HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/28/2019 Committee Chair's Budgetary Comments, Budget Overview, Mayor's Office and HR Reports COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
FISCAL YEAR 2019-2020 DEPARTMENTAL BUDGET REVIEWS
MINUTES
The Fiscal Year 2019-2020 Departmental Budget Reviews of the Committee of the
Whole of the Council of the County of Kauai, was called to order by Arryl Kaneshiro, Chair,
at the Council Chambers 4396 Rice Street, Suite 201, Lihu`e, Kaua`i, on Thursday,
March 28, 2019 at 9:00 a.m., after which the following Members answered the call of the roll:
Honorable Mason K. Chock
Honorable Felicia Cowden
Honorable Luke Evslin
Honorable KipuKai Kuali`i
Honorable Arryl Kaneshiro
Excused: Honorable Arthur Brun
Honorable Ross Kagawa
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: On the schedule, I, as the Committee of the Whole
Chair, will go through some ground rules for the budget proceedings. Shortly thereafter, the
Mayor and the Administration will be given time to present their Fiscal Year (FY) 2019-2020
budget submittal, followed by the Departmental Budget Reviews for the Office of the Mayor,
which also includes the Youth Work Program, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Coordinator, and the Office of the Boards & Commissions. Each day of the budget
proceedings, we will take public testimony at the beginning, 9:00 a.m. Is there anyone in the
public wishing to testify this morning?
There being no objections, the rules were suspended to take public testimony.
There being no one present to provide testimony, the meeting was called back to order
and proceeded as follows:
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I would like to provide some ground rules and
expectations for this year's budget presentation session. I do have a quick presentation.
Committee Chair's Budgetary Comments
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: These are the same rules we have always followed
every budget. For the entire budget session, Council Rules will continue to be enforced with
emphasis on Rule No. 6(f), which is "No member will speak longer than five (5) minutes on
one (1)item," and we cannot speak more than two (2)times on that item. That typically comes
into play at the Decision-Making day. When we are making a decision and voting up or down
on certain items, we will be limited to the same rules that we are limited to here on our
agenda items. Other than that, throughout the entire week and all the budget proceedings,
we are free to ask as many questions as we want of the Administration. A memorandum
dated December 24, 2018 was distributed to all members regarding the FY 2019-2020 budget
expectations. Departmental Budget Reviews. Please review all the budget material and to
the Councilmembers, prepare any questions pertaining to the budget prior to each scheduled
review. If additional time will be needed to compile a response, please transmit your request
in advance to limit the number of follow-up questions at the end of each session. I believe in
the past...it is reduced. We have sent over probably well-over two hundred (200) or three
hundred (300) questions to the Administration for them to answer during budget. If we can
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and HR Reports
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reduce that amount...it is a lot of work for them to continually write-out the questions. If we
can get the answer here verbally and we are okay with it, then let us try not to resend a
written question to them, because I know they had...we will just start getting questions back
like answer after answer, and it is a lot of paperwork. The Departmental Budget Reviews
will follow the pre-established schedule, should any department or agency review finish
before their allotted time, the next scheduled review will follow immediately. This is to
minimize the need to schedule Budget Call-Backs. The agenda is set, so once we get through
all of the items on that day, then we are done for the day. We are not able to move days
forward and speed up the process, the agenda it set. If we finish early, we finish early, and
then we will come back for the next day and whatever is on the agenda for that day.
Questions and answers between Council and Administration will commence after the
respective department or agency has finished their presentation. Questions should be
focused on the budget proposal. The Administration was asked to come with key personnel
to answer any questions relating to the budget. This is to minimize the amount, again, of
written follow-up questions transmitted, which may take a considerable amount of time to
prepare and may burden regular County operations. Again, if you can think of questions
ahead of time that you want to send over to them, have them be prepared to answer it on the
floor, I am sure they will appreciate that, too, with a heads-up on any big questions.
Decision-Making, which is important for all Councilmembers to be present, is on
Friday, May 10, 2019, Monday, May 13, 2019, and Tuesday, May 14, 2019. If necessary, I
believed in the past, I am not going to jinx ourselves, but we have been able to finish it within
one (1)or two(2)days,but we have three (3)days just in case it takes that much time. Council
Services Staff will schedule meetings with each member between April 22nd and May 3, 2019
to prepare any budget amendments prior to the Decision-Making session. Any proposal to
add to the budget should identify the appropriate source that will be used to count for the
budget increase, a budget cut, or revenue source. Four (4) votes are required to reduce or
remove an item, five (5)votes are required to increase or add an item. Decisions will be made
department by department. The Committee will then consider any revenue proposals
thereafter if necessary. Therefore, we do all of our adds, cuts, and then we work on the Real
Property Taxes last, because we are going to end up needing to balance whatever changes we
do. The Committee will not revisit items after they have been addressed, unless the
Committee deems it absolutely necessary. Yes, typically I want the Councilmembers to come
prepared. We are going to go through each department again through our line cuts and we
do not want to have to go back and readdress any issues that we have gone through. It just
makes the process way longer.
