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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019 12-04 SC Open Session Minutes Page 1 of 12 COUNTY OF KAUA`I SALARY COMMISSION 4444 RICE STREET, MOIKEHA BUILDING MEETING ROOM 2A/2B LIHUE, HAWAII 96766 MINUTES OF THE COMMISSION’S DECEMBER 4, 2019 MEETING ____________________________________________________________________________ ATTENDANCE Commissioners present: Kenneth Rainforth, Chair Robert Crowell Vice Chair Leland Kahawai, Commissioner Trinette Kaui, Commissioner Commission Support Staff: Ellen Ching, Boards and Commissions Administrator Mercedes Omo, Commission’s Support Clerk Commission Attorney: None present CALL TO ORDER With four (4) members present, Chair Rainforth called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. CHAIR’S ANNOUNCEMENT Next scheduled meeting 9:00 a.m. on Monday, December 9, 2019 at the Mō’ikeha Building, Meeting Room 2A/2B. Chair Rainforth: I will not be able to attend the December 9th meeting because I have to fly to the mainland. Ms. Omo: Being that the Chair will be gone there would be no quorum to conduct business. Mr. Crowell: Are you going to be gone for a while. Chair Rainforth: My mom passed away, so I have to go back to bury her, but I’ll be back on the 13th or something like that. Ms. Kaui: I’m so sorry to hear that. Chair Rainforth: Thank you. I’m a little fuzzy about the Boards and Commission’s move as to when we can possibility have another meeting in December, if we even want to or we should push our meeting to sometime in January. Page 2 of 12 Ms. Ching: Chair, I have an update on our move. We are pushing it back for another couple of months and it may be as far out as July, so feel free to schedule the meetings as it is convenient for the members. Chair Rainforth: Okay, does anyone want to propose any potential dates in case we need to meet again. Ms. Kaui: Maybe, we might not need to meet until… Chair Rainforth: Your right, but we won’t know until after we’re finished with this meeting. Mr. Crowell: Right, so why don’t we just move on to the agenda? Chair Rainforth: Okay, let’s move on to the next order of business which is the approval of the minutes. APPROVAL OF THE OPEN SESSION MEETING MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 21, 2019 Chair Rainforth: Is there a motion to approve the meeting minutes? Ms. Kaui: So moved. Chair Rainforth: Is there a second? Mr. Crowell: Second. Chair Rainforth: Discussion are there any corrections to the minutes? Chair Rainforth: Okay, are there any other changes or deletions? Hearing none, can I have a motion to approve the minutes of November 21, 2019? Mr. Kahawai: Chair, I just have a question on the word highlighted in yellow on Page 11. Ms. Kaui: I think the correct word should be “current”. Ms. Omo: I’m sorry, the correct word should have been “chronic”. Ms. Kaui: Okay, thank you. I move to approve the minutes as amended. Mr. Kahawai: Second. Chair Rainforth: Thank you, okay, all those in favor of the motion to approve the minutes as amended, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? Hearing none. The motion carries. Page 3 of 12 A motion was made by Ms. Kaui and seconded by Mr. Crowell to approve the meeting minutes of November 21, 2019 as amended. The motion carried 4:0. BUSNESS  SC 2019-04 Discussion and decision-making in establishing the maximum cap for salaries for certain County officers and employees included in Section 3-2.1 of the Kaua‘i County Code for Fiscal Year 2020/2021. (On-going) Chair Rainforth: Okay, the next order of business is item SC 2019-04. We’ve talked about putting in tiers, we’ve talked about putting in multiple years and we also talked about the possibility of giving bonuses and allowances, now or in the future. Mr. Crowell: Right, but I think for the immediate future we need to talk about whether we are going to purpose propose possible salary increases and that would lead us to how many meetings we may need to have before January rolls around. Chair Rainforth: Yes, thank you for the reminder. I want to talk about that too. So we need to make a decision today on whether or not we are going to submit a resolution to Council sometime in January. Do you want to make that into a motion? Ms. Ching: Chair, you can call for a motion not to submit a resolution and a second, then you can have a discussion. Chair Rainforth: Okay, so would somebody like to move not to submit a resolution in January and wait until next January to submit a resolution. Ms. Kaui: Chair, I make a motion that we postpone submitting a recommendation for salary increases in January 2020. Mr. Kahawai: Second. Chair Rainforth: Okay, discussion. Ms. Kaui: Given the circumstances surrounding the County’s budget shortfall and all of the other moving parts especially with the Charter Review Commission we should postpone submitting a resolution. I think we were successful in getting something out and I know that Commissioner Crowell wanted us to take a break next year