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COUNTY OF KAUAI
Minutes of Meeting
OPEN SESSION
Board/Commission: CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION Meeting Date: November 5, 2019
Location Mo’ikeha Building, Liquor Conference Room 3 Start of Meeting: 3:01 p.m. End of Meeting: 4:20 p.m.
Present Chair Richard Jose. Vice Chair Jeffrey Iida. Commissioner: Fely Faulkner, Elizabeth Hahn, Vonnell Ramos and Ricky Watanabe.
Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami (arrived at 4:01 p.m. and left at 4:12 p.m.). Deputy County Attorney Todd Jenson. Acting Director of
Human Resources Janine Rapozo (left at 3:15 p.m.). Office of Boards and Commissions Staff: Administrator Ellen Ching and
Commission Support Clerk Sandra Muragin.
Excused Commissioner Beth Tokioka.
Absent
SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION
Call To
Order/Roll Call
Chair Jose called the meeting to
order at 3:01 p.m. with six
members constituting a quorum.
Approval of
Minutes
Open Session Minutes of October 1, 2019
Ms. Hahn moved to approve the
Open Session minutes of
October 1, 2019, as circulated.
Ms. Faulkner seconded the
motion. Motion carried 6:0.
Acting
Director’s
Report
CSC 2019-26 Acting Director’s Reports for the October 2019 period.
A. Labor contracts and negotiations
B. Administrative Services and Benefits
C. Classification and Pay and Labor Relations
D. Recruitment and Exam
E. Payroll
F. Employee Development and Health Services
G. EEO/ADA
Acting Director Janine Rapozo reviewed the October report with the Commission (on file).
She said all five HGEA (Hawai‘i Government Employee Association) contracts for Unit 2-
blue collar supervisors, Unit 3-clerical workers, Unit 4-clerical workers supervisors, Unit
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SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION
13-scientific and professional and Unit 14-ocean safety and sheriff’s department are still
outstanding. Unit 13 and Unit 2 have settled and were passed statewide. These units now
need to seek funding approval from their Legislative bodies. Unit 13 Bill for an Ordinance
is scheduled for first reading, tomorrow, at the County Council meeting and Unit 2 will be
scheduled at a later date. They completed arbitration for Unit 4, but will withhold its
decision until Unit 3 completes its arbitration along with Unit 14 in January 2020.
Last month they conducted testing for fire fighter promotion and training and are in the
process of completing the promotion list for the department to select. They have also
started working on next year’s budget.
Ms. Hahn requested for an update on the new software. Ms. Rapozo said the HR
department fixed some of their payroll problems on the old system and after the November
15 payroll would see if these fixes produced better results. The committee received
approval from purchasing department to negotiate a price and scope for the new system
from two consultants. The chosen consultant would produce the Request for Proposal
(RFP) specifications and scope of work and they hope this could be completed before the
end of the fiscal year.
Ms. Faulkner couldn’t comprehend the high separation number separated from the exit
interviews. Ms. Rapozo attributed that to the possibility that the transaction followed the
actual separation and it could also include short term hires that do not get an exit interview.
Ms. Faulkner stated that the county continued to miss opportunities to collect valuable
information on what the county or department lacked and that it could be used to control
vacancies and recruitment cost. She emphasized that exit interviews are an important and
valuable tool and all employees leaving should be mandated to take part in it.
Mr. Ramos asked if HR conducted stay interviews. He suggested they find out what their
strengths are by asking existing employees what keeps them working for the county and
highlight that in recruitment. Ms. Rapozo admitted that had not been done before, but really
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SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION
liked the idea.
Ms. Janine Rapozo left the meeting room.
Pursuant to Hawai‘i Revised Statutes §§92-4 and 92-5 (a) (2) (4), 92-9 (a) (1-4) and (b), 76-
47 (e) the purpose of this Executive Session is to receive and approve Executive Session
minutes, to consider the hire, evaluation, dismissal or discipline of an employee or officer of
the County where consideration of matters affecting privacy will be involved and to discuss
the hiring of a new Director of Human Resources, and to consult with the Commission’s
legal counsel on questions and issues pertaining to the Commission’s and the County’s
powers, duties, privileges, immunities, and/or liabilities as they may relate to this agenda
item. (On-going)
Administrator Ellen Ching read
the Hawai‘i Revised Statutes to
move the meeting into
Executive Session.
Vice Chair Iida moved to enter
into Executive Session. Ms.
Hahn seconded the motion.
Motion carried 6:0.
At 3:17 p.m. the Commission
entered into Executive Session.
Return to Open
Session
At 3:49 p.m. the Commissioners reconvened in Open Session.