With that, I would like to thank all the Councilmembers and Administration in
advance for all of their cooperation and look forward to a very efficient and productive budget
this year. As I always say, this will probably be a difficult session, as we have to balance
providing the central services of the County with various other financial considerations,
including a full year of receiving the General Excise Tax(GET)surcharge;the ever-increasing
cost to collective bargaining; and trying to improve upon our services and infrastructure
needs moving forward. I have asked the Administration to focus their budget presentations
to the FY 2019-2020 budget proposal and to include any narrative information in their
written presentations, which we all should have received in advance. It is my hope that this
will allow for more efficient budget sessions focusing primarily on their budget being
presented to us. Moving on with our schedule, I would like to suspend the rules and call up
the Administration to present their FY 2019-2020 budget overview. Again, members, I ask
that we hold off our questions until the end of their presentation. The Mayor will address us
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and do his overview. If we have questions on his presentation, we can ask him, and then we
are going to move right into the actual Mayor's budget. Thank you, Mayor, and you have the
floor. How does it feel on that side of the room?
There being no objections, the rules were suspended.
Budget Overview
DEREK S.K. KAWAKAMI, Mayor: Scary. Good morning, Chair and
Councilmembers. First and foremost, thank you very much for allowing us to present this
year's upcoming budget. I want to thank Council Services Staff. This time last year, I was
sitting on that side of the table and so I know the hard work that goes into everything. If our
Office, if our Administration can be of any assistance to make the Council Services job easier,
call us in to provide that assistance. All you have to do is ask. I am here today with our
Budget Administrator Ken Shimonishi and my Managing Director Michael Dahilig in the
audience; we have our Chief of Staff Sarah Blane, as well as our Boards & Commissions
Administrator Ellen Ching. Before I hand it off to Ken to give a detailed fiscal overview, I
would like to start by giving you a sense of our Administration's strategic initiatives for the
upcoming year.
Like I said, this time last year I was sitting on the other side with you folks, so I
appreciate the task that you have before you to balance the needs of our Administration,
while maintaining fiscal responsibility for our hard working taxpayers. It is for that reason
that our Administration worked hard to present a budget that is focused and sets clear goals
for our first year in office. Further, it maintains the principles of a long-term financial plan,
as it is a structurally balanced budget with a minimum reserve fund of thirty percent (30%)
of the prior year's General Fund revenues. Before moving forward, I would be remiss if I did
not thank the previous Administration as well as the previous Council for their fiscal
responsibility. They positioned our Administration right off the bat in a good position to fulfil
our mission and our visions, so I want to thank the previous Carvalho Administration, as
well as the previous Council that was under Council Chair Rapozo at the time.
Our capital improvement program does not require us to borrow more money for the
Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) and while it represents an overall decrease of four
million five hundred thousand dollars ($4,500,000), we will still invest in much needed
projects, such as the Human Resources (HR) Records Management system, which will move
us to an electronic timesheet and payroll system, while also offering better management of
scheduling, on-boarding, and overtime across all County departments. Lastly, our proposed
budget does not propose an increase in Real Property Tax rates or user fees; however, we
understand that we need to continue to evaluate our fee revenues to match our increasing
maintenance costs. As far as budget priorities, we mentioned during our State of the County
Address that our budget is driven by two (2) simple guiding principles for our Administration;
one is guardianship and two is innovation. When we are talking "guardianship," it means
taking care of what we have. We believe that before we can spend money on new capital
improvement projects, we need to prioritize fixing our aging infrastructure and facilities, and
addressing our deferred maintenance needs. That also goes into every piece of equipment
that we acquire. Every single Department Head meeting, every time we go to a baseyard, we
are relaying the same message to our associates that we are the caretakers and the guardians
of hard-working taxpayers, that these are their pieces of equipment, these are their vehicles,
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we are just the stewards and the guardians of these assets, and that is the type of culture
that we are instilling within our own organization. I want to make that very, very clear.
As far as innovation, we are talking about finding new ways to modernize our systems,
meaning that we need to invest in today's technology to help streamline our processes, which
in turn creates efficiency and improves service for our customers. That is the
baseline...seeing where we can be efficient, where we can cut costs, where we can modernize,
and get into the twenty-first century, so that at the end of the day we are giving a good
product and a service to our constituents and all of our customers. Keeping these two (2)
guiding principles in mind, I would like to highlight a few of our priority projects for the
upcoming year.
