chock.
Councilmember Chock: Thank you. For the Medical Director, I noticed
that it came online...I know we always had a Medical Director, but the budgeted item since
last year went up $10,000. So is that just an ongoing expense in other services that will
continue and is it for oversight specifically for ADA compliance certification?
Chief Westerman: It is part of that, and part for the EMT program
both and yes, because of a new contract with the Medical Director, that the increase this
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year because we only funded it part of last year, knowing that we would not have the
Medical Director for the full-year and that is currently the contract cost.
Councilmember Chock: In moving forward, we are expecting to see a
$25,000 line item for that position?
Chief Westerman: Yes.
Councilmember Chock: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: That Medical Director's function is AED
compliance?
Chief Westerman: That is part of it. The Medical Director also now
with the EMT program helps us set protocol and the Medical Director actually authorizes
us to what level of EMT service we can provide? And then they are the medical authority.
In other words, they tell us how we can go and where the EMTs and paramedics have to
take over from there and it is their responsibility to make sure we are in compliance. She
also monitors our training and she monitors our CME to make sure we are in compliance.
Then she also does things like review our AED, that part of it. She reviews our AED cards,
she takes a look at the call and comes and tells us that we could have done something here,
these were all the positive things in it and going forward to continue to do this. She was
very helpful in the hands-on CPR and moving that forward with the department and
making sure that we got qualified.
Councilmember Yukimura: I presume that is what the state service also has,
they have a Medical Director too?
Chief Westerman: Oh yes. Every fire department and every medical
service in the state has their own Medical Director.
Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you.
Chief Westerman: In some cases it is the same person.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions for training? If not we are
going to move on to our final division which is Water and Ocean Safety. We have about a
little over 10 minutes left before lunch. If we can try to keep our questions quick, I would
like to get done with Fire prior to lunch. Councilmember Kagawa.
Councilmember Kagawa: I have just one short question. Does the pay for
the salaries of all the Water Safety Officers reflect the unit...current bill for the Unit 14
that is before us?
Ms. Bettencourt: No it does not.
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Councilmember Kagawa: It does not. So do you have those changes that we
can see what would be the increases? Just projected? We have got to anticipate?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes, Human Resources did work on something.
And I worked on something, but I do not know if it is available.
Councilmember Kagawa: This is our request. If we can have the updated
numbers should it go through, just so we can all brace for it. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions from the Members? Council
Chair.
Council Chair Rapozo: Just a follow-up. Is there a ballpark figure?
Percentage? I know Mr. Barreira provided one...is that the one? I know I was talking to a
couple of my colleagues in the break that Maui is seeing a 47% increase in the cost with the
contract. I do not know Kaua'i's. I think it is a lot less and according to the Maui Chair, it
has something to do with the Jet Skis for some reason I am not sure, but I was curious to
find out what impact that would be for Kaua'i?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yeah the Jet Skis are already incorporated into
our budget.
Council Chair Rapozo: Okay. And it was not for Maui?
Chief Westerman: And it is something new for Maui.
Council Chair Rapozo: Okay, so theirs is 47% with just the transition.
Ms. Bettencourt: I would not doubt it.
Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kagawa.
Councilmember Kagawa: I had a follow-up. I know that because HGEA
agent had asked what the status of the Council was and I have never known any council to
deny any negotiated, so I said I did not see any problems and he said are you sure?Because
it is substantially large, I think. It is what it is. So he said that it is a big increase. That is
why I wanted to see those numbers. Because I do not think any Council has denied the pay
increases that were negotiated.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali'i: So in essence the creation of Bargaining Unit 14
will impact all of the Ocean Safety Officers? There are ls, 2s, there is 3s and 4s, right?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes.
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Councilmember Kuali`i: So in that reallocation report from Human
Resources, in November, it looks like they are addressing the is already from position 740
all the way through position 1046. These are all Ocean Safety Officers 1; that used to be
lifeguards. So they have reallocated, done them all as reallocated with effective date
September 1, 2015 and in the reason for reallocation for most of them, it has "creation of
Bargaining Unit 14."
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: So, those would be budgeted for already, because
HR had them?
Ms. Bettencourt: No, the position classification or title changes
from Lifeguard to Ocean Safety are in here. But the pay that...the pay increases that come
about because of the creation of Unit 14 is not in here yet.
Councilmember Kuali`i: So they created the reallocation and gave them a
different pay, just something higher, but when the Bargaining Unit 14 is passed, if it
passes, there is another raise. So these figures will all be higher for July 1st?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: And you will probably come back when you
know?
Ms. Bettencourt: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: First of all, congratulations on getting this new
collective bargaining unit. As I think Dr. Downs knows, I really thought it was important
so now as you just said, it is not reflected in the individual salaries. Can you just tell me
what the total bill is?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: They are going to...Councilmember Kagawa
requested that. They are going to send that over.
Councilmember Yukimura: You do not know the total bill?
Ms. Bettencourt: Off the top of my head, no.
Councilmember Yukimura: The Administration does not know?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: They will get it to us.
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Councilmember Yukimura: Okay.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions?
Councilmember Yukimura: Yes. And on these new unit/units that you are
creating, can you explain again how it will work? This roving...what do you call it?
Chief Westerman: Roving Jet Ski patrol.
Councilmember Yukimura: Roving Jet Ski Patrol.
Mr. Vierra: Kalani Vierra, Ocean Safety Bureau. At this
present time, we have three (3) Jet Skis in operation daily. And it is attached to a specific
tower. By creating this roving patrol unit, our plan is to remove the Jet Ski from the
particular tower and make it a mobile unit. So they can patrol at different areas that we do
not have a lifeguard tower. Like for example, like the north shore we have four lifeguard
towers, one at Ke`e, one in Ha`ena and two in Hanalei Bay area. Majority of our rescues are
at other beaches like at Queen's Bath for example, Lumaha`i, Kalihiwai, `Mini and Secret
Beach, as we have been having these past few months. A lot of rescues are all at these
different areas. So with the roving patrol unit, the guys on the truck or by water can be
patrolling these areas that that is kind of the hotspots during the winter season. Will they
be able to save everybody? I am not sure, but they will showing their presence there at
certain times of the day, twice a day, maybe three times a day, maybe all day, all depends
on the circumstances. They will be utilizing their equipment and resources and going to
these particular beaches. So that is kind of the plan that we have to expand the services to
different locations.
Councilmember Yukimura: So have you done analyses of where is the
greatest frequency of jets ski patrol-needed rescues?
Mr. Vierra: Yes. So all of the rescues that we participate in,
we do create all our information and we look at that.
Councilmember Yukimura: Good.
Mr. Vierra: Like the names that I just mentioned, Anini
Beach is one of the hotspots on the north shore. Queen's bath is another hotspot. Lumaha`i
is kind of the three hotspots on the north shore. On the south district, Shipwrecks is one of
the hot spots. Lawa`i Beach Resort we have been responding to numerous calls. In the east
district, Kalapaki has had a lot of calls at Kalapaki, that we do not have a presence there.
And Marine Camp on the eastside is all areas that we respond to, that we do not have
lifeguard towers. That is kind of the areas that we want to concentrate with our mobile
units.
Councilmember Yukimura: Have you mapped these? You know, in terms of
intensity of need?
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Mr. Vierra: Yes. In our office we have a big map on our wall
and we have been pinpointing and making our geographical aerials on where we want the
response mobile unit to be going, depending on the response times.
Councilmember Yukimura: Do the three (3) regions that you have
configured, do they fit the maps?
Mr. Vierra: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: They do.
Mr. Vierra: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: Are you thinking that this roving patrol would be
constantly roving?
Mr. Vierra: That is kind of our plan.
Councilmember Yukimura: What kind of gas bill are you anticipating?
Mr. Vierra: Like I said, every day is going to be a little
different. Some days they might be stationed at `Anini Beach for the whole day.
Councilmember Yukimura; Because of the wave action or whatever?
Mr. Vierra: Yes, so each day will be a little different. Each
beach that they visit, they might stay for a period of time, instead of stopping, looking, and
going. It is going to be...
Councilmember Yukimura: I mean, what is the cost?
Mr. Vierra: For the 6 positions, I think we have...
Councilmember Yukimura: What is the total cost for gas, for whatever?
Chief Westerman: We have not estimated gas.
Councilmember Yukimura: I think you need to, if you are proposing it.
Chief Westerman: We do not know what kind of miles we are going
to travel. We were already traveling miles with the Jet Ski and we do not know what the
additional miles will be yet...
Councilmember Yukimura: I guess I might be more in favor of a pilot project
in one (1) area, to see how it works. I also am kind of thinking this is perfect TAT money
support, and if we get more TAT, because I do not know...are our victims local or are they
visitors?
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Chief Westerman: The rescue count has not changed. It is mostly
visitors, male 55 to 62.
Councilmember Yukimura: Right.
Chief Westerman: We have done a pilot program for the last couple
of years, mostly out of the North Shore, roving the jet ski out of the North Shore.
Councilmember Yukimura: Then you would have some gasoline consumption
figures.
Chief Westerman: Our gas consumption did not go up that much
that it was not even noticeable on the budget.
Councilmember Yukimura: So you are saying there would not be much
budget?
Mr. Vierra: Let me clarify. We have provided a pilot
program. We tried to do the pilot program on Wednesdays when we have most our staff
working so we could pull staff off the beach without using overtime. Once somebody calls in
sick or takes off or on vacation, we cannot utilize the pilot program because of our staff. If
you did the pilot program with the additional staff for one area, we could get a lot of good
data, right?
Councilmember Yukimura: But if you did a pilot program with this
additional staff for one area than we could get a lot of good data.
Mr. Vierra: Sure.
Councilmember Yukimura: And in fact your positions are to make sure we
would not be caught without staff where you need it, right?
Mr. Vierra: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. That is good planning. And then you could
test the gas situation or any other kind of thing.
Mr. Vierra: Sure. We could even come up with an estimated
cost of patrolling the north district 30 miles a day, times so many gallons every day. We
could come up with a high estimate and use of the truck every day.
Councilmember Yukimura: Well, I would hope that first you would analyze
what would be the most cost-effective way of responding with a roving Jet Ski. So that does
not assume it is just roving. But like you said, if Anini is the hotspot for the day, given the
wave conditions, ocean conditions, you would keep it there. So what would be the most cost-
effective way do a roving patrol and see and then adjust it as your real situation or your
real experience requires.
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Chief Westerman: I think that is exactly what we are doing.
Councilmember Yukimura: Yes, but you trying to do it all at once.
Chief Westerman: The difference is that we are not trying to make
the roving patrol cost-effective. What we are trying to do is not put five or six more guard
towers on our beaches. By using roving patrols we do not have to staff permanent lifeguard
towers and still provide a better-level of service to our community.
Councilmember Yukimura: Correct.
Chief Westerman: That is what the roving patrol does for us.
Councilmember Yukimura: And I think that is a very creative response,
because there is no way we can put lifeguards on every beach. That floating thing that the
rotary...what is it called?
Chief Westerman: Rescue buoy.
Councilmember Yukimura: Rescue tubes. That is an amazingly cost-effective
approach of addressing part of that need too. If you are suggesting another approach, just
because it is cheaper, no matter how you do does not mean that we are not looking for the
best way to do it.
Chief Westerman: I think that is exactly what we are doing. We are
looking for the best way to do it. We think we have found it with the roving patrols.
Councilmember Yukimura: All right. We are on the same wavelength then.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions from Councilmembers? We
are coming up on lunch. I have a question, cloud database $50,000 is that a recurring cost?
Chief Westerman: No, that is a one-time cost.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay, any further questions from the Members?
Before we take lunch?
Councilmember Kuali`i: Quick one.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: On the computers and accessories, you list
tablets, one per district supervisor. You have 14 totals at $900. So that is a total of
$12,600. What is the other $50,000 being spent on?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: That is the cloud database that is the program
where they can send stuff directly from the tower.