and do some deep diving so we can put something out that’s more meaningful like the number of years to give salary increases rather than coming back each year. We could also look at the different job descriptions which will give us enough time to produce something that’s more meaningful from the Commission to the Councilmembers. Chair Rainforth: I like that idea. Mr. Kahawai: Chair, have we been approached by any of the other Boards and Commissions asking for us to consider salary increases. Because last year, I think I saw Fire and Water. Page 4 of 12 Chair Rainforth: No one has approached me, but Ellen did remind us that the County needs a County Engineer and the Water Department needs a Manager. May be we could focus on those two positions or not. Other than that no other Commissions have approached us for increases. I have a question for Ellen, after December 1st have there been any salary increases for certain department heads and deputies who are under the Mayor’s control? Ms. Ching: Yes. Chair Rainforth: Good. Mr. Crowell: Ellen, on July 1st did the Police Commission give the Police Chief a pay raise? Ms. Ching: The Police Commission has instituted a pretty robust evaluation process and they just completed a six month evaluation on Chief Raybuck which will be followed by an annual performance evaluation, then quarterly evaluations thereafter. Mr. Crowell: Thank you. Ms. Ching: It appears for the Commissions who have purview over the salaries, the Mayor did send out a memo to them to inform them of the commitment he made to the County Council that no one would get an increase until they had completed their job performance review that was satisfactory or better, then at that point, he would entertain giving salary increases. But he did ask the Commissions to consider doing the same and it looks like the Commissions are taking his advice and recommendation. Mr. Crowell: Once given, did everyone end up going to the max? Do you know? Ms. Ching: I don’t know. Mr. Crowell: Okay. Ms. Ching: This is something that just happened recently because majority of the appointees’ anniversary date was on December 3rd. I started a little later on December 10th. The job performance reviews were completed and I think it’s just a matter of the Managing Director and the Mayor going through their performance reviews and making that determination. So this is just a recent process and I’m not sure if they completed it on everyone, but they may have. Chair Rainforth: Is there any further discussion? Mr. Crowell: I agree with Trinette. Given what we’ve learned about the slight budget deficient the County is faced with and given all of the things we would like to discuss plus it being an election year, I’m not sure how things are going to go over. Page 5 of 12 So I agree with Ms. Kaui not send a proposal over. We could send Council a memo telling them there would be no resolution coming from the Salary Commission or we could do nothing at all. Ms. Ching: If the Commission decides not to submit a resolution, then I would ask that the Commission be open to having me draft a memo to inform the Council that a resolution would not be coming over. I could put in some of the discussion like the reason why it would be better not to submit something at this point and that the Commission would like to take next year to do a deep dive. I feel that we should inform them and give them an explanation on the rationale behind the Commission‘s decision not to submit a resolution at this time. Ms. Kaui: Yes, I think we should send them a memo out of courtesy and for budgeting purposes, then Council won’t have to worry about filling in the blanks for those… Ms. Ching: I would suggest that the memo should also inform the Mayor because it’s the Executive Branch that formulates the budget and transfers it over to Council. The Commission needs to inform the Mayor and Council that a resolution will not be coming forward and explain its rationale. Chair Rainforth: Instead of a memo we should send them a letter because the explanation could be very lengthy. I think how you word it is going to be very important, so if your office wants to draft the letter could we have the draft made available to us so we can go over it and red line it and put in things that we like and maybe take out the things that we don’t particular like. We’re not under any crunch time, but we still should get the letter out to Council before they begin budget deliberations so they can understand that there won’t be a resolution coming from us. So, I like the idea and maybe something could be prepared for our next meeting if it’s going to be in January? Mr. Crowell: It depends on when Chair Kaui calls for a meeting. Oh, I’m sorry I moved on to the next agenda item, excuse me. (Laughter) Chair Rainforth: Would someone like to call for the question? Wait, before someone calls for the question, I would just want to say I would like to have a year to work on it because we did we come up with some great ideas at our