One, audits. We are taking much of, what I heard as a Councilmember, and we are
trying to...and when we talk customer service, we are realizing that the County Council is
our customer as well. We are taking whatever we absorb, whatever I learned during my time
as a Councilmember, a policy-making, a legislature, and we are unfolding it within our
Administration. We have heard for years that we would like to conduct audits and it is always
a political battle when you have the Council launching audits, because right of the bat by the
optics of it, it looks like it is a political witch hunt. So, here we are, we are saying, "Look, let
us do some audits;" that is the only way we can weigh-in as to where we are in this snapshot
of time to see where our processes weak, where we are strong, take a look at any opportunities
for improvements, and analyze any potential threat. Therefore, one, we are committed to
working with all of you to see where we can audit our operation and create efficiencies and it
is going to identify really, good associates. That is what audits do. We have always viewed it
as a tool. It is also going to identify people that we can invest in, so these audits were
something that was a top priority for our Administration, as well as for all of you.
Two, Hale Kokua. We are committed to opening the new Office of Human Concerns,
which will now be called, "Hale Kokua." The Office will be at a co-location, resources to
empower those in our community who seek employment, housing assistance, elderly
assistance, or resources to combat substance abuse, mental health needs, or suicide
prevention. We used to take a look at these issues in silos and we have to start addressing
these as a holistic approach to healing our island and that means getting everyone under
one (1) roof, so that they can collaborate, they can create partnerships, we can reach out to
the private, non-profit service providers, and that is really the only way that we see
addressing some of these very complex issues that our society faces. That is one (1) of our
main top priorities.
Three, of course is affordable housing. Governor Ige recently extended his emergency
proclamation enabling `ohana zoned moneys to be quickly deployed toward transitional
housing. We have identified State lands near our Water Department in Lihu`e as a potential
site to build such housing for our homeless families and I know that the Council as well has
prioritized affordable housing. We see it in your policy initiatives and we see it on our side as
a perfect way that we can start collaborating to start addressing some of the policies that
may have been a roadblock to deploy more affordable housing. The other thing we are looking
at is creating partnerships with our State partners as well. Identifying State properties that
may be underutilized, looking at our own County properties that may be underutilized, so
that we can start getting affordable rental off and running as quickly as possible.
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Number four, roads and transportation. I think all of us in this building know that
the condition of our roads, transportation, how we get people from point "A" to point "B" is a
top priority for our constituents and our customers. Therefore, with the roughly twenty-four
million three hundred fifty thousand dollars ($24,350,000) in projected revenues from the
General Excise Tax, which I want to thank the previous Council and previous Administration
as well, we have dedicated roughly eighteen million dollars ($18,000,000) to the Department
of Public Works at the goal to repairing our ailing roads and get our islandwide resurfacing
projects up and running. The remainder of the GET funds will be dedicated to our
Transportation Agency to help implement our Short-Range Transit Plan and expand our bus
service into areas with the highest demand. I want to make it clear to people that we are
going to be moving as quickly as possible to fix our roads, but people need to realize that we
are working on a complex schedule when it comes to the permanent fix. We are bound to
working with the State as far as their schedule, which we have a say in, but when eighty
percent (80%) of our funding comes to those long-term fixes, people are going to have to be
patient. They are going to have to understand that this is a process, but in the meantime,
we are putting a lot of attention and resources as to the temporary fix and those permanent
fixes that people have been asking for.
Number five, park improvements. This is another thing that I think we have all
heard. We have seen it on every level of medium is the desire to have clean, safe parks, and
it is a top priority for you as well as for ourselves. This year's budget, we are investing in
mowers,vehicles, and more so we can keep our parks clean and maintained. We cannot expect
our associates to do good work if we are not giving them the tools needed to do the job. We
have our new Parks & Recreation team lead by Pat Porter and Wally Rezentes. They went
out to every baseyard and took an assessment as to, "are we equipping our people with the
necessary tools to get the job done," and we have identified a number of pieces of equipment
that we are going to have to go and purchase. Not only purchase, but also we have to make
sure that we are maintaining them and take care them, which goes back to guardianship.
We would also like to collaborate with our community members and the private industry to
help us build and design new parks and playgrounds. We have talked about a skate park for
our kids, an inclusive playground with equipment tailored to children with autism or other
special needs. You know, there is not one (1) playground on this island where a child with a
disability can feel like they are part of this community. I do not know about you folks, but
that is simply not acceptable. That was brought to our attention by a group of mothers with
children with special needs and it was something that I had not even been aware of. ADA
compliancy is the base, that is the minimum requirements, but I think that our children on
Kaua`i desire so much more than just the minimum baseline requirements, so we are
committed to building a playground for all children to feel like they are part of this
community. As far as the skate park, folks, I will be very honest with you, when you are
taking a look at our suicide rate amongst our adolescent kids, something needs to be done.