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Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: They just do it as a one-time cost, not a recurring
cost. Any further questions from the Members? If not, we are going to take a lunch break.
Fire, thank you, you guys are done for today, and we are going to take Police when we get
back from lunch.
There being no objections, the Committee recessed at 12:32 p.m.
The Committee reconvened at 1:30 p.m., and proceeded as follows:
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Welcome back from lunch. Next up we have the
Police Department and Police Chief Perry and Deputy Chief Contrades, do you have a
presentation?
DARRYL D. PERRY, CHIEF OF POLICE: Aloha Chair and Councilmembers,
for the record, my name is Darryl Perry, Chief of Police for the Kauai Police Department.
Thank you for giving me and our staff the opportunity to present to you and your viewers
our proposed 2017 KPD budget. Recently police departments nationwide have been under
greater scrutiny because of questionable police practices. But 99.9% of almost 800,000
sworn officers in the United States, from over 18,000 police agencies, do an outstanding job.
Therefore, as a precursor to our presentation, I would like to once again summarize our
mission statement which is unique from all other departments, in that we have
incorporated and built a bridge of transparency and trust between the police and our
community. "We the men and women of the Kaua`i Police Department are committed to
enhancing the quality of life in our community, with our belief in the Aloha spirit. We
embrace the values of pono, encompassed in respect for one another by holding the highest
form of moral and ethical standards with integrity, while striving to improve service
delivery through unquestionable professionalism. We envision a community free from the
fear of crime."
Before starting, I would like to give you and brief overview of the criminal justice
system, which are three basic elements: police, courts and corrections. And while police is a
default face of the criminal justice system, we also have the heaviest burden of preventing
criminal activity and if a crime occurs, to capture the perpetrator. However, as you can see
in this depiction, once the perpetrator enters the system, police have little to no influence as
to what happens to the suspect after they leave our custody. And that is why we have
arrested some individuals 25, 50, and even 100 times. They are released back into the
community, and continue to steal, and burglarize homes. The harsh reality of our criminal
justice system is that law enforcement is about one element of a bigger picture that impacts
crime and victimization and because we have no influence as to who is incapacitated from
further criminality through imprisonment we are constantly at the mercy of the decision of
the court and corrections in how to allocate our limited resources. Over the past few years,
hundreds if not thousands of convicted felons were released from prison because of
overcrowding and many who are repeat offenders. We have not even touched on the
individuals with mental issues, which law enforcement has become the default institution
to deal with these. And as such our budget reflects these challenges with our community's
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needs, demands, and expectations. Again, this is a broad overview. I will be happy to
answer any questions that you may have at a later time. Let us start with our goals for
2016-17. We have listed six goals and the first deals with filling our four positions in the
cops grant. We created a beat in the Kapa'a to Kawaihau district, Beat 453 and we also in
regards to that augment and fill our vacancies. So we created, and you may have seen this
on TV, a high-quality recruitment video, so we already met this goal, but we will look at
other ways to make sure that word gets out there so that people come to Kaua`i, with
expectation of serving our community.
In the area of internet crimes against children, that is an area that we feel needs
improvement the internet has created purveyors of sexual crimes against our children, so
we are working in conjunction with the Attorney General's office to make sure we are
on-board with enhancing that program further. More recently, there have been active
shooter cases on the mainland and nationwide and this number is not going down. Active
shooters will continue to increase and hurt our communities and so we have trained special
individuals within the department who will be going out to number 5 to give presentations
throughout our community and throughout our departments within the county. And finally,
completion and installation and development and test face of the cad are in the system that
we will go into more detail about that. Where we obtained a grant for that to the tune of
$2.3 million. The successes for our past fiscal year has to do again with the acquisition of
$2.3 million from the e911 board which will help us tremendously in service delivery in our
reports. The system that we have now has dropped reports. Reports have been lost. We
have been almost like on a hunt for reports, and getting information from them. We
planned to have the crime-mapping system in place and we were promised in the last rms
system that would be able to get that. Unfortunately, that did not come to fruition. And
finally as I had mentioned we are hiring new police officers and finally, we are moving
towards accreditation, and we hope take that word out not hope, we will achieve
accreditation in August 2016. These challenges, finding qualified candidates and ever
increasing workloads and demands placed on our personnel and also preparing for the
national trends in active shooter A. At this point I would like to turn the presentation over
to Deputy Chief Michael Contrades to go over the budget overview
MICHAEL CONTRADES, DEPUTY CHIEF OF POLICE: Good
afternoon, Chair and Councilmembers, Michael Contrades, Deputy Chief of Police. Budget
overview, KPD has three sources of funds. The operational General Fund, Criminal Assets
Forfeiture Fund, and grant funds, and our operating resulting budget is 91% salaries
overtime and fringe benefit with a balance of 9% for all other expenditures. KPD's budget
comparison of Fiscal Year 2016 requests a net increase of 3.7% or $1.1 million or so dollars
and the net increase is due primarily to collective bargaining increases for HGEA units 3, 4,
14 and SHOPO units 12 members and this raise does not affect the Chief, just the collective
bargaining. Criminal Asset Fund budget, KPD's budget to appropriate $91,356 in salaries
and fringe to supplement the COPS grant to hire six new police officers. KPD is also
budgeting $20,000 for unexpected training opportunities out of our criminal asset fund.
Grant funding. KPD manages 16 grants both Federal and State. In, total almost
$5.2 million, some grants are recurring and some are not. With the federal government's
fiscal situation we have seen a reduction in funding and we strive for grant funding before
county funds. One example is traffic enforcement, while we could do traffic enforcement on
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county funds, with the funds provided to us by the department of transportation, we try to
expend those funds first. Fiscal responsibility and cost-savings...over the last three budget
cycles KPD has diligently analyzed its budget and reduced costs to be closer to actual
expenditures. We have served for innovative and fiscally responsible ways to accomplish
our goals. Recently we hired eight police officers and we trained them for the detention
facility duties while we are working towards building a larger recruit class and doing more
hiring, these eight initial candidates were placed in cellblock and worked in the detention
facility as we complete on the other hand hiring facility for the rest of the class. This saved
143 canceled days off in patrol and estimated little over 83,000 in overtime and fringe
benefits in December of 2015 was probably the lowest overtime cost that we have ever seen
in our detention facility about $1,500 in overtime.
Negotiation of Taser contract. Our Administrative and Technical Bureau are
constantly looking at ways to save money and this is one way that they saw and negotiated
with Taser, returned older model Tasers as part of the contract and saved about $126,000.
We continue to utilize parts from disabled fleet vehicles to fix newer vehicles. We estimate
cost-savings of$20,000. Not only the purchase of new parts, but with our Fleet Coordinator,
who has a lot of mechanical skills and replacement, he does a lot of the things himself. So
we save on labor, as well as the cost of new parts. Cross training of our crime scene
specialist and evidence handling and storage, that has helped us clear a backlog of cases
and help reduce overtime expenditures estimated cost savings about $19,000. Overtime.
KPD is very well aware of the overtime expenditures, we do our best to try and minimize
that and we have over last few years seen a reduction. Some specific causes of overtime,
recruit training. We use personnel from other bureaus as trainers and especially in patrol
when someone is not there, someone has to back fill that position. Things we cannot help,
sick calls, extended leave, workers compensation, unanticipated major events, such as
flooding, major criminal incidents, homicide, bank robberies, as examples, court attendance
out of our control. Increase in salaries, not a cause, however it will deplete our overtime
funds quicker and not enough staff in all areas to efficiently do the job. One example and I
will get into it as I get into the presentation, but because we do not have a permanent
training cadre, we temporarily assign and causing a need for back fill for training.
As I stated, no permanent training cadre and most instructors are from the Patrol
Service Bureau or the Investigative Services Bureau. In PSB, when an officer is
temporarily assigned someone those cover their shifts while they are gone and the only way
to do this is on overtime. ISB, When a Detective is temporarily assigned to training, their
cases are either re-assigned to other deputies increasing their work load or the case is held
until they return from training and has to catch up on his or her reports. Estimated cost of
temporary assigning instructors, KPD has 38 instructors in various disciplines. Two annual
recall training and two recruit classes a year roughly and total combined training hours for
instructors to be in those trainings teaching is 6,492 hours and so we estimate that the total
overtime cost to have these positions back-filled while a trainer is out training is about
$422,000. Efforts to reduce overtime. We have an expedited hiring process. We continue to
hand-write minor traffic collision in the triplicate. Coding system for non-criminal and
unfounded reports to reduce report-writing of the patrol officers are rotated into cellblock
for coverage. No longer do you have the days of higher-paid individuals working in
cellblock. It is left to the officers to do now.
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In 2015, as I stated earlier we hired personnel, we trained them up to be an asset to
us in cellblock while we completed the rest of the class, completed hiring rest of the class.
We used webinars and online training to replace some traditional training and we allowed
some minor calls to be handled over the phone to save the officer time from having to
respond. So the results of our efforts over the last few years, in Fiscal Year 2014 $661,000...
2015, we are doing our best to try to steadily drop the amount of overtime that is being used
by being creative in the way we do business. Our hiring efforts are tied to our budget, as far
as overtime, as far as reducing workload. Continuous review of our hiring practices, we
worked closely with Human Resources and they have done an excellent job for us in helping
us to expedite the process. We have experience in motivated background investigators,
experienced and motivated staff and this has helped us to reduce overtime expenditures.
Basically the hiring process begins with someone interested in the job. They apply. Human
Resources reviews their applications for qualification. They get an invite. They take our
written exam and after that, they go through the physical readiness standards test and
submit a personal history package and given a pre-job offer psychological exam. They then
go to background check, given a conditional post job offer, psychological written exam,
polygraph lie detector exam, post job offer psychological exam meeting with a psychologist,
drug test, medical exam, job offer and if they accept the job offer, we hire them. From 2012
to present we have had 2,243 applicants and we have hired 53 police officers, approximately
2.4% of those that applied.
These are the reasons why. Written exam, we have given 2,200 applicants, a little
over 1,800 invited. 1,193 did not show. 693 took the written. 429 passed. 90 did not show
up for physical readiness test and 43 did not show up for the test. 109 did not pass the pre-
job officer psychological exam. If they are determined to be high-risk or indeterminable, we
have a policy that says we cannot take them. Applicants that did not continue because of
illegal drug use 19 to 48 did not pass because of integrity issues or background check issues.
Excuse me, and five applicants did not pass the post job offer psychological exam. So since
2012 we have hired 53 Police Officers, 15 Dispatchers, 5 Clerks, 3 Crime Scene Specialists,
1 Evidence Custodian and IT Specialist, 1 Fleet Coordinator, and 1 Accountant Trainee for
a total of 80 hires within that time period. Recruitment efforts, we have gone through
numerous job fairs and websites and social media and go through radio station and press
releases and personal contact with people and most recently we have done this commercial.
Contracted Oceanic Time Warner to create a recruitment commercial and it is being aired
locally on Oceanic on numerous channels that they provided.