last couple of meetings. I think we are going to have a lot of fun investigating the possibilities of what we think would work and what we think wouldn’t work. Besides, I don’t feel prepared right now to throw anything together to the Mayor and to Council. So that’s where I’m at. Ms. Ching: Chair, I think that is very wise decision on your part because if the charter amendment goes through and it gets on the election ballot it may very well be that this Commission would end up with the full authority, which will be a big game changer. So, I think for a number of reasons it would be a very wise move. Mr. Crowell: Yep. Page 6 of 12 Chair Rainforth: Yes. When we get to that item we can talk more about it. Is there any more discussion? If not, I would like to call for the vote not to submit a resolution in January. A motion was made by Ms. Kaui and seconded by Mr. Kahawai not to submit a resolution in January for the County’s 2020/2021 Fiscal Budget and to spend a year to investigate alternatives for compensation and submit a resolution sometime in January 2021 for the year after. The motion carried 4:0. Ms. Ching: Chair, before you leave that agenda item, could you call for a motion to authorize me to draft something for your approval at the next meeting to notify Council of your actions along with a rationale. Chair Rainforth: Can somebody moved that? Mr. Kahawai: So moved. Mr. Crowell: Second. Chair Rainforth: Any discussion? Mr. Kahawai: Should the letter be addressed to Council or the Administration? Ms. Ching: There is a protocol in place that all communications from the Executive Branch to the Legislative Branch flows up to the Mayor’s office then over to Council. So they will be notified. Chair Rainforth: Is Boards and Commissions considered an Executive Branch? Ms. Ching: Yes, because we are part of the Mayor’s office. Chair Rainforth: Okay. Chair Rainforth: All those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? Hearing none. The motion carries 4:0. A motion was made by Mr. Kahawai and seconded by Mr. Crowell to have Boards and Commissions Administrator Ellen Ching draft a letter to the County Council to inform the members that the Salary Commission will not be submitting a resolution in January 2020 and the rationale behind it. The motion carried 4:0. Page 7 of 12  SC 2019-05 Election of Chair and Vice Chair for calendar year 2020. Chair Rainforth: The next order of business is SC 2019-05 the election of a new Chair and Vice Chair for calendar year 2020. Ms. Kaui: Do we have to have to new people to serve as Chair and Vice Chair every year? Ms. Ching: Yes, per the County Charter a Chair can only serve one year; however, a Vice Chair can serve more than one year, but a Chair can only serve a one year term. Ms. Kaui: You can be the next Chair. Mr. Crowell: I was the Chair just before him. Ms. Kaui: So. (Laughter) I’ll be the Vice the Chair. Mr. Crowell: Ken can be the Vice Chair. Ms. Kaui: Bob, you can be the Chair because I’m still learning. Chair Rainforth: You don’t think I am learning too. (Laughter) Is there a nomination for Chair? I nominate Trinette. Mr. Crowell: Second. Chair Rainforth: May we also elect a new Vice Chair with the same motion just to get it over with quicker? Ms. Ching: You would have to amend the motion. Chair Rainforth: Never mind, we’ll do it this way. Is there any more discussion? Sensing none. We’re ready to vote. All those in favor of electing Trinette Kaui to the Chairmanship for calendar year 2020, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? Hearing none. The motion carries 4:0. Is there nominations for Vice Chair? By a vote of 4:0 Ms. Trinette Kaui was elected as the new Chair for calendar year 2020. Mr. Crowell: I would like to nominate Ken Rainforth as the new Vice Chair. Mr. Kahawai: Second. Chair Rainforth: It’s been moved and seconded. Are there any other nominations? Any discussion? It’s been moved and seconded to elect Ken Rainforth as the new Salary Commission vice Chair for calendar year 2020. All those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying aye. Opposed? Hearing none. The motion carries 4:0. Page 8 of 12 Mr. Crowell moved to elect Ken Rainforth to serve as the new Vice Chair for calendar year 2020. Mr. Kahawai seconded. Being there were no objections, Mr. Rainforth was elected as the new Vice Chair for calendar year 2020. SC 2019-06 Discussion and decision-making related to a proposal for a Charter Amendment to Section 29.01 Organization and Section 29.02 Policies of the Kaua‘i County Charter, Article XXIX Salary Commission. Chair Rainforth: The next order of business is item SC 2019-06. Okay, when I went to the Charter Review Commission meeting a week ago, Monday, I told them that the Salary Commission would like to see an amendment on the ballot again, the same one that was defeated two years ago. Managing Director Mike Dahilig came with another proposal and that proposal is before you today. Ellen tells me that all of the other counties… Ms. Ching: All the other counties have… Chair Rainforth: All the other counties have Salary Commissions that are already determining the maximum salaries except for Kaua‘i. The Administration believes that this type of approach may be more acceptable to the electorate because the Mayor would be appointing three of the Commissioners and Council would be appointing the other three Commissioners, then those six Commissioners would select their seventh member. Ellen, would you like the Salary Commission to have a motion to except or decline this proposal or…well, it doesn’t matter because the Administration is submitting it anyway. Ms. Ching: I think for the purpose of discussion if you have a motion to accept this proposal, then you can have the discussion and you can either vote in favor of it or against it. But in view of the Charter Review Commission, one of the things they wanted is the opinion of the Salary Commission based on this proposal. They are still considering it, but they want to hear via your Chair what the opinion of the Salary Commission is on this proposal. Chair Rainforth: Okay, we need a motion to approve the proposed amendment to the County Charter. Ms. Kaui: So moved. Mr. Crowell: Second. Chair Rainforth: Okay, it’s been moved and seconded. Discussion. My thoughts when I was sitting at the Charter Review Commission meeting was there is only four of us here… Ms. Kaui: Right. Chair Rainforth: I don’t know what the past has been. In your experience has the Salary Commission ever had seven members? Page 9 of 12 Mr. Crowell: Yes, there was a time when we had all seven members on the Commission. But it got difficult when the requirement relating to a person’s financial disclosure; that’s when things got difficult. I’m not sure what the history is…I mean, when was the last time we had a seven member Commission. It has been awhile. Ms. Ching: I think the two things that impacted this Commission as well as all other Commissions was the ethics decision about appearing before a Commission. A lot of people that might have served on the Salary Commission maybe they had to appear before the Planning Commission, so they all resigned which made it very difficult and the financial disclosure was an issue as well. It’s always an issue when I talk to people about serving. I mention that and for some people that is not something they want the public to know. Chair Rainforth: Thank you. My assessment for this proposal is with the Mayor and the Council looking for Commissioners we would probably have a better chance of having more warm bodies on the Commission. I suspect that it was difficult to fill out seven slots, but it doesn’t matter because as long as we have four members the Commission can operate. I think I like that proposal. Ms. Kaui: If I’m reading it correctly Ellen. Council is going to select three and the Mayor is going to select another three and the seventh member will be selected by the members that were previously selected by the Mayor and Council. So, it’s the body… Ms. Ching: The body itself will select the seventh member. We some Commissions that are currently made up that way. Historic Preservation Commission and Open Space Commission and I believe there’s another….so we do have Commissions in existence that operate in that manner already. Mr. Crowell: Ellen, do you know if the other Salary Commissions from the other counties are made up the same way too? Ms. Ching: To refresh my memory, I looked at all the different Charters to make sure Kaua‘i is the only Commission that doesn’t have the authority to set the salaries. All other counties Salary Commissions have that authority. I know for a fact there’s one, but I can’t recall where it’s split that way. The thought is, in some way, it cannot be a controversial Charter amendment between the legislative and the executive branch because the legislative branch approves “quote unquote” the budget and dispenses the funds. That’s why the resolution has to go to Council because the Council has the authority. It’s an attempt, in a way, to split the child in half and say we’re not taking away the authority from Council because Council will still have input on all of the decision-making. So that’s one of the strengths of this proposal. As we went through last year, there was a lot of confusion on the public’s part where they were really angry with the Mayor thinking that he just got elected and now he wants to raise the salaries. They were also very angry with Council for that same reason. Page 10 of 12 I think both sides were pretty unfairly harshly criticized and the few who realized it was the Salary Commission, they criticized the Commission not knowing by Charter that is actually the Commissions duty and responsibility. So, in some ways, it’s a way to say okay, we know that we need to address this and we want to address it in a fair and reasonable way. The fact is all of the other counties have already adopted this because they felt it was a great solution, especially considering that