We have many baseball fields, soccer fields, basketball fields, but many of the kids that are
falling through the cracks do not fit into that mold. We are focused on bringing something to
west Kaua`i, so that these kids have some place safe where they can go and skate. Those are
our part of our priorities as well.
Lastly, we would like to build a multi-generational playground so our kupuna have a
safe place to go outside and exercise. When you talked about the number one hazard with our
aging population, a lot of trip and fall and a lot of it is loneliness. When you talk about the
depression of our kupuna, it is because many times they feel like they have been left behind,
so what we want to do is we want to create a safe place where people of all ages can be
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healthy, they can work on their mobility, and they can create a community where they can
interact with both people; young and of their own age as well. Those are our priorities for
parks.
As far as new positions, we are proposing five (5) new part-time positions and one (1)
new full-time position funded through our General Fund. These new positions will fulfill our
need for caretakers on the weekend and maintain our parks on Saturdays and Sundays when
they are at peak use. We are proposing the following three (3) new positions in the
Transportation Agency funded through our GET revenues; a Heavy Vehicle Mechanic, a
Repair Shop Supervisor, and a Fields Operations Clerk.
Another one of our top priorities of course is Transient Vacation Rentals (TVRs)
enforcement; I think we made it very clear, as to where we stand with illegal operators of
vacation rentals—we are coming and we are coming with a hammer. Part of this year's
budget proposal innovative initiatives like the investment of TVR enforcement software to
help our Planning Department enforce illegal transient vacation rentals on our island. I can
tell you folks it is a challenge working with some of these third-party platforms as to seeing
eye-to-eye with our challenges. Right now, we have people that are advertising on some of
these third-party platforms and they are doing it after hours, they are doing it on weekends
when they think our enforcement officers are not watching, but they are mistaken. We have
done everything to tell them, "Look, we will give you every single one of our Tax Map Keys
(TMKs), physical addresses, TVN numbers so that you can cross reference your list to make
sure that the people that are advertising on your platforms are legitimate." If they cannot do
that, we have even said, "Why do you not give us every one of their physical addresses and
we will tie up our own peoples' time just to make sure that they are legitimate." We have
come to the table. I feel that we have extended our hand halfway and we are just waiting for
a response, but it is extremely difficult to enforce when the system is designed to hide the
physical address. We have even seen that they are stopping putting pictures of the exterior
buildings and they are only posting pictures of the interior, which now forces us, right, to go
back into old real estate listings to look and see what interior matches this interior.
Therefore, we are just asking for the tools to be able to deploy a functional and efficient
enforcement arm for our illegal vacation rentals.
Another top priority is upgrading our information systems. We are investing money
towards a comprehensive Informational Technology (IT) solution for the County that will
create a more efficient workplace for both employees and customers and this includes an
additional seven hundred fifty thousand dollars ($750,000) toward the implementation of a
Land Information Management System, or "LIMS," which will provide a framework for the
integration and sharing of information between our County Departments. Further, we are
also dedicating two million dollars ($2,000,000) in this year's budget to upgrade our Human
Resources (HR) Records Management System to move us away from paper timesheets and
help manage our overtime expenditures, in order to reduce our excess pension costs. These
are big investments. We understand that we are asking for a lot. This is the cost of efficiency.
This is the cost of doing business in the twenty-first century, with the ultimate goal of
investing in our number one resource, which is our associates; our human capital, and giving
them the tools so that we can fulfill the mission of every single department under our regime.
Last,but not least, our top priority boils down to the very base foundation of improving
customer service. I have come from customer service-oriented business. We knew who our
customers were and we knew whom we were serving, who our target market is...ultimately,
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all of our County initiatives aim to improve customer service. We want to create more
self-service opportunities for our customers such as a Motor Vehicle Registration kiosk,
recently launched at Safeway, our LIMS and Kaua`i Police Department's (KPD) upcoming
online crime reporting system, but the number one thing when it boils down to customer
service is a change in culture and that takes time. Beyond all of the budgetary asks that we
are asking for, the change of culture starts from on top and every single department head
has been given the word that our number one priority is making sure that we know who our
customers are and to always be cognizant that we are public servants. We are here to serve
our people. That is the highest honor that any profession can be—that we are the stewards
of this island, that we are the servants of our people, and we are instilling it from the top on
down;we are investing in training for our Department Heads,we are investing in people that
are out there that are the boots on the ground, so that they can get the job done, and it is
going to take time, so we appreciate your patience as we undergo this transition into the next
evolution with this Administration. These are just the highlights that we hope to accomplish,
but you have the opportunity to have more detailed discussions with the Departments during
the upcoming session. Together we can and will create a better home where our community
is safe, our economy is vibrant, and our children are equipped for success. On behalf of our
Administration, I would like to thank you for your continued partnership and we look forward
to an open dialogue as we welcome your review and recommendations. I would just like to
say one more thing, we are just a little over one hundred (100) days into this Administration.