What we kind of wanted to get out there is "come and join us at work." This is what
we do, work and play. Obviously in the future, we hope to target the mainland as well. But
we kind of wanted to get what the island looks like and stuff out there. Our reorganization
plan, part of our reorganization plan is we want to take the 15 school crossing guard
positions that we have, it has been very difficult to fill these positions mainly because it is a
split shift, an hour in the morning another hour in the afternoon and $13.35 an hour. When
we reviewed the issue, we tried to look at creative ways to deal with personnel, the need for
additional personnel, the H.R.S. does not require I(PD to have school crossing guard
positions per se. What it did require us to have is traffic control surrounding the school and
traffic monitors. So essentially what Section 52D-7 traffic control surrounding school
premises, states, is that "the Chief of Police shall have charge, direction, and control of all
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matters relating to preserving and protecting the public health, safety, and welfare on and
about the streets surrounding any school...traffic monitors of the respective counties shall
be provided with suitable badges or insignia of office." We are not fulfilling this aspect of
the H.R.S. and our reorganization plan will do so. We want to use the existing Crossing
Guard positions and create four Traffic Safety Monitors that would be rotated around the
schools, and three Background Investigators. Currently we are using School Crossing
Guard positions to hire 89-day contract and we want to turn that into Background
Investigators and still utilize that for 89-day contracts. It has a lot of efficiency and
cost-savings when you do the 89-day contract in this manner. We want to take two of the
positions and create two Training Officers. For now, leave the six School Crossing Guards
positions for future reorganization and maintain the School Crossing Guards while we
transition to Traffic Monitors. The four Traffic Safety Monitors will rotate among the nine
schools and report back to Traffic Safety and be able to conduct enforcement on the
surrounding streets. We view them as a conduit to potential future police officers. We will
be able to hire people who are 18 years old. And when they reach the age of 21, and they are
able to carry a firearm, potentially we could have future officers through these positions.
And these are full-time positions, so we anticipate being able to fill those quicker than we
could School Crossing Guards. Three Background Investigators is very necessary for the
hiring process and as a state we are currently using vacant School Crossing Guard
positions. As stated earlier, and I want to show you the numbers associated with this, but
annual recall training is year-round. We have two classes a year. No training cadre as
stated and will allow personnel to focus on normal duties such as detectives. We will not
have detectives leaving their positions to do other things. They can focus on detective work
as one example and also allows us to provide consistent training to reduce liability.
The other change will be redescribing the SRO Sergeant to the Office of Professional
Standards. It is necessary to help expedite internal affairs investigations, manage body
camera systems, and be responsible for audits and inspections. The three School Resource
Officers will remain however, they would transfer to Patrol and report to the
Administrative Sergeant. This is the estimated cost for the auxiliary instructors. The
academy class, we anticipate when we do two a year it is about $249,000 in back-fill
overtime. And about $172,000 for the two annual recall trainings that we do a year, so
about $422,000. If we are able to do the two PO 9 training positions, the cost for that is
about $247,000 in salary and fringe and estimate saving about $174,000 in costs with the
trainers and the true cost is by having consistent and well-documented training. In closing
out the presentation, we just wanted to talk about something that we hear all the time,
which basically is "this is Kaua`i and that does not happen here." Family abuse cases in
2015, 717 domestic arguments, 401 family abuse cases, 96 cases were felony family abuse,
304 arrests made for family abuse. Injuries included scratches, abrasions, bruises,
contusions, fractures, strangling; and victims range in ageing from 2-weeks-old to 87 years
old. Sex assault cases on Kaua`i, were 116 sexual assault cases were reported and victims
range in age from 18-months-old to 60 years old. We have a couple brief videos. This one
shows some statistics regarding sexual assault. This next video you think about whether
this is in Los Angeles, Chicago or in Detroit? The reality of course this is none of the above
this happened in Kapa`a, Kauai, Hawaii, on September 19th, armed robbery, masked
subject entered a pharmacy in Kapa'a with a hand gun, robber made off with $1,200 in
prescription medication and suspect later arrested. On September 26th, murder
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investigation, 30-year-old female and 38-year-old male stab by an assailant in the parking
lot next to Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall, 38-year-old male dies on scene, suspect
later arrested. December 31, 2015 bank robbery, hooded male subject entered Bank of
Hawaii in Kapa`a, with a rifle, demanded money from the teller, suspect fled the scene. He
along with an accomplice was later captured. This is the actual footage of the scene. So
while Kauai is one of the safest places in the world we have the same crimes as Honolulu,
Maui, Hawaii Island and the rest of the nation. As the police department it is our job and
responsibility to prepare for the worst, while hoping for the best. With the advent of social
media and influx of different people and ideas to Kauai, the attitude of "this is Kauai, it
does not happen here" is a fallacy, it does happen here and KPD needs the funding to
prepare for whatever is next. We cannot do this without you guys. Help us to continue to
provide the highest-level of services by providing us with the budget that we request. And
that is the end of the presentation. And I would be happy to answer any questions that you
may have.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Thank you for that presentation.
Councilmembers, any questions on the presentation? Councilmember Kagawa.
Councilmember Kagawa: On the presentation?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Yes, if you have any questions.
Councilmember Kagawa: I have one. So did we decide the commission or
management decide to cut the school officer positions?
Mr. Contrades: That was one of the caveats is to keep them. The
mayor was very supportive of keeping them. So one creative way we could continue to do so
is that instead of being an Investigative Services Bureau, they would be with the Patrol
Services. And report to the Administrative Sergeant. And that way, we would not have to
ask for a new sergeant position in order to do the Office of Professional Standards internal
affairs Sergeant. So they will stay in the school.
Councilmember Kagawa: They will stay in the schools?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Kagawa: Just removing them.
Mr. Contrades: Just a different supervisor.
Councilmember Kagawa: Different supervisors.
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Kagawa: And we expect that service will not be affected?
Mr. Contrades: No.
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Councilmember Kagawa: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you for your presentation. Just this last
example, your last answer about school relations officers shows the kind of innovation that
the police department has been doing, creative thinking, creative reorganization and it is
very impressive and seems to me that the Police Department is leading the way and it is
also really necessary. So thank you for that. Did you give us a copy of your PowerPoint?
Mr. Contrades: I am not sure if that was transmitted over. If
not I will get that to you.
Councilmember Yukimura: Would you please? I had a hard time putting my
arms around all of it. I would like you to explain your instructor's program, and maybe if
we can pull up the PowerPoint part of it, the PowerPoint parts that cover that.
Mr. Contrades: Is this the one or you want to go further back?
Councilmember Yukimura: Yes you explained the need or the value of
some...is it full-time training officers?
Mr. Contrades: They would be full-time training officers. What
currently happens now is the 38 instructors that we have are things like firearms,
self-defense, CPR, you know there is a whole host of training that we have people who are
trained to teach others. By doing these positions, we believe we will realize a savings of
about $174,000. As explained earlier, what happens is as an example, if I have a patrol
officer who is a self-defense instructor, self-defense is between...that self-defense instructor
may teach class between 2 to 3 weeks depending upon the curriculum. For two recruit
classes so basically they are gone for six weeks. That might be one or two, depending upon
how large the class is. By having an established training cadre, we would not have to tap
into other bureaus any more. They will be trained in the major disciplines, and they will be
responsible for teaching the classes to others. How that is beneficial to the organization is
that one, we will save on overtime monies. But two, the people in those bureaus can focus
on their regular job. This is an auxiliary duty. So as an example detectives are pulled away
from their normal duties in order to teach. Their cases are either piling up, waiting for
them to return, which is not good for the victims. The victims call and want an answer
where their cases are, or it is pushed on to someone else. And they already have a large
caseload and their caseload is now added to.
Councilmember Yukimura: Makes a lot of sense. So when you said 30
instructors I was thinking they are from outside of the police force, but, in fact you are
drawing from inside your department.
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
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Councilmember Yukimura: So it is pretty disruptive in the departments that
they are being drawn from.
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: And expensive, because everybody has to cover
and the overtime costs.
Mr. Contrades: That is one of the concerns and complaints we
are looking to address. Commanders are responsible for the workload and see the amount of
time that certain individuals are allowed to be outside of their normal work duties. You
know, we have to do it. They are instructors; the training has to be done.
Councilmember Yukimura: Right.
Mr. Contrades: But that is competing interests between properly
training people and having them do their normal duties so this solved that for us. And also
reduces overtime costs.
Councilmember Yukimura: So your two instructors are going to be really
knowledgeable and versatile, because they are going to have to teach all of these different
courses?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: And you think you can find somebody like that?
Mr. Contrades: We will have to train them up definitely. But we
have a lot of talented trainers in our department. And I have no doubt we will find two
people that will do very well.
Councilmember Yukimura: And is this how other police departments...the
more sophisticated they are, they move towards that kind of full-time trainers?
Mr. Contrades: Most other departments have full-time training
cadres.
Councilmember Yukimura: Yes and so you have costed those two positions,
and you are still going to have that savings?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: Sounds very good. And these are two additional
positions? We are creating new positions?
Mr. Contrades: These are taken from the School Crossing Guard
positions.
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Councilmember Yukimura: I see.
Mr. Contrades: So it would not be additional positions per se.
Councilmember Yukimura: Better use of existing positions.
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Hooser.
Councilmember Hooser: And you still created another way to address the
responsibilities of those school officers...those school crossing positions.
Mr. Contrades: That will be with the Traffic Monitors. And so
what we want to do is hire four Traffic Monitors that will be responsible to conduct
enforcement around schools, the streets around the schools, do assessments of the safety of
the area, and then report back to the traffic safety section and any recommendations or
concerns that they are seeing. That is the way we read H.R.S. 52D-7 what our
responsibility is. I was surprised to read that and see it does not say anything about School
Crossing Guards. Some departments are using that section to justify the School Crossing
Guard, because you can call it whatever you want. But we are reading it in its plain
language, which I think will solve problems for the schools as well. They will see a lot more
enforcement in the area, and it will be full-time.
Councilmember Yukimura: So these traffic monitors will be police officers?
Mr. Contrades: They will not be full-fledged police officers. They
will have enforcement powers and we are looking at SHOPO's PO 4 level, which is a
lower-paid position than a police officer.
Councilmember Yukimura: And so are you thinking of using them as like
entry-level positions?
Mr. Contrades: We believe it will be beneficial in helping us with
future recruitment. You have somebody who, says, just graduated from high school that
wants to be a police officer. If they qualify, they would get in. We would be able to vet them
in the few years that they would be with us as a Traffic Monitor. Guide them along to the
recommendations, and things that they need to do in order to be a police officer. So we
think it will be a good recruitment tool as well. But more so, it is important that we have
somebody rotating the schools and making sure traffic safety is okay in those areas.
Councilmember Yukimura: And so I think it was the Mayor who mentioned
that it will dovetail with the new law that was passed where speeding within school
districts, the fines for that will go into safe routes to school budget.
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
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Councilmember Yukimura: And to the extent that they build up the budget,
you can support safe routes to school.
Mr. Contrades: Absolutely.
Councilmember Yukimura: Healthy walking and biking.
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Thank you very much.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Hooser
Councilmember Hooser: Good afternoon.
Mr. Contrades: Good afternoon, sir.
Councilmember Hooser: On the same topic, are there any crossing
guards...when you drive around you see crossing guards with a bunch of children crossing
the street, it is a comforting feeling actually. Are there any of those that will be gone that
are there now today?
Mr. Contrades: Right now we have three left and we do not want
to ask them to leave, so it will be through attrition. That is why we are keeping the six
positions for now. They are beneficial and they have been great. We just feel if we move
towards this direction, there will be more safety around schools because there will be more
enforcement. Right now our officers try their best to get out to the various school dozen
formats, but given the case load, they cannot be there all the time. These Traffic Monitors
would rotate between the 9 elementary schools, conducting enforcement and making
recommendations to the traffic section.
Councilmember Hooser: My children are grown now, but if I had a young
child, son or daughter walking to school every day and had a crossing guard and one day we
cut that out of the budget, I do not know how happy I would be. So I guess my question, are
you reaching out to parents and the schools? Are they aware, the principals and PTAs and
stuff?
Mr. Contrades: Before we did that we wanted to make sure first
this passes through you guys and if it does and it is fine, absolutely we are going to make
notification. Through safe routes to schools, they have upgraded their crossing guard or
crossing areas. You see the lights and the flashing lights and stuff. You know, those have
been helpful. We believe with the Traffic Safety Monitors the schools will be a little safer
because they have enforcement powers.