Business CSC 2019-27 Possible interviews with the Honorable Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami,
Managing Director Michael A. Dahilig and Union Representatives regarding sharing of
important attributes and leadership traits that a Director of Human Resources should
possess.
Ms. Ching said this was placed on the agenda once she was informed that the Police
Commission did this as part of their hiring process. She asked the commission if they
would want to consider this. Vice Chair Iida and Ms. Hahn felt it was late in the hiring
process and it would have been more beneficial if it was done at the beginning stages. Ms.
Faulkner disagreed and saw the value in hearing prospective views, she realized the
importance of gaining advice from the Mayor and Managing Director. After some
discussion the commission agreed but it would need to happen now. Ms. Ching apologized
for the late information and requested for a recess to see if either was available.
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SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION
Chair Jose called for a recess at 3:55 p.m.
Chair Jose reconvened the meeting at 4:01 p.m.
Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami entered the meeting room.
The Honorable Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami thanked the commission for their service.
Chair Jose thanked the Mayor for taking the time to share his thoughts on important
attributes and leadership traits that a Director of Human Resources should possess. Mayor
Kawakami talked about his family’s philosophy that was passed down from his great
grandfather. His father, the late Chief Executive Officer of Big Save Charles Kawakami
considered three positions that were vital to running a successful business; operations
manager, chief financial officer and human resources director. These were personally hand-
picked and hired by Mr. Charles Kawakami.
Moving forward, Mayor Kawakami expressed qualities that he deemed necessary in order
for the new DHR to understand his direction and be a contributor to propel his course of
action. The new DHR should be a forward thinker, visionary, thinks beyond day to day
responsibilities, trustworthy, hard-worker and most importantly proactive in developing
human capital. He identified County employees as the most valuable and important
resource and expected the DHR to proactively formulate a strategic plan to continuously
develop all employees and provide them the tools to excel to their fullest potential. He said
Ms. Hahn moved to invite the
Honorable Mayor Derek S.K.
Kawakami and Managing
Director Michael A. Dahilig to
share their thoughts on
important attributes and
leadership traits for a Director
of Human Resources. Ms.
Faulkner seconded the motion.
Motion carried 4:2. (Nay – Iida
and Watanabe)
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the new DHR must be a firm but compassionate leader and trustworthy, because the HR
department are often in the position to say “no” and he would have to back-up their
decisions. He considered experience in dealing with labor unions a low priority; however,
they must be well versed with current statutes and ordinances.
Mayor Kawakami said his hope is to develop people to their fullest potential, to the point
where they become noticeable by the private sector; when that happens he has done his job.
He thanked the commission for allowing him this time. In closing, he said HR must be
accountable to mitigate risk in the workplace, handle investigations and flexible in their
relation to the diverse culture that the county employs. HR is often the most under-
appreciated department, extremely important and he would depend on them for critical
decisions. He thanked the commission for their hard-work and trusted their judgement and
process to select the best candidate. The Commission thanked Mayor Kawakami for his
input.
Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami left the meeting room.
The commission decided to decline contacting union representatives due to the late
timeframe.
Mr. Watanabe moved to receive
the advice from the Honorable
Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami.
Vice Chair Iida seconded the
motion. Motion carried 6:0.
CSC 2019-28 Discussion and implementation of the hiring process to begin selection of a
Director of Human Resources. [12/11/18, 1/22/19, 2/26/19, 3/19/19, 4/2/19, 5/7/19, 6/4/19,
7/2/19, 8/6/19, 9/3/19, 9/10/19, 10/1/19, 10/30/19]
A. Discussion and possible approval of the recommendations from the Permitted
Interaction Group 3 (PIG) on the questions and scoring tool to rate applicants during
the oral interview.
B. Discussion and possible approval on the interview schedule and timeline.
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1. Confirm oral interview date(s).
2. Confirm timeline of appointments.
3. Confirm interview particulars.
Ms. Ching said these were discussed in executive session and reiterated what the
commission decided. They also agreed to have a working lunch.
County Attorney Jenson advised the commission to adopt the PIG’s recommendations.
Vice Chair Iida moved to adopt
all the recommendations for the
interview process made in
executive session. Mr.
Watanabe seconded the motion.
Motion carried 6:0.
Announcements Next Meeting: Tuesday, December 17, 2019 – 3:00 p.m., Mo'ikeha Building, Liquor
Conference Room 3.
Adjournment
With no objections, Chair Jose
adjourned the meeting at 4:20
p.m.
Submitted by: ________________________________________ Reviewed and Approved by: _________________________________________
Sandra Muragin, Commission Support Clerk Richard Jose, Chair
( X ) Approved as circulated. 12/17/19
( ) Approved with amendments. See minutes of ___________ meeting.