I know many times we can be caught up in the previous Administration. I would like to
remind all of us that today is a new day. This is a new Administration. We need a chance to
be able to fulfill our mission and vision and we are going to need to be able to work
collaboratively with all of you as partners. Let us always stay focused on good policy, make
sure we are getting good projects, and we just humbly ask that you give us an opportunity to
fulfill our vision and our mission for this upcoming year. With that being said, I am going to
turn this over to our Budget Administrator and he will give you a brief financial overview.
Thank you so very much.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Thank you, Mayor.
KEN SHIMONISHI, Budget Analyst: Aloha, Ken Shimonishi, Budget
Administrator. Similar to previous years, we have gone over the overview with the Council.
We have passed out a handout of roughly eighteen (18) slides and hopefully they are large
enough for you to see. If not, they are up on the screen. First, as the Mayor mentioned, the
March Submittal of the Budget continues to adhere to the long-term financial planning
policies that we have adopted, the Structurally-Balanced Budget Resolution, where recurring
expenditures are covered by recurring revenues. We continue to maintain the Reserve Fund
at thirty percent (30%) of the prior year's General Fund revenues or forty-five million six
hundred thousand dollars ($45,600,000). This year's submission does include the use of a
Fund Balance that was an excess of the reserve for non-recurring CIP and deferred
maintenance needs. On slide 3, this is how we support the use of the excess of reserves where
five million six hundred thousand dollars ($5,600,000) went to General Fund CIP projects.
Six hundred thousand dollars ($600,000)towards a Lihu`e Wastewater Treatment Plant Roof
repair, KPD building security barriers of one hundred thirty thousand dollars ($130,000),
Halehaka Gas Collection Systems repairs of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000), and
we also identified at least one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) in replacement of
electrical switches in the Parks generator room. The total of these items come up to six
million seven hundred thousand dollars ($6,700,000) and again, the use of the excess of the
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Reserve was at six million five hundred thousand dollars ($6,500,000). We have identified
more things that we could have used the Reserve for, but we have not at this time.
On slide 4, this is a summary of the Revenues for the Operating Budget by fund.
Obviously, the General Fund being the largest fund that we have, with the Real Property
Taxes—an increase of eight million three hundred thousand dollars ($8,300,000) or roughly
five point two percent (5.2%). Followed by what is the second largest fund now, the G.E. Tax
Fund and that we are estimating, as the Mayor said, twenty-four million three hundred fifty
thousand dollars ($24,350,000)—an increase of eleven million eight hundred thousand
dollars($11,800,000). That is primarily because last year represented only a half years'worth
of revenue and this year we are now expecting the full year to kick in. Overall, total revenues
increased by twenty million three hundred thousand dollars ($20,300,000) or nine point five
percent (9.5%), the largest of that being our General Excise Tax full year as well as the Real
Property Taxes.
On slide 5, the summary where our General Fund increase of eight million three
hundred thousand dollars ($8,300,000), attributed to Real Property Taxes (RPT)—eight
million four hundred thousand dollars ($8,400,000), actually, was from RPT. There were
some offset in that and keep in mind that this is primarily due to improving market
conditions, not so much new construction. This is in effect net of revenues reduction we saw
with the north shore properties being impacted by the April 2018 flood. Our current
assumption is that the transient accommodations tax remains flat with no anticipated
changes by the legislature. At fourteen million nine hundred thousand dollars ($14,900,000),
this is the second largest source of revenue from the General Fund aside from RPT. Then on
the bottom bullet point, we identified our change in G.E. Tax to recognize the full year. Still
things to keep in mind about revenue uncertainty, the County remains heavily dependent on
Real Property Taxes and must be prepared should valuations flatten or decline. We have
already seen seven (7) straight years of growth, so keep that in mind. While the G.E. Tax
Surcharge presents a new source of revenue to address our County's roads and transportation
needs, actual collection amounts are yet to be determined. We are basing the revenue
numbers based on reports that we can get off the State's Department of Taxation website. It
is a liability by district. I think previous attempts to use the State's data was that it was
actually reporting the G.E. Tax revenues based on the payers' address, which is not
necessarily where the revenues where generated. So that provided some estimates, but from
what we have gathered from them or at least what I gathered through discussions with the
State Department of Taxation was that, this was a more reliable source of data to use. G.E.