Councilmember Hooser: Conversely, I might prefer as a Councilmember
that outreach occur first, rather than we pass the budget and eliminate that position and
have a bunch of angry parents.
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Mr. Contrades: Again, we have three schools and they are
slowly...I think out of the three, we will probably have two shortly. It is a very difficult
position to fill. We are looking at this logically, I guess, to say we cannot fill these
positions. How can we increase safety for the schools?And our answer to that is to actually
follow what the law says, which the traffic safety is monitoring.
Councilmember Hooser: Do other schools, other jurisdictions Maui,
Hawai`i County, have they done similar?
Mr. Contrades: I do not believe so. I believe they are still using
the School Crossing Guard positions. Again, I am sure they are having difficulty filling
theirs as well, especially if they do it the way it is done here, where you have a split, an
hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon, very difficult to find someone to fill that
position.
Councilmember Hooser: It would be perfect for a retiree, $100 a week for
an hour in the morning and afternoon.
Mr. Contrades: We have tried. We have done press releases and
worked with the schools and asked teachers to do it. We have tried so much different
avenues and it is just very difficult to find people, one willing, and of course, two qualified,
you know. We still have to do background checks to ensure that they are people of integrity
that are going to take care of the children. So again, we believe this is going to be a more
impactful than having a School Crossing Guard.
Councilmember Hooser: My last question, I am assuming that you vetted
the H.R.S. interpretation with the County Attorney's Office?
Mr. Contrades: Not sure.
Councilmember Hooser: Okay.
Mr. Contrades: For us it is clear, we interpret law all the time
and it says traffic safety monitor.
Councilmember Hooser: Okay.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Just to confirm on what Councilmember Hooser
was saying. So we are keeping the existing positions that are filled as crossing guard, we
are keeping those. But the empty ones we have not been able to fill for a while, so they do
not currently have a crossing guard there, are the positions that we are rearranging to get
somebody there?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i had a follow-up.
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Councilmember Kuali`i: So four traffic safety monitors will rotate
between nine schools?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: And so it is changing. It is no longer crossing
guard. It is just go see how it is going and if there are problems, call the officers?
Mr. Contrades: No they are going to be...
Councilmember Kuali`i: They are not going to be there during that
morning cross going to school, or the afternoon.
Mr. Contrades: A lot of schools are not...we have three right now
that do and it is not all the time. So what we see with the Traffic Safety Monitors will be
more present than what we currently have. Again, it is something that we are trying out
and this is going to take some analysis to see how we do.
Councilmember Kuali`i: (Inaudible)
Mr. Contrades: No, they will be working an 8 hour day.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Eight hour days. In the budget it says 6 months,
because you do not anticipate it starting?
Mr. Contrades: Yes it is going to take us time to create the
position, go out to hire, background check, and so we felt one way to save money was by not
having it funded for six months, because it is going to take some time for us to actually put
everything in place.
Councilmember Kuali`i: And then in reality, the comment about the
Training Officers you are taking two crossing guards, School Crossing Guard positions,
1309 and 1310 and right now they are a split position, an hour in the morning and hour in
the afternoon and it is only budgeted for $6,000 to $7,000. So in essence it is like creating a
new position because the budget is overwhelming $69,000 new money.
Mr. Contrades: I believe it reduced our overtime budget in order
to compensate for that.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Yes.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: So six School Crossing Guard positions. That is
what we have always had?
Mr. Contrades: Fifteen.
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Councilmember Yukimura: We had fifteen, and so there were fifteen in the
budget last year?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: And now there are six.
Mr. Contrades: What we are proposing is to utilize the other
positions to create these new positions
Councilmember Yukimura: Eleven?
Mr. Contrades: Yes and leaving the six as-is because we have at
least three people still in those positions. But we also want to leave it there in case the four
monitors turn out to be not enough and we need to create additional. Or there are other
priorities that may come up. So we want to be able to utilize these positions to create new
ones later if possible.
Councilmember Yukimura: Why would we not take them out and put them
in when you have to propose? Otherwise, you will just reallocate them without Council
approval?
Mr. Contrades: That is why. The bottom-line is that the positions
would be there for us to change.
Councilmember Yukimura: Yes. You could change it to a $75,000 position?
Mr. Contrades: I think our history of how we are doing things
shows that we are trying to be fiscally responsible. Yes, it depends if we need it. There are
future needs we will be asking for.
Councilmember Yukimura: So of the 11 positions that you are using for other
positions, two are Training Officers and three are background checks...the investigators. Is
that correct?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: And four are Traffic Monitors.
Mr. Contrades: That is correct.
Councilmember Yukimura: And that is 9. Two training...three Background
Investigators —seven...four Traffic Monitors, so that is nine. Where are the other two?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: The six school crossing guards, 15 total.
Councilmember Yukimura: I have already taken out...you said 15 total?
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Chief Perry: Four Traffic Safety Monitors, three Background
Investigators, two officers, and there are six School Crossing Guard positions for future
reorganization, for a total of 15.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay, Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Council Chair Rapozo.
Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. The Traffic Safety Monitors, what
happens during the summer or when there is no school?
Mr. Contrades: Well what we want to do is place them in
cellblock to help us offset costs in overtime. That amount of overtime savings is not in there,
because we do not know what that would be. During those periods of time we expect to
utilize them to reduce overtime costs as well.
Council Chair Rapozo: And the background investigators you are dollar
funding, what is the salary?
Mr. Contrades: I believe it is equivalent to a Sergeant's pay.
Council Chair Rapozo: So when do you plan on hiring those?
Mr. Contrades: We have those right now on 89-day contract.
What we do is utilize whatever funding we have internally to pay for those.
Council Chair Rapozo: Are you going to make this permanent?
Mr. Contrades: We would like to make it permanent, but not
permanent background investigator hires. We would like to continue doing the
89-day contract. There are a lot of benefits to that because we can utilize them when we
have classes to do. And we do not when we do not have classes. So there is a cost-savings
to the County for that.
Council Chair Rapozo: Okay. You said cellblock now, you are not
running into the overtime issues as you used to?
Mr. Contrades: It is not the same.
Council Chair Rapozo: What is our overtime for cellblock?
Mr. Contrades: It averages about $11,000 a month.
Council Chair Rapozo: That is still pretty significant.
Mr. Contrades: Much less than what it used to be much less. The
reason is that we rotate police officers through there now.
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Council Chair Rapozo: We do not have Lieutenants and Sergeants
working overtime.
Mr. Contrades: No.
Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: Correct me if I am wrong, the cellblock overtime
used to be in the hundreds of thousands.
Mr. Contrades: I do not know what it was, but I know it was
significant.
Councilmember Yukimura: Yes.
Mr. Contrades: So probably our lowest time was December of
this year, when $1,500 was the overtime.
Councilmember Yukimura: I mean the drop has been remarkable and
excellent.
Mr. Contrades: Thank you.
Councilmember Yukimura: I do have a question about that. You rotate your
patrol people through there?
Mr. Contrades: Yes. It is almost like a beat so the officers have to
take shifts there as well.
Councilmember Yukimura: Because you are so stretched for patrol, why
would you put them in cellblock?
Mr. Contrades: It is necessary to do unless we put detectives in
there, or someone of higher pay. I mean, that is the answer we had to reducing the
overtime is to rotate the officers through there to do shifts.
Councilmember Yukimura: That is why you could use these Traffic Safety
Monitors during non-school time is what you are saying?
Mr. Contrades: That is the plan.
Councilmember Yukimura: And where did you say you have Sergeant's pay?
Was that the Background Investigator?
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Mr. Contrades: The Background Investigator, I believe is at a
Sergeant's pay.
Councilmember Yukimura: You want to keep it in the format of an
89-day contract?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. That is all very creative.
Mr. Contrades: Saves on the fringe benefits side as well.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kagawa.
Councilmember Kagawa: Just getting back to the Traffic Safety Monitors.
So is this program, or method used in other islands?
Mr. Contrades: I do not believe so. I do not believe...I think they
are still doing School Crossing Guards.
Councilmember Kagawa: So where did we get this idea?
Mr. Contrades: This was looking at the way the law was written.
I do not know if that is still on? There is a section in there that talks about it. I can just
read it.
Councilmember Kagawa: Just read it a nutshell.
Mr. Contrades: 52D-7, traffic control surrounding school
premises, "the chief of police shall have charge, direction, and control of all matters relating
to preserving and protecting the public health, safety and welfare on and about the streets
surrounding any school. To perform this function, the chief of police shall appoint, train,
and compensate traffic monitors to perform such duties as the chief directs. Nothing
contained in this section shall be construed to diminish the role now permed by the junior
police officer program. The traffic monitors of the respective counties shall be provided with
suitable badges or insignia of office, and shall have the duty to assist officers throughout
the state in all matters relating to the enforcement of traffic regulations on and about the
streets surrounding any public school premises."
Councilmember Kagawa: So this is a H.R.S.?
Mr. Contrades: Yes this is H.R.S. 52d7.
Councilmember Kagawa: So the Legislature passed this when?
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Mr. Contrades: That I am not sure. I would have to look.
Councilmember Kagawa: Long ago?
Mr. Contrades: I believe this has been on the books for a while.
Councilmember Kagawa: And they do not kick in any funds for this, right?
The D.O.E.?
Mr. Contrades: No.
Councilmember Kagawa: You would think that each school would be in
charge of making sure that these duties are taken care of, to me anyway. I did not know
that existed. I thought we just choose to identify the schools that most needed the help and
tried to accommodate. I did not know that actually H.R.S. says that each police department
should look at every school and address it.
Mr. Contrades: And this came about when we started looking
again at the positions that we had left to see what we could do creatively to meet the needs
that we have and this was brought to us saying that there is nothing that talks about
School Crossing Guards but it talks about Traffic Safety Monitors. I think what some
departments are doing is utilizing this section to justify the school crossing guards. You can
call it whatever you want but presently our School Crossing Guards do not have
enforcement powers and that is not helpful in terms of dealing with speeding in and around
the schools. So what we were hoping to do with these positions and again this is something
new and creative we are trying to do. We believe it is going to be more impactful for the
schools in terms of safety. We are starting out with four, four may not be enough, four
might be just right. But it is going to take us a little time to analyze to see how this whole
thing plays out.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Along those lines, with these Traffic Safety
Monitors as a new position, would they actually be working with the leader from these
schools as far as what happens?
Mr. Contrades: We would as we normally do, talking to them
about concerns and needs. Essentially they would report to the Traffic Safety Sergeant.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Is there still such a thing as JPO's?
Mr. Contrades: I think some schools have it, but they try to keep
their kids inside on the sidewalk, not on the street.
Councilmember Kuali`i: They do not go out to the stop sign?
Mr. Contrades: I do not believe they do that anymore.
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Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Council Chair Rapozo.
Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. So based on what you just read with
the H.R.S., the School Crossing Guards do not have enforcement powers, but no badge or
insignia either right?
Mr. Contrades: I do not believe so.
Council Chair Rapozo: Yes, I am thinking the one here at Wilcox. It
looks like a Senior Citizen that helps the kids cross the street.
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Council Chair Rapozo: Are we going to keep that? Is that in compliance
with state law?
Mr. Contrades: Again, I believe the other counties and what we
have been doing as well, I thought there was a section that can you call them whatever you
want to call them. I think there might be a section (c) on this. But the reality of it is that
we are supposed to give them an insignia and they are supposed to enforce traffic safety
laws. So that is what we are trying to do with these four positions. We want to try it out to
see how well the program works.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: So four traffic monitors for how many schools?
Mr. Contrades: Nine schools.
Councilmember Yukimura: Nine schools on the island.
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: So is there a way to dovetail...nine schools
including the high schools?
Mr. Contrades: Not the high schools.
Councilmember Yukimura: Elementary and middle?
Mr. Contrades: Elementary.