this Commission has been challenged with inversions and with what it can do in terms of taking a more logical look to address those issues instead of having to go in each year with a new resolution and try to chip away at it. We don’t see how we are going to address it in a reasonable fashion so there are a lot of good reasons why the other counties have already adopted it. Chair Rainforth: In the second part of the amendment pertaining to Section 29.03. It seems like they took away the language of submitting a resolution to the County Council for their rejection. So, a resolution will still be forthcoming, but it would be prepared by us, all we have to do is sign the bottom and that’s it. Okay, there is a motion on the floor and we are discussing the proposed amendment that we need to inform the Charter Review Commission that we either like it or we don’t like it, or it needs some changes. Ms. Kaui: Point of clarification, the areas that are bracketed are they going to be taken out? Chair Rainforth: Yes, it it’s really hard to see. I rather have strike outs. Ms. Kaui: Me too. Ms. Ching: I like the strike outs too; however, I was corrected by the County Attorney’s that was not a legal format. It’s a Ramseyer format where it’s underlined with brackets and no strikeouts that legal. Chair Rainforth: What I would do is put all of the new additions in green and all of the deletions in red to make it really simple. Ms. Kaui: Taking out the words that are in brackets will make it less confusing. But by taking it out what would be considered the majority? Ms. Ching: Basically, the Commission would do a resolution and once the Commission has voted to adopt the resolution you would basically be transmitting for information only. Ms. Kaui: Okay, I got it. Chair Rainforth: It would say (if it’s passed by the voters) the Commission’s salary findings shall be adopted by resolution of the Commission on or before March 15th of any calendar year. The resolution shall take effect without the mayor and council’s concurrence sixty (60) days after its Page 11 of 12 adoption by the Salary Commission. Then it goes on to say, the respective appointing authority may set the salary of an appointee at a figure lower than the maximum figure established by the Salary Commission for the position, provided that the elected officers may voluntarily accept a salary lower than the maximum figure established by the Salary Commission for their position, or forego a salary. All of which says Council will be out it. Is there further discussion on our motion to approve the proposed amendments that was provided by the Administration? Mr. Crowell: Nope. Chair Rainforth: I like it and I’m going to vote in favor of it. Sensing that you are all ready to vote. All those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying aye. Opposed. Hearing none. The motion carries. On a motion made by Ms. Kaui and seconded by Mr. Crowell to accept and approve the Administration’s proposed amendments to Article XXIX Salary Commission as submitted. The motion carried 4:0. Ms. Ching: Chair, are you going to appear before the Charter Review Commission to let them know or would you like me to prepare a memo to that effect and send it to them? Chair Rainforth: Well, when does the Charter Commission meet next? Ms. Ching: Maybe on the 23rd Ms. Omo: They meet at 3:00 p.m. on December 23rd. Their last meeting was on November 25th. Chair Rainforth: I could attend. Do you think that’s what Jan TenBruggencate wants? Ms. Ching: Yes, they’ve been asking that each respective commissions for input and they’ve been asking that those commissions send a representative, so I’m guessing that they would certainly like to hear from you. Chair Rainforth: Do they normally meet at 3:00 p.m. Ms. Ching: Yes. Chair Rainforth: So, there’s no need for a memo I’ll just show up. We’re not done yet, we need to set a date for our next meeting, and since we are not submitting a resolution we can gracefully go into January. Mr. Crowell: Yes. Chair Rainforth: Are our meetings usually held on the first Thursday? Ms. Omo: The meetings are usually held on Thursday’s, but not always on the first Thursday of the month. Page 12 of 12 Mr. Kahawai: I’ll be available on January 9, 2020. Mr. Crowell: Me too. Chair Rainforth: January 9, 2020 is good for me. Ms. Kaui: Me too. Chair Rainforth: Is there further business? There is no executive session. Is there a motion to adjourn? ADJOURNMENT Ms. Kaui: So moved. Mr. Crowell: Second. Chair Rainforth: All those in favor of adjourning, please signify by saying aye. Opposed. Hearing none. The motion carries 4:0. On a motion made by Ms. Kaui and seconded by Mr. Crowell the motion to adjourn the meeting carried 4:0. At 2:54 p.m. the meeting adjourned. Submitted by: _________________________________ Mercedes Omo, Support Clerk Approved by: __________________________________ Trinette Kaui, Chair-elect Approved as amended on: January 23, 2020 See minutes of the Commission’s January 23, 2020 meeting.