Tax payments are expected to be remitted to the Counties quarterly. The first payment would
be ending March 31, 2019, so we will need to see what comes in—I am assuming within the
April/May time period to represent that first quarter of collections and I just want to make
sure everyone was aware that, again, until you actual get the money and know what it is, we
are using estimates at this time.
On slide 7, overall operating budget elements by category. This is a comparison
between FY 2019 and FY 2020. Overall the budget increased twenty-three million three
hundred thousand dollars ($23,300,000) or ten point seven percent (10.7%). The bulk of that
being the increase in the available G.E. Tax revenues to be applied towards the roads and
transportation followed by the use of the increase in the Real Property Taxes. Salaries and
related. This includes our Hawai`i Employees' Retirement System (ERS) contribution. As
you may know that the ERS has mandated increases in employer contributions of five
percent (5%) more for Police and Fire, so that contribution rate goes from thirty-one
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percent (31%)to thirty-six percent(36%)of eligible salaries and compensation.Although that
is only a five percent (5%) increase, five percent (5%) increase on thirty-one percent (31%) is
actually a sixteen point one percent (16.1%) increase in that budget line item. Three
percent (3%) increase in all other employees, so from nineteen percent (19%), it goes to
twenty-two percent (22%) of eligible compensation for all other employees, and again, that
three percent (3%) increase over nineteen percent (19%) is actually a fifteen point eight
percent (15.8%) increase on that budgeted line item. This is a theme that you will see
consistent with the departments' presentations, so keep that in mind. In addition, we have
also embedded a small anti-spiking allowance. We are tasked back the excess pension
expenses from the ERS to the Counties. I think you folks recently had discussions with the
Executive Thomas Williams from the ERS on that. We have also embedded a collective
bargaining allowance in the benefits as well. Our utilities show nominal increase primary
due to sewer water usage and some telephone cost going up. Operations, the largest increase
is the repair and maintenance (R&M) of eight million eight hundred fifty thousand
dollars ($8,850,000) in our roads and bridgework. Last year, I believe the total budget was
eight million five hundred thousand dollars ($8,500,000), this year it is seventeen million
three hundred fifty thousand dollars ($17,350,000), specially dedicated toward roads and
bridge repair. Special projects went up by one million one hundred thousand
dollars ($1,100,000). Our equipment, we are investing more in our heavy equipment as well
as our vehicles replacement, and those are noted there. Contribution to our Open Space, that
is based on a minimum of one-half percent (.5%) of real property tax revenues. I believe there
was actually an adjustment to that Open Space as part of the Councils decision-making that
actually bumped it up in the final periods of the budget. Then a slight adjustment for our
debt service in accordance with the amortization schedule for our bonds.
We have not contributed towards the reserve target. As I said earlier, we have met
the reserve target, so there is no contribution necessary to increase that unless for some
reason the Council or Administration felt we need to beef that up more. On slide 8, this just
shows a side-by-side pie chart of the current budget versus last year. I think the thing to note
here is you will see that the blue slice of the pie, Salaries and Related last year, represented
sixty-two point four percent (62.4%) of the budget and this year that is actually slightly down
at sixty point two percent (60.2%). The primary reasoning being that we have more money
going towards our roads/bridge repair in terms of the G.E. Tax side and we have also put
more money towards our equipment and so on.
Focusing-in on the salaries, utilities, and operations of the Departments, so not
necessarily looking at the debt service and Open Space side, but more of the Departments'
operations itself. You can see that the Department of Public Works is the largest department
across all funds combined. That Department totals thirty-two point one percent (32.1%) and
if you will note the Highway and G.E. Tax Fund, that this now represents thirteen point nine
percent (13.9%) of the budget versus last year at ten point five percent (10.5%). Again, the
increase in our roads improvement appropriations being recognized there. Also a slight
increase in our transportation from four point four percent (4.4%) to five percent (5%).
Slide 10. This focuses in on the General Fund, our largest fund. You can see that the
blue slice here; Salaries, Benefits, & Collective Bargaining, show a slight uptick, but still the
vast majority of expenses in the General Fund at eighty-two percent (82%) relates to our
associates, collective bargaining, ERS, and so on.
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Slide 11. Looking at, "What is that blue piece of the pie in the earlier slide versus that
same blue piece of the pie for General Fund by Department?" There is no surprise that our
Police and Fire make up the largest components of the salaries and benefits, collective
bargaining of our General Fund. KPD currently at twenty-nine point eight percent (29.8%),
Fire at twenty-seven point two percent (27.2%), followed by our Parks & Recreation, and so
on. I guess this is where we are saying all of our Salaries, Benefits, and Staff costs are going
in terms of our General Fund.
Slide 12. Challenges ahead. Our ERS contribution rates are mandated to increase. So
you can see in FY 2019, it was at thirty-one percent (31%), in FY 2020, the budget that we
are presenting here is thirty-six percent (36%), and in FY 2021, next year's budget, it will go
up an additional five percent (5%) for Police and Fire. In FY 2019 for all other employees, it
was at nineteen percent (19%), in FY 2020, it is twenty-two percent (22%), and in FY 2021,
at twenty-four percent (24%). The increase of the ERS alone, that was about three million
six hundred thousand dollars ($3,600,000) in our current year budget. Keep in mind that
every time that moves, obviously that will cost the County money to fund. Any time there is
an increase in collective bargaining that moves with that as well. We also foresee additional
debt service being incurred with our State Revolving Fund loans. Once we execute those and
proceeding are drawn, although they are not in this year's budget, we expect somewhere
around twenty-six million dollars ($26,000,000) of what we will need to borrow from that
fund related to our Kekaha Lateral Expansion of eighteen million dollars ($18,000,000), our
transfer station renovation was about five million dollars ($5,000,000), and then our
Wastewater Projects about another three million dollars ($3,000,000). This is additional debt
service on the horizon that will come forward. Additionally, the County must regularly
replace aging heavy-duty equipment. We have refuse trucks, trailers, a bunch of things that
is costly; fire engines and so on, as well as vehicles, and will continue to require additional
funding as we continue to replace these pieces of equipment. In addition, maintaining of
aging facilities continues to present financial and operational challenges.
Budget Analysis Tool. I think this is maybe the third year now, but hopefully, people
will get to use this. As Councilmembers, this could help you when you look at the budget. It
will also help the public. This is available twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven-days-a-week,
as long as our website is up, as long as you have access to the internet. If you do not mind, I
will take a real brief track here to show you how it works; hopefully I can do that and not
mess this up. This is our County's website and if you look here Financial Transparency, the
link right off the front page, click on that. There is a little timing delay. Therefore, it brings
you to this financial transparency portal and it goes over a brief description of what is here,
you can get some of these graphical data, which is easier to look at, rather than three
hundred (300) pages of the budget ordinance. This is Section 2, all of the thick stuff, right.
What we have done here is we have loaded the annual Operating Budget Ordinance and this
actually goes back to FY 2010. Therefore, from FY 2010 to FY 2019, this represents the actual
budgets that were passed by the Council and we have loaded the Mayor's Request, which is
currently what you have in your hand. Whenever you hover over any one of these areas and
you see the finger, you can click on that and drill down into that piece of information. There
is also if you scroll down on this side, views available as well as filters and this is just a saved
view that says, "What is the Operating Budget by fund?" So, this is what the Operating
Budget is by fund.Again, excluding our debt service and our Open Space. Something I added
here, G.E. Tax Fund by Department. So, if you wanted to know, "What is the G.E. Tax Fund
by Department?" This tells us that this year's Mayor's request, twenty-seven million nine
hundred thousand dollars ($27,900,000), almost eighteen million dollars ($18,000,000) as the
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Mayor mentioned, goes to our Public Works Department and six million one hundred
thousand dollars ($6,100,000) is going towards the Transportation Agency. This is also
available in a table format that you can download the pictures. If you wanted to see
something of this slightly different where I clicked on filters, you see where is says, "Broken
down by,"instead of"Departments,"I want to see it by"Expense type." So then it recalculates
the chart and it shows you this data now—how much is going into all these different line
items, services, dues consultant," so this is where our road and bridge repair will be budgeted
in our other services. Last year, G.E. Tax, we had seven point six (7.6) and now we are at
seventeen point four (17.4). At least at this account level total.
You can get in here and dig around, mess around with these things and try to abstract
some of that information however you want. There is another report that we have added,
which is the comparison of FY 2020 against FY 2019. Again, this is side-by-side revenues and
expenses, so you can see our revenues, and how it went up, and our expenses and how it went
up. Keep in mind that the variances are similar to what you see in a financial statement
where variances that affect you positively are shown as a positive variance. Variances that
affect you negatively are shown as a negative. So an increase in revenues is shown as a
positive variance, an increase in expense is shown as a negative variance, and again, if you
wanted to see something like some of the views we have here, total revenues by fund, total
revenues by...so we click on that...again, it tells us what the makeup is between General
Fund, G.E. Tax Highway. If you wanted to switch the chart, look, so again you can see a pie
of the total revenues generated, the General Fund is one hundred sixty-seven million four
hundred thousand dollars ($167,400,000) at seventy-one point seven percent (71.7%) of the
total revenue budget. If you wanted to see revenues by type, you can click on this view and it
gives you a graphical look as well as by those various revenue line items.You can, again, drill
down on any one of these things that you wanted to look at, filter out whatever and select.
Just a little tidbit on how you might want to look at...I just messed up my slideshow now.