Councilmember Yukimura: Just elementary?
Mr. Contrades: I believe it is elementary.
Councilmember Yukimura: So they would be roving.
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Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: They would be circulating or troubleshooting or
showing up on a regular basis to check things out?
Mr. Contrades: Yes and they would report back to the Traffic
Safety Section if they felt there was a particular problem with one of the schools, and the
Traffic Safety Section could come in with its officers to do a stronger enforcement if
necessary, or education.
Councilmember Yukimura: Is there a way to really develop a good
relationship with JPO officers? Right now, I am not even aware that they still exist.
Mr. Contrades: If I am not mistaken, I believe they still do. We
work directly with the kids to train them.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay good.
Mr. Contrades: I am pretty certain that part of the reason that
they are not on the streets doing the school crossing is the liability and safety issue for the
schools. So from what I have seen there has been more on the driveways assisting the
students.
Councilmember Yukimura: I see, okay. Do we still do JPO picnics?
Chief Perry: We did. I think there was a stop to that for a
little while after there was an incident involving one of the students at the Lydgate Park, I
believe a potential drowning. So what we did was we reassessed and worked with the DOE
on that. But they still have JPOs, but I do not know about the picnics anymore.
Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any questions — we are on the Chiefs Office. We
will start with the Chiefs Office. Any questions on the Chiefs Office line item? Council
Chair.
Council Chair Rapozo: Yes. First, can you double-check, Chief, on the
JPO picnic because we fund it for $1,000 in the Mayor's Office. If that is not happening we
can at least stop that.
Chief Perry: Okay. I am pretty sure it was a couple of years
ago, but I will double-check and make sure.
Council Chair Rapozo: Okay. And then this is position...page 74.
Departmental Personnel Assistant II. What is that function? What does that person do?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Page 103 on the bottom.
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Council Chair Rapozo: Do they have the bottom pages?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Yes all the bottom pages should be...
Council Chair Rapozo: You have Departmental Personnel Assistant,
Accountant, Account Clerk, and a Pre-Audit Clerk.
Mr. Contrades: That is our personnel and fiscal within the
department.
Council Chair Rapozo: So what are they tasked with?
Mr. Contrades: They deal with timesheets. If you want more
detail, I have to call up Daurice and she can assist you.
Council Chair Rapozo: I am just trying to figure out how many HR
people we have outside of HR.
Mr. Contrades: If I am not mistaken, it is just one.
Council Chair Rapozo: Just one? That is fine.
DAURICE ARRUDA, Fiscal Officer I: The Departmental Personnel Assistant,
she is primarily the liaison with HR. She handles a lot of our payroll certifications.
Everything that goes through HR, we still review and work with them closely to make sure
that we are on the same page. Time sheets as well, she works with Central Payroll on
bi-weekly payroll reconciliations and all of those aspects working with HR directly.
Council Chair Rapozo: You know, I just thought HR was going to have
everyone under HR, but that seems to have been a myth. No fault to the Department, but
thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: So quick follow-up on that. How many personnel
are under the Police Department that you folks have to do payroll for?
Ms. Arruda: I think our total is 220.
Councilmember Yukimura: So that is really a lot of people. Even the
simplest things may be needed. I am not sure if this is a question for fiscal...The Juvenile
Counselor, I believe that person has retired. And what are your plans for that position?
Mr. Contrades: We are currently working to re-describe that to
address different needs that we have, such as missing persons, and the like, in the
Investigative Services Bureau.
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Councilmember Yukimura: So I recently visited Maui's Police Department,
and their Juvenile Section. And it is a program that was first raised by former Prosecuting
Attorney Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho and they have at least three social workers and do
fantastic programs with the youth and especially with all of the talk about upstream, you
know, I think it is the Police Department that has said there is at least 6 to 8 contacts with
the juvenile before they actually get apprehended. So I just wondered whether the Police
Department is looking at any of that kind of programming, which is largely prevention?
Rather than just taking out the remnants of that section, and not having anything at all?
Mr. Contrades: I think one of the issues is that there are other
duties that need to be dealt with that are ongoing.
Councilmember Yukimura: Other what?
Mr. Contrades: Other duties, other responsibilities. And so we
identified those in the Investigative Services Bureau and are taking that position in order
to address those needs. I can give you the specifics of it at a later date, but there are
certain issues that are not being met, that the Commander felt needs to be met. And so,
those things are being...that is what the position is being used for.
Councilmember Yukimura: So my question was about the other duties or
needs for addressing those at-risk kids that are potentially going to fall into the juvenile
system?
Mr. Contrades: I believe we have several programs that we
liaison with the courts to do. If you want more detail on, that I can bring the Commander
up to discuss it.
Councilmember Yukimura: Yes, I would. And I am talking about the kids
before they get to the courts.
BRYSON PONCE, Captain, Investigative Services Bureau: Good afternoon.
Councilmember Yukimura.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Can you please state your name?
Mr. Ponce: Currently you have Hale `Opio they handle Teen
Court and you have family court. Hale 'Opio is currently handling the diversion programs.
And they have had it where because they have not got a lot of referrals, they kind of talked
to us to get more referrals, including your first-time status offenses. Dealing with your
runaways, to try to get them early. So the duplication of services, what we used to do, and
what they used to do, we are trying to consolidate things. So they would handle things on
the first-level. If you get a runaway juvenile, not wait until the 10th offense crimes, but
right away. Flipping it into the program specialist, we looked at that person, that position,
taking care of Crime Stoppers. Working on our Amber Alert, our missing children's
program that we are really trying to get in line with our State and national standards. And
on the prevention side we have a KPAL Officer who is full-time, that is working a lot with
the youth and we have added different programs to our arsenal. So we feel it is a good place
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to really target right up front. And the KPAL Officer works a lot with public relations,
public affairs, with the community, with parents, with the schools, and the kids.
Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you. No question, KPAL is a wonderful
program. I guess I am talking about on Maui, they were doing a lot with the more at-risk
kids, I guess. I remember that KPAL has provisions for scholarships for those kids that
normally stand outside of the fence and look in. So that is good. And it is good to know
that you are working with Hale `Opio on, I guess it is a newer program with first-time
status offenders. You are focusing more there now?
Mr. Ponce: We had the opportunity to take youth at the
early onset, and you know our SROs catch a lot of things at their level and have been really
active in what is happening in the schools and addressing it there at the onset.
Councilmember Yukimura: The thing is that the Police and SROs do not
provide services per se to some of these kids. They need to be referred to programs, right?
So how many referrals are there per year from SROs to appropriate services, like Hale
`Opio? Do we have that statistic?
Mr. Ponce: I am sure we can get it. The SROs notify the
Detectives and the Children's Justice Center is involved with the YWCA, and then from
there, the services from the YWCA is provided...it is multi-disciplinary team effort when
dealing with those types of cases. It even starts with the runaways too.
Councilmember Yukimura: Children's Justice Center is dealing with sexual
assault and that kind of thing, right?
Mr. Ponce: Not only sexual assaults. They have expanded
where they work with any type of situation in the household that is not safe for kids. So you
have got your domestic violence.
Councilmember Yukimura: Right.
Mr. Ponce: Sexual assault.
Councilmember Yukimura: Right.
Mr. Ponce: Any type of abuse/neglect and a lot of them are
linked together.
Councilmember Yukimura: All right. I am not talking about that though.
Abuse. I am talking about kids that are just alienated and needing some guidance, and
referrals to KPAL would be great, something like that.
Chief Perry: Back in my past life, I used to be in charge of the
Juvenile Services Division with the Honolulu Police Department and we had programs such
as school attendance program, evening counseling, and AKAMAI and restorative justice,
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but that takes a lot of staffing. Here on Kaua`i besides Hale `Opio, we have our efforts
towards crime prevention has been with the Explorer's Programs, SRO, and DARE and
GREAT programs, and KPAL and that is primarily our involvement in crime prevention
and officers participate in voluntary programs. But to get these programs as you
mentioned diversionary programs we are going to need more than one position. Perhaps we
can follow in Maui's footsteps. But we will have do some research on that. And right now,
given what we have, in terms of staffing, and resources, this is the best that we can do right
now with what we have. And I am well-aware of the other preventative programs. I have
been a part of it. I have been part of the Juvenile Justice Center, and creation of the
Juvenile Justice Center, a one-stop shop, where you can have an involved with a status
offender or first time-offender be directed to counseling to keep them out of system. That is
going to take resources. If you can come up with a plan and you help us to do that, we will
be more than happy to move into that direction.
Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you. That is great. Just like we talked
about in Fire Prevention. It is much more cost effective to do prevention than spend what
is it $180,000 a year to put someone in a youth home or adolescent drug treatment and
healing center, intensive 24/7. If we can catch it earlier, it helps everybody, I think.
Mr. Contrades: I think we totally agree. Prevention is the route
to go in many different areas. But please keep in mind that Maui County Police
Department over the past years has increased by 100 officers and I am not sure what their
civilian staff has increased. We would be happy to do programs like that, but it requires
resources.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kagawa.
Councilmember Kagawa: Just getting back to page 103 on the bottom. The
Traffic Safety Monitors. So it is six months of funding and we expect to start that in
January.
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Kagawa: So if I were to project their salary for the future
years, I would multiply this $27,990 by two?That is what a PO 4 pay?
Mr. Contrades: PO 4.
Councilmember Kagawa: And again, just tell me what is the difference
between starting Police Officer, and this Traffic Safety Monitor? What is the difference
between the Monitor rather than a beginning Police Officer to me if it is close enough, just
make them a Police Officer.
Mr. Contrades: It is roughly $10,000.
Councilmember Kagawa: Huh?
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Mr. Contrades: $10,000 difference.
Councilmember Kagawa: We are talking $40,000 a year and you just
talked about needing more police officers. Just make them a police officer. But then you
guys are worried about not being able to qualify enough police officers?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Kagawa: And you want to make a beginning program for
them maybe?
Mr. Contrades: As part of the benefit we see, it is something that
we wanted to try and see how that pans out. You know, like I said, perhaps you have
somebody who is 18, 19 years old who really wants to be a police officer, but cannot until
they are 21. You know, this might give them an opportunity into the department, and then
give us an opportunity to vet them. So again, it is new. We are going to have to test out to
see how the program works out.
Councilmember Kagawa: I guess, when we talk about that 18, 19-year-old
and this when the said the job you want them to do, collect data and make
recommendations, I do not know if that 18, 19-year-old is going to be ready to know how to
analyze and make recommendations?
Mr. Contrades: That would be part.
Councilmember Kagawa: The pay seems they should do it, but seriously, I
do not think a person right out of high school will be able to give you the information that
you want. I am sure they can run a cellblock.
Mr. Contrades: An 18, 19-year-old is just an example. This could
be someone older, depends on who applies.
Councilmember Kagawa: Seems like kind of high pay for what the job is
actually. And in these troubling times that we are financially, I would hate to see us just
jump at the something like this, when we are already struggling. I mean, I do not know, to
monitor the...it is an important job. You have to try and accommodate the H.R.S. and
make sure that Kaua`i County is doing it. I look at the pay, and our financial situation, it
just seems kind of high-pay for...I mean, if you multiply that by two, it is like some of our
supervisors in...like the construction maintenance guy makes only $60,000. And he takes
care of all of the County facilities including your building, the plumbing and electrical, and
pay a traffic safety monitor this amount of pay is kind of difficult for me.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura, follow-up or new
question?
Councilmember Yukimura: No, not follow-up. New question.
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Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay.
Councilmember Yukimura: You have as your first goal for this year's budget
"fill at least four of the six positions of the COPS grant." So the other two would remain
unfilled?
Mr. Contrades: If we can fill it, we will fill it, but our goal is to
fill at least four.
Councilmember Yukimura: And you are talking about funding these
positions with your Criminal Assets Fund, which is a nonrecurring fund. But the position
is recurring. So how do you justify that?
Mr. Contrades: We came to Council in the past to get approval.
This is still the same COPS grant that we received approval for. The first year, the grant
and the Asset Forfeiture Fund will pay. County does not pay for those positions. We still
have not gotten to the first year yet, because we are still trying to fill our positions.
Councilmember Yukimura: So when you did your COPS grant, which was
you are going back to the original approval, you proposed to use Assets Funds for that back
then?
Mr. Contrades: The first year, we can do that.
Councilmember Yukimura: And we have not yet done that?
Mr. Contrades: Not yet, we are still trying to fill existing
vacancies. We are close. We are only four County vacancies — County Police Officer
vacancies short. So we are close.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Council Chair Rapozo.
Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. I wanted to go back to the Training
Officer. So your Training Officer is basically going to be full-time. They are going to
address just all department trainings year-round?
Mr. Contrades: I would not say all, because you still need to
bring specialists in sometimes.
Council Chair Rapozo: Yes. The recurring training?
Mr. Contrades: Yes, firearms, self-defense, emergency vehicle
operations, things like that.
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Council Chair Rapozo: And what about the last few months, I have been
really troubled with what is happening with some of the cases, we all read about them,
cases being dismissed or reduced and people walking free, and some allegations that the
Police turned in the report late. Whatever the case was, is that something that your
training division or training section could assist with? I know we are talking about that
police analyst and so forth, but in addition to that, is that something that we could take a
look at this section?
Mr. Contrades: The training section handles report-writing,
teaching how to do report-writing. What is required. We have addressed those types of
allegations and situations. Probably the biggest change that is going to improve that
concern is that the new Records Management System. We have had a very difficult time
with the current one that we have. The one coming in now would be...I have seen it for
myself, auditing is a lot easier. So we will be able to stay on top of those things to make
sure that we do not have late reports. But as far as training, they deal with teaching how
to report-write. Something like that, late reports comes down to accountability. So that has
been addressed though.
Chief Perry: Just one other thing, and I know there has been
some information in the newspaper about reports not being submitted. But after the fact,
when we drilled-down, into what actually happened, there is shared responsibility here.
But it appears that the corrections are not made in the media. So you have a one-sided
approach saying that the Police dropped the ball, which is not the case.
Council Chair Rapozo: And I only brought it up because it was recent. I
think the bigger concern I have and I know it is not you folks and we will discuss with the
Prosecutor on Thursday or Friday is the amount of cases that have been reduced. I am sure
you folks are not happy with that as well. It is frustrating. Just somehow, you know, I do
not know if better communication with the Prosecutor's or...it is frustrating. You know,
when you guys work so hard and these guys are getting deals of the century. That needs to
be addressed. I am not sure if this is the right...I guess somebody in your Department that
can kind of put all of these cases in a clearinghouse and figure out why working with
whoever is involved, whatever agencies and why are we doing this? Is that something that
we are doing wrong? Is it something that...
Chief Perry: You see, that is why right at the start I put up
the criminal justice system charts. Once the individual leaves our area of responsibility, we
have no influence...we can suggest, we can cajole, and talk to the prosecutors and the
courts and the rest, but we actually have no control what goes on there. Yet, when these
people come out and reoffend, it takes our resources to go out and bring them to justice
again. So it is frustrating on our part. And it is hard. It is very hard.
Council Chair Rapozo: Yes and the police always get blamed. You read
it all the time, the police, the police, the police. It is just as frustrating for you folks to have
to go out and catch the same people over and over. It is just frustrating. We have got to get
a handle on that. That is not really for you folks, but thank you.
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Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock.
Councilmember Chock: I was reading about the computer-aided dispatch
records management system (CAD/RMS), that we want to implement. It would seem those
efficiencies might be contributing to the effectiveness just in terms of organization and so
forth. So that is a given. But I see $2 million. Is that inclusive of the implementation of the
system? You talk about the need for development of new technologies, upgrades to local
911 and so forth. Is that in in addition, or all-inclusive of your budget?
Chief Perry: It is everything.
Councilmember Chock: Okay.
Chief Perry: We are going from a Volkswagen to a Ferrari is
basically what it is, and stepping up our game.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura.
Chief Perry: Nothing wrong with Volkswagens.
Councilmember Yukimura: You mentioned in your goals, active shooter
training for first responding officers and outreach to government and community. How
much is this costing? What is the budget line item for this?
Mr. Contrades: As far as training? There is overtime built into it
$84,000. Two-day training that our officer goes through. As far as community outreach, it
is done generally on regular time. We have personnel who are trained to give presentations
to the community and best practices in how to deal with an active shooter situation. We
gave a couple presentations already. When we were fully ready when our presentations are
ready, then we will be reaching out to various agencies, schools, and what not.
Councilmember Yukimura: Where is that line item?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Page 104. Training overtime.
Councilmember Yukimura: It is part of the $405,000 budget?
Mr. Contrades: Training budget.
Councilmember Yukimura: And $84,000. And you see this as a priority?
Mr. Contrades: Absolutely. Trends are not going to stop. It is not
going to stop across the United States. What we want to do is be prepared should it ever
happen here. Like anything else, we hope it never will, but the reality is that we need to be
prepared for it.
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Councilmember Yukimura: How do you...how much does it cost to keep that
training fresh? I mean, you put it as your training every year?As you have new officers?
Mr. Contrades: I do not think it will cost us $84,000 every year,
but it will be part of our refresher training. We have annual recall training twice a year,
and we cover the high-liability issues. So I am sure that would be folded into our training,
just as a refresher. Basically it is teaching tactics, how to respond, different scenarios, and
things like that.
Councilmember Yukimura: For this first training you are bringing from a
consultant or a trainer?
Mr. Contrades: We already have this fiscal year, the overtime is
for next fiscal year. So we can actually train our personnel. We had a group of our trainers
trained as trainers and now they can train our people.
Councilmember Yukimura: I see. Okay. And you said you have an annual
recall training. What is that exactly?
Mr. Contrades: Annual recall training covers high-liability issues
such as defensive tactics. You know, emergency vehicle operations. Anything to do with
firearms training, requalification, those type of things.
Councilmember Yukimura: And you do that every year with every officer?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: That is a lot. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Along the lines of training overtime, besides the
active shooting training the number has gone up quite a bit. Is there any other significant
increases?
Mr. Contrades: For the CAD/RMS system, there is going to be an
8-hour mandatory class for each of our personnel. So we had to build in back fill overtime
for that as well.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. $65,000. Any more line item questions? I
have a line item question. Telephone increase. The telephone line item increased about
$30,000.
Mr. Contrades: We have to start providing cell phones for on-
duty work for our personnel. There are several...they raised several issues with having to
use their own personal phones. So for our patrol officers especially, they are going to have
to...or they have already have situations where they are required to provide interpreters.
So we have a system through the County, where they provide the interpreter over the cell
phone. Another thing is with our...and I would have to bring somebody up to explain the
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whole program, but with domestic violence, we have a lethality assessment program that
requires the officer to call someone to assist a victim of domestic violence by getting them in
touch with a counselor. The other reasons for this is that with our body cameras, the
phones can be used as viewers. So you can view what your camera is pointing at, to make
sure that the camera is pointing in the right direction. The officers will also be able to tag or
mark or label their videos right only their phone and also be able to utilize the phone as a
camera. Right now it takes care of issue.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: This would only be used for police work? It is not
their personal take-home phone?
Mr. Contrades: No, it is not.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: On position...you might have mentioned this.
On the six positions that are Federally funded. Zero dollars for each last budget and now
you are making a dollar for each of the six. Is that because you are anticipating Federal
funds at some point in the year?
Mr. Contrades: I am sorry, are you talking about the COPS
grant?
Councilmember Kuali`i: 1317-1322, yes, COPS end it. It was zero dollars
in last year's budget and now it is dollar-funded, are you anticipating Federal funds?
Mr. Contrades: The way the COPS grant works the first-year is
Asset Forfeiture Fund and Federal funds.
Councilmember Kuali`i: That is what you had said.
Mr. Contrades: And the second year is still Federal funds, but
some County funds to eventually the County picks up the position in its entirety.
Councilmember Kuali`i: That is not this coming budget year, but next
one.
Mr. Contrades: This next year will be Asset Forfeiture and
Federal funds.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Position 399, Police Lieutenant, vacant since
12/07/15. Is it currently under recruitment?
Mr. Contrades: With regard to Sergeant and Lieutenant
positions, this past Friday we met with SHOPO to go over the new promotional policy. We
identified some weaknesses in the current practice that we do, and we want to add an
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assessment center to it. So the meeting went very well and we will be moving forward. So
we are hoping to start our promotion sometime by June.
Councilmember Kuali`i: So I am looking at maybe 2, 4, 6 with one
Lieutenant and the other five are Sergeants, all different position numbers. Varying
budgeted amounts between $68,000 and $83,000. but when I look at the amount that it was
budgeted last year, compared to what is being budgeted this year, for example 312, Police
Sergeant. That one is vacant for over a year since 12/31/14. The budget for last year was
$68,000. The budget proposed for this year is $78,000, 15% increase. Why so drastic
compared to the others, you know?
Ms. Arruda: You are talking more about the Sergeant
positions?
Councilmember Kuali`i: Well, position 312, Police Sergeant. Vacant since
December 31st, 2014. PO 11, in the budget for the next fiscal year at $78,666. $68,412
according to the vacancy report and the difference is 15% increase.
Ms. Arruda: When we budget for the position we budget for
who is currently in the position. It is possible that was two different people at two different
step levels that would account for the differences.
Councilmember Kuali`i: That could even affect not only it goes up, but
also going down?
Ms. Arruda: Correct.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Because I see some that have gone down by large
amounts, too. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kagawa.
Councilmember Kagawa: Just another question on the SRO program. So
at the high schools, yes. So we are basically taking it from Investigative into the Patrol side
and are we removing the supervisor?
Mr. Contrades: The supervisor will now be the Administrative...I
am sorry, the Administrative Sergeant in Patrol. We have an Administrative Sergeant in
Patrol.
Councilmember Kagawa: Is that person overseeing the SROs?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Kagawa: So they still have a superior over there?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
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Councilmember Kagawa: Okay. Do we have it at the three (3) high
schools?
Mr. Contrades: Yes, at the three (3) high schools.
Councilmember Kagawa: Does that person also service the middle schools
too?
Mr. Contrades: Yes, if necessary. Sometimes they do.
Councilmember Kagawa: Mahalo. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any further questions?
Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: The Criminal Assets Fund, you show a salary
and wages of$48,000. What is that for, and it does not change in Fiscal Year 2017.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: If you look on page 102, they are funding the
six (6) Police Service Officers, COPS.
Councilmember Yukimura: But on $48,000?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: They said another portion of it is going to be
through Federal funds.
Councilmember Yukimura: What is the proportion that is Federal...not
Federal. Well, is COPS Federal moneys?
Ms. Arruda: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay.
Ms. Arruda: Basically, it will get to the point where the
County has to absorb the rest of it, but it is kind of incrementally. What happens is with
the raises, that is just more of the portion that will be taken up by the Federal grant in that
year.
Councilmember Yukimura: I see.
Ms. Arruda: So we will probably use that more because of
when we started versus what their pay scales are now.
Councilmember Yukimura: In our budget you, are showing no...oh, because
it is...this is Criminal Assets Fund. Can you submit the proportion for these four (4)
officers that you are planning to fund with the Criminal Assets Forfeiture moneys, the
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proportion per position, the amount from the Criminal Assets and the amount that will be
from the COPS grant, and the total salary for each of those four (4)?
Ms. Arruda: Okay.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: It is six (6) positions.
Councilmember Yukimura: Yes.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions for the Chiefs Office?
Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Position No. 536, Emergency Services
Dispatcher II that was vacant since December, what is the status of recruitment and when
do you expect to fill?
Mr. Contrades: We are constantly recruiting for those positions,
if I am not mistaken.
Councilmember Kuali`i: One (1) to three (3) months or longer than
three (3) months?
Mr. Contrades: The candidates have been referred. So we are
expecting to fill it by June.
Councilmember Kuali`i: By June. Next position, Positon No. 931 Senior
Clerk that was also vacant since December.
Mr. Contrades: Currently, it is going through background
investigation.
Councilmember Kuali`i: So you will definitely be filling by June?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. Position No. 561 Juvenile Counselor that
was vacant since July of last year.
Mr. Contrades: That is the one we discussed the re-description.
Right now, it is before the Vacancy Review Committee.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Vacancy Review. That going to take some time
though, right, because what are all of the steps that you have to go through starting with
Vacancy Review?
Mr. Contrades: Once the Vacancy Review Committee approves,
then we can go out and solicit for hire.
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Councilmember Kuali`i: Oh, it has already been through soliciting
because the re-describing part is all done with HR?
Mr. Contrades: That is done.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. Position No. 582, Pre-Audit Clerk that has
been vacant since November. The status of recruitment is expected to fill by June/July.
Mr. Contrades: We are waiting for the referred list from HR.
Councilmember Kuali`i: What kind of list?
Mr. Contrades: The referral list, referring the names over.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Does that mean it is moving and will be filled in
one (1) to three (3) months?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: The last one, Position No. 1947 Derelict Vehicle
Coordinator that has been vacant since June of last year.
Mr. Contrades: That has been filled.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Filled?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any more questions for Chiefs Office?
If not, we are going move on to Administrative and Technical Bureau (ATB). It is on
page 112, Administrative and Technical Bureau. I did not have any questions for that. If
there are no questions, I will move on. Councilmember Chock.
Councilmember Chock: Just one (1) quick question on the increase on
R&M Equipment to $164,140, if you can just share what that increase is.
Mr. Contrades: That is the officer safety program that we have
for body cameras and Tasers.
Councilmember Chock: So it is for the actual equipment for the officers.
Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Body cameras was $125,000. Councilmember
Yukimura.
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Councilmember Yukimura: The $2,300,000 from the Wireless E-911 Fund, is
this under Administrative and Technical Bureau?
Ms. Arruda: No. It would show up as a grant or a project. It
would not show up in our budget at all.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. When did this happen? When did we get
approval of these moneys?
Ms. Arruda: Do you mean when we came to Council to get
approval or when was approved by the 911 Board?
Councilmember Yukimura: When it was approved by the 911 Board.
Ms. Arruda: I think usually June or July they have their
strategic budget plan and they budget it out. So it would have been approved probably the
later part of June.
Councilmember Yukimura: Last year?
Ms. Arruda: 2015, yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. I just want to congratulate you all. That
is a huge part of the budget being paid by a grant and it is pretty major in terms of its
importance to the Department. Very good work.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any further questions?
Council Chair Rapozo: I have a question.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Council Chair Rapozo.
Council Chair Rapozo: The pre-employment drug testing, is that still
being done?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Council Chair Rapozo: I know I had a memorandum from HR saying
that because of the lawsuit on the Big Island, that...
Mr. Contrades: I am sorry, not pre-employment, post-job offer.
When we get them the conditional job offer, at some point we have drug test in there.
Council Chair Rapozo: Is that still happening?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
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Council Chair Rapozo: The drug screenings of officers that are
mandatory, is that for your officers that are already hired?
Mr. Contrades: Yes, the incumbent officers. We test them
periodically.
Council Chair Rapozo: Okay. Is $8,000 enough?
Mr. Contrades: I believe so.
Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: If there are no further questions for ATB, then
we are going to move on to the Investigative Services Bureau (ISB). It is on page 120. Are
there any questions? I did not have any either. If we have no questions, we will move on.
Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: I wanted a better understanding of what is
meant by "other commodities" and how that is being used? I see that there is ammunition
$6,500, diversionary devices $2,500, targets and gun cleaning supplies $1,500.
Mr. Contrades: That is normally for our Special Response Team,
ammunition rounds for training, targets for training, diversionary devices are for training
and if they need to use it in real world.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Then, in this current year, according to our
budget appropriation transfers report, I noticed that there was moneys in November
transferred special projects to Other Commodities — $5,000. That one was explained as
re-classed unexpended budget for actual cost, for travel, and from ISB Special Projects to
Complete Rappel Tower Procurement. So that was other equipment or supplies, if you will,
similar to these other things. But then the next one, which happened August 2015, same
thing. Special Projects to Other Commodities. It has $11,500, but it is missing the
description. We can follow-up. I will send a question or something in writing.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any further questions for Investigative
Services Bureau? If not, we are going to move on to Patrol. Patrol is on page 125. If there
are no questions for Patrol, we will move on. Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: All of the positions are under...
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Chiefs Office.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Why is that?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Why are all the positions in the Chiefs Office?
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Chief Perry: I do not recall. When I got here, it was all under
the Chiefs Office. A decision was made prior to my taking office.
Councilmember Yukimura: Interesting.
Chief Perry: It would be easier for bookkeeping. I am not
sure.
Councilmember Yukimura: Yes, there is a lot of movement.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any other questions for Patrol?
Councilmember Kagawa.
Councilmember Kagawa: Just a general question. I just read an article
about the lack of qualified applicants from Kauai. I wondered if we need to maybe
re-evaluate the difficulty of the test. I have heard that some of the applicants were recent
graduates of college. I think possibly they did not do well on the test or were not ready for
those types of questions on the written test because I assume it is quite difficult. I can
speak because I took the Fire test and it was pretty difficult. After I wondered as far as,
does passing this test with an eighty percent (80%) make a good Fire Department
candidate? I could not come up with the answer being yes. I think it is good to have some
intelligence, but I think there are other values that I believe are more important than the
eighty-nine percent (89%) or whatever you need to score. I was wondering if we need to
re-evaluate the Police written test and determine whether we are possibly denying some of
our well-deserved local residents from pursuing the occupation of police officer that a lot of
them have dreamed of and are being denied because of a poor written test score. Maybe
possibly adjusting that bar saying that maybe instead of having to score eighty
percent (80%), we can lower it to seventy percent (70%), and then let them be in the field of
being considered instead of just saying eighty percent (80%) and we are stuck on that. If
you do not make eighty percent (80%), then we are going to look for candidates in Honolulu,
or Maui, or wherever.
Mr. Contrades: As far as we are aware, the Police is seventy
percent (70%).
Councilmember Kagawa: Okay.
Mr. Contrades: To my knowledge, the majority of the test has to
do with grammar, spelling, and that type of thing. We can always revisit. It is good to
always revisit systems so we can take a look at it, but at some point we have got to
maintain a certain standard, too. I think the written on the Police test, I know is much
different than Fire. The majority of it has do with the ability to write because that is a
large part of our job.
Councilmember Kagawa: Do we provide the officers with iPads now
because they have spell check on Apple?
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Chief Perry: We provide them with computers and it is on
there. I understand what you are saying because when I first took the test, I had a hard
time. Fortunately had passed, but my grammar skills were not that great. I had to go back
to school and bone-up on all of the things that I had to learn prior to taking the test, and
that helped a lot. The issue that we have, we do not want to reduce our standards. We
want them to meet our standards, but we want to be fair at the same time. We want to be
fair not only to the local candidates or applicants, but also those coming from the mainland.
It is a difficult process and we work with HR, even in the promotional process, to make sure
that the questions are fair. Perhaps that is something that we could look at there the
future. Right now, we feel that is the test that is given is the minimum standards that we
are willing to accept. We do offer report writing within the recruit class, but they have to
pass the initial test with a score of seventy percent (70%) or better.
Councilmember Kagawa: Before I agree or disagree, I would like to maybe
see if the Council can be provided a copy of the test just so that we can decide for ourselves
whether we should even be saying these things. If I could see what the test looked like, I
would be able to make a clearer judgment. Like I said, I took the Fire test and I see no
relevance being an excellent firefighter by getting a score above eighty-five percent (85%) or
whatever. I really do not. I think there are a lot more qualities that I would think are
valuable than a test score on those questions. Again, I do not know what the Police test is
like. So I do not know if I am accurate in this. I am just curious right now.
Chief Perry: Another day has gone by where I did not have to
use Calculus and I had to take it to get my four (4) year degree. I understand what you are
saying.
Councilmember Kagawa: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any further questions for Patrol?
Councilmember Yukimura
Councilmember Yukimura: On the COPS positions, there is a pretty clear
background for salary. Do we have the additional and ancillary costs per officer whether it
is meals, uniforms, and all of those costs? Who pays that?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: The Department would pay for that.
Councilmember Yukimura: Where is that in the budget?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: That would be absorbed by collective bargaining
and it would be part of that.
Councilmember Yukimura: Could you give me the figure per officer, what
those ancillary costs are?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: You may need to be a little more specific because
I think it may vary with every single officer, right?
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Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: There are different pay scales.
Councilmember Yukimura: But they are all starting as beginning officer.
Mr. Contrades: Are you talking about equipment and uniform?
Councilmember Yukimura: Yes, meals.
Mr. Contrades: What do you mean by"meals?"
Councilmember Yukimura: And then we pay for exams. We pay for...I am
sorry...we do not pay for it?
Mr. Contrades: We do not pay for officer's meals unless it is
overtime.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. So I guess projected overtime then?
Mr. Contrades: At what point? As a recruit, they do not receive
overtime. We very rarely allow them to work overtime.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. How long is a recruit a recruit?
Mr. Contrades: It takes them about six (6) months to go through
training and then another three (3) months to go through field training that is actually out
in the field with a field training officer. After that nine (9) month period, they are on their
own.
Councilmember Yukimura: So it is a little under a year before they start
getting overtime and that kind of thing?
Mr. Contrades: Yes, generally.
Councilmember Yukimura: The COPS grant will be for how long until we are
weaned from it?
Mr. Contrades: I believe it is three (3) years.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. When you do those breakdowns, can you
do it for three (3) years? One would be diminishing and the other growing, right, and the
equipment and uniforms.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura, page 105, Other
Employee Benefits. They have uniform allowance $300, there is a firearm maintenance
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allowance that is $500, and public safety workers that $20 per month. These are all per the
collective bargaining agreement.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: If this does not answer your question, then
maybe we will send one more, but if it does, then we can hopefully hold off on it.
Councilmember Yukimura: I guess we would have to do health benefits
because those are real costs, right, health benefits and pensions.
Council Chair Rapozo: Do you understand what she is asking because I
do not. I do not. I have no clue and I want to make sure that you understand because I
know you are acknowledging it, but I think...
Ms. Arruda: For the grant, we actually break out...
Council Chair Rapozo: Everything that she is asking for is in the
budget. I do not know if she is asking for something different, but I want to make sure you
understand. We are trying to restrict or diminish the amount of things going across.
Ms. Arruda: I think from what I understand, she is kind of
asking for the background of how we turn in our grant application, which would show the
breakdown of how we would get from start of the grant all the way to the point where
county needed to take it over. I think it is all laid-out already and we had to provide it at
the point of applying for the grant. So it will just be a matter of updating the rates for what
the current collective bargaining rates when we first applied, but I believe the layout is
already done.
Councilmember Yukimura: It is less than a page probably, in a chart form?
Ms. Arruda: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: That will satisfy what she needed. Okay.
Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you for the update on it.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock.
Councilmember Chock: Chair, I know we passed these, but one
question...if we could quickly go back?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We are not going back...What page?
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Councilmember Chock: I am on page 121. I was looking at "other
rentals." I was getting my head around helicopter services. Do we share similar contract as
with the Fire Department with the helicopter use? Or is there a separate one? It talks
about search for missing persons and/or suspects. I was just curious.