We have provided the Operating and CIP Budgets, but as far as the Operating Budget, it is
a very voluminous in front of you, as I said, three hundred (300) pages. In Section 2 of the
document in the lower right corner, there is a master page number and that is sequential
from the beginning of Section 2 up until the provisos. The reason why we embedded this
master page number is that we put this together from a couple different reports, we insert
excel worksheets and so on, so in order for you to be able to easily reference a page, we just
sequentially number that.All the departments were given their own segments of this as well,
so they should be seeing exactly what you are seeing and not using something that they
generated on their own. In addition, on the portable document format (PDF) version of this,
we have also embedded bookmarks, hopefully, that is what the version we have available, if
not, and we can work on that. With that, that concludes our overview.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Thank you, Mayor Kawakami, for your
presentation. Thank you, Ken, for you overall presentation on the status of where we are on
our financials. I did not stress it enough, I think I probably sounded like a broken record
every year talking about our fiscal responsibility, but we did pass that resolution regarding
a structurally-balanced budget and establishing a Reserve Fund, and I would really like our
Councilmembers to adhere to that. Providing a structurally-balanced budget is super
important. In the past, sometimes Council would use Reserve Funds, which are as our
savings fund to just balance the budget. If we add pet-projects, the budget is unbalanced,
rather than increasing taxes, we would just pull our savings and fund it. It is not sustainable,
it is not good practice, and I would just encourage us to stick to our guns on our fiscal
responsibility. Also, just establishing the Reserve Fund was important, because in the past
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we had no clue what our target was. How much money do we need in that savings account?
So, it was easy to say, "I think we have enough, let us just use it to balance the budget," but
now, we have an established policy on how much money should be in that Reserve Fund. That
Reserve Fund goes towards market volatility in real property taxes if we have a hurricane
one year our real property taxes drop a ton. It also goes to severe weather events, which we
saw last year. We used money from the Reserve to help fund some immediate emergency
repairs for the North Shore and that is what that Reserve Fund does. It gives us that type of
flexibility to react in situations like that. Again, using the excess fund balance. So you saw
in Ken's presentation that there is about a six million dollar ($6,000,000) lapse from last
year's budget, and again, the money cannot be spent on salaries or recurring items, that
money has to be spent on one-time expenses improvement project, and that was all in our
resolution. If you wanted to see the resolution, we can get copies to the new members if you
need. The basic gist is, let us be fiscally responsible with our taxpayers' money. With that,
are there any questions on the Mayor's presentation or on Ken's presentation? Let us start
with questions on the Mayor's presentation, if anyone has. Councilmember Cowden.
Councilmember Cowden: I just have comments and not questions, so I can
wait.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. We do not usually state comments at the
end, maybe if you want to praise them on it or something real quick, but for the most part
ask them questions on their budget, how are they going to accomplish this, how is it going to
affect the budget, and then we will get into their actual numbers.
Councilmember Cowden: I will just say thank you and good job.
Mayor Kawakami: Thank you. Council Chair Kaneshiro, thank you
again, and I want to thank the budget team. I want to apologize to our Finance Director, I
did not recognize her, but we do have our Finance Director Reiko Matsuyama, she is new as
well, our Deputy Finance Director Michelle Lizama. The entire budget team worked so hard.
The Managing Director, Ken...the entire team. We sent a series of volleys back and forth
between the Departments. I can tell you, I do not think there is a single department that is
ecstatic about this budget that we are presenting, because we did a significant amount of
cuts. We wanted to do that because we realize how challenging it is for Council to do cuts and
so we are in a position to do the right things for the right reasons so we made a significant
amount of budgetary cuts to the Departments. We did that out of recognition for the work
that you folks do, the challenge that it becomes to make cuts on your end. The Departments,
they all are going to have their opportunity to come up here and tell their story, I do not know
if it is going to be a good story, because like I said, we are holding our Departments
accountable as to what they are asking for. We wish we had the ways and means to make
everyone happy, provide everything they asked for, but frankly, we do not. I want to thank
the budget team because they spent many long hours going back and forth. I am pretty sure
they were frustrated with me demanding much out of them, but here we are today with a
budget that we think is fiscally sound and responsible and we look forward to further
engagement and the ongoing dialogue. Thank you very much to the Council and to you, Chair.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Thank you. Are there any questions from the
members on the presentation that we just saw? Councilmember Kuali`i.
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Councilmember Kuali`i: I totally appreciate your overview and all of the
sentiments that were expressed. I had a quick question about this Office of Human Concerns.
Is this a new office or is it collapsing into the Housing Agency? What is actually happening?
I know we will probably see it—where will we see it in the budget?
Mayor Kawakami: I will let Ken answer as to