Mr. Contrades: My understanding that is how we pay for our
share of the fuel in order to utilize...
Councilmember Chock: It is fuel cost basically.
Mr. Contrades: For the helicopter.
Councilmember Chock: That is what I was wondering.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions for Patrol?
Council Chair Rapozo: I do not know if it is for Patrol or my question is
the old Kapa`a Substation, which you are no longer in. You know anything about that
structure? I heard it was sold.
Mr. Contrades: We auctioned that off.
Council Chair Rapozo: It is still there.
Mr. Contrades: The last I understood, the new owner is trying to
get permits to move it. Through the permit process so he can move that building.
Council Chair Rapozo: Staff, maybe we can send something over to find
out what the hold-up is on that? It has been there for a while and I think it is an
unpermitted structure anyway. The guy bought an unpermitted structure.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We are coming up on our break. So if there are
no other questions for Patrol, or if you have one, we will take the final questions when we
get back. And we will go over the Abandoned Vehicle Program and Criminal Assets
Forfeiture Fund and that is it for today. We will take our ten (10) minute caption break.
There being no objections, the Committee recessed at 3:29 p.m.
The Committee reconvened at 3:43 p.m., and proceeded as follows:
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Welcome back. We are still on the Police budget.
We are trying to finish up Patrol. Any final questions for Patrol? Or anything else before
we move on and not go back? Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: My question is broader. I did not see the line
item "vacation credit payout" anywhere in Patrol or any other divisions, other than Chiefs
Office for a dollar ($1). I just kind of want to ask procedurally, with the budget, do you only
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put that dollar in the Chiefs Office and if there is any vacation credit payout throughout
the year in any of the other divisions it is paid from salaries that are transferred there and
then? Because can you not anticipate retirements and know what people's vacation balance
is? You could actually budget for it?
Mr. Contrades: My understanding is that the policy we would
have to pay that out with unexpended salaries.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Because I did see in the budget appropriations
transfer report February 22nd, there is a $59,000 transfer. So I am just thinking as far as
budget goes, if you can anticipate that based on coming retirements and knowing their
vacation balance, which sometimes is really significant, right? Having to pay for it for a
long time. I am curious as to what that $59,000 covers? But it just basically says it is a line
item of vacation credit payout.
Mr. Contrades: My understanding is that we are expected to
absorb that with unexpended salaries prior to filling that vacancy.
Councilmember Kuali`i: And you do not anticipate and budget for it? You
rely on the absorption by extra money in salaries?
Mr. Contrades: For example, if someone retires in October, we
have to utilize the money that would be unexpended for that position. So $59,000 as an
example, prior to...
Councilmember Kuali`i: From that position's budget?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Because you are not filling that position right
away. That is right. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: If there are no further questions, we are going to
move on to the "abandoned vehicle program" that is on page 302. Do we have any questions
for that? I guess for me, the disposal of abandoned vehicles, $300,000, what is that for?
TROY SAKAGUCHI, Police Officer: That disposal fee is...it goes to Resource
Recovery to transfer from Public Works.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Because I remember in the past, they had a fee
for towing. Like when they actually had to tow the vehicle to a facility, for the abandoned
vehicle. Is that part of the fee?
Mr. Sakaguchi: The disposal is separate from the towing.
Towing has separate contracts for abandoned and derelict and disposal is a separate
contract.
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Committee Chair Kaneshiro: The towing fee comes out of whose budget?
Mr. Sakaguchi: Right now it is still contracted with Public
Works, until I believe, October. They are still contracted under Public Works.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: That number is going to end up reflected in this
budget or is it going to be somewhere else? Because right now there is just a $300,000
disposal of abandoned vehicles. So I guess I did not understand if that included the towing
fee or not?And if it does not, we may end up with towing fees in addition?
Mr. Sakaguchi: When we put out the next contract, I am not
sure...
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Council Chair Rapozo.
Council Chair Rapozo: I am looking at our budget and for some reason it
looks like Public Works?
Mr. Sakaguchi: Up until last month, I believe...no wait. A few
months ago we took over for Public Works and got the position filled. So we absorbed all
the contracts for towing. I think Public Works is keeping part of the disposal though.
Council Chair Rapozo: So I guess explain again the $300,000? Where
does that go?
Mr. Sakaguchi: The $300,000 goes to Resource Recovery
Solutions.
Council Chair Rapozo: Puhi Metals? Is that in addition to the contract?
Do you know, Finance?
KEN M. SHIMONISHI, Director of Finance. That is correct. That is the funds
generated from the vehicle registrations. I think it is $5 per registration that goes towards
this Fund in order to process the vehicles for recycling through Puhi.
Council Chair Rapozo: So this is all, all we pay Puhi is $300,000 a year?
Mr. Shimonishi: Just for the recycling part of the equation. Are
you referring to the prior environmental work?
Council Chair Rapozo: No, no. Just right now, not talking about that.
Just the contract that we have with Puhi to deal with the metals?
Mr. Shimonishi: It relates to the auto, yes.
Council Chair Rapozo: I am sorry?
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Mr. Shimonishi: And then there is actually moneys in the Police
Department, I think the towing fees and whatnot. But this was correct in the Public Works
area.
Mr. Sakaguchi: Because on top of just disposal we have to pay
them for storage for abandoned. They have to be held 30 days.
Council Chair Rapozo: And we pay for that? Do we get anything back
from the...
Mr. Sakaguchi: So basically what happens is we would get
money back in terms of citation.
Council Chair Rapozo: No, no. Because even that we do not get. That
goes to the State. I am talking about when they store a car there, they charge a fee. Right?
Mr. Sakaguchi: Yes.
Council Chair Rapozo: And we pay that fee?
Mr. Sakaguchi: There are several ways for us to recoup our costs.
One is they can pay to have...they pay back the towing costs to us. And then they also...we
also...if we can return the car that way. If they do not return the car stays with us.
Council Chair Rapozo: Within that 30 days the owner goes to claim the
car, who does the owner pay?
Mr. Sakaguchi: The owner pays the County.
Council Chair Rapozo: Pays the County for the towing fee and the
storage fee?
Mr. Sakaguchi: The storage fee goes to Resource.
Council Chair Rapozo: So we do not pay the storage to Puhi?
Mr. Sakaguchi: We pay the storage if nobody claims it.
Council Chair Rapozo: Right, as long as somebody claims that car.
Mr. Sakaguchi: And if nobody does claim it, the car does end up
at auction.
Council Chair Rapozo: Do we go after the owner?
Mr. Sakaguchi: As best as we can. A lot of cars that we have
been towing lately are so old we cannot find the records.
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Council Chair Rapozo: There is a difference between abandoned and
derelict.
Mr. Sakaguchi: Even with abandoned they trade hands so many
times that nobody re-registers them or changes title.
Council Chair Rapozo: Is the last registered owner not responsible?
Mr. Sakaguchi: Yes. A lot of times they do not know it is their
car.
Council Chair Rapozo: You know what? Ignorance is no excuse. Tell
that to the judge.
Mr. Sakaguchi: We try our best to locate them. We had a few
come in and actually reclaim their vehicle, but more than likely, nobody comes to get them.
Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions on abandoned vehicles?
We will move on to the Criminal Assets Forfeiture Fund. It is on page 304. I know we had
discussion on this. Some of the money is for the COPS grant. Do we have any further
questions for this line item? Councilmember Yukimura.
Councilmember Yukimura: Is basically all of this budget not for the COPS
grant? Is the training for other purposes?
Mr. Contrades: I believe we budgeted some funds for unexpected
training opportunities.
Councilmember Yukimura: Not related to COPS?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: And then the other two line items are
COPS-related? Grant employee benefits?
Mr. Contrades: Yes.
Councilmember Yukimura: So that is about $91,000. And then $20,000.
Apparently that is all that is left in the Forfeiture Fund at this point, is that correct?
Mr. Contrades: That is all we are able to access at this point.
There will be some, I believe rollover from this fiscal year to next. But we will not be able to
access that at this time.
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Councilmember Yukimura: We will not be able to access it for this coming
fiscal year?
Mr. Contrades: Yes. It is budgeted in the previous fiscal year.
Councilmember Yukimura: In this...not for this upcoming fiscal year. Right.
That means that basically in the Forfeiture Fund there is not any money available?
Mr. Contrades: I believe this is more or less it, at this time.
Councilmember Yukimura: Right. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Is there any intention...I mean we have had this
one grow and shrink and grow and shrink. What is the intention with the Fund? As things
are needed, General Fund money that you can pull out of Forfeiture Fund, you are going to
pay for it?
Mr. Contrades: If I am not mistaken, I think that would be
considered supplanting. So if it is to supplement existing budget, if at any point based on
my understanding of forfeiture, you take money away, and then utilize this money to
replace it, then that would be in violation in terms of DOJ. So I believe they would consider
that supplanting. This money is to supplement. A good example is the training. The
$20,000 we budgeted. You know, we budgeted for specific trainings throughout the year. If
something comes up, that we were not prepared for, than we can utilize the Asset
Forfeiture Funds to pay for that particular training.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: And we are able to use it for positions just
because it was a grant position?
Mr. Contrades: Because it was a one-time initial grant position.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: You cannot subsidize salaries or anything with
it. The reason that we have it because it was a one-time grant.
Mr. Contrades: That is why it is initially used at the beginning,
but you are not allowed to continue to use it in subsequent years.
Chief Perry: In the guide for equitable sharing for State and
local law enforcement agencies, the example that they give, example of improper
supplanting, a police example...just happened to use the police, police department evidence
is $100,000 only to have their budget cut by $100,000 by the city council and there this
instance, the police department has not received benefit and rather the city as a whole has
received the benefit of the sharing. So the guidelines are set specifically for the agency, and
not the county as a whole. Although the county benefits from the training, and the
equipment that we purchased through these funds.
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Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any further questions on this? If not,
this is the last item for today. Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: I just want to go back to something that was said
just to make sure I.got my notes right. On the $300,000 for disposal of abandoned vehicles,
that $300,000 from the General Fund, correct?
Mr. Contrades: I am sorry, I am not prepared to answer that.
Councilmember Kuali`i: You made the statement, something about
vehicle registration fees.
Mr. Contrades: Beautification.
Councilmember Kuali`i: You said something about $5 from the vehicle
fees, or he said...I do not remember who said. Beautification Fund.
Mr. Shimonishi: Yes. That is correct. So with every vehicle
registration, I believe there is a $5 beautification fee that supports this Fund. It is not
General Fund, but it is a fund in and of itself.
Councilmember Kuali`i: $5 off every motor vehicle registration.
Mr. Shimonishi: Correct.
Councilmember Kuali`i: That is an amount established by this Council?
Mr. Shimonishi: I guess by ordinance at some point in time.
Councilmember Kuali`i: As far as the amount of moneys available to take
care of this problem, we have enough money to deal with all of the abandoned vehicles on
the island? You never run out of money?
Mr. Shimonishi: I would not say all of the vehicles, but I think
that is the budget we put forward based on available funds and revenue generated.
Councilmember Kuali`i: I just think it is important that we have enough
money to handle the problem.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Hooser.
Councilmember Hooser: Just a point of clarification. I am fairly certain
that is established by H.R.S., the $5. That we are not allowed to raise....
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: The intention of that Fund was for this type of
activities, where people dump their vehicle on the side of the road, and that money that
people put in goes to have it removed. To keep our island nice. Any further questions? If
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not, thank you, Police Department. Thank you for all of your hard efforts, your
presentation, and answering all of the questions. At this time, I would like to recess the
Departmental Budget Reviews. We will reconvene at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday where we will
have a discussion on revenues, real property taxes, charges, and fees, and hearing from the
Office of Economic Development.
There being no objections, the Departmental Budget Reviews recessed at 3:58 p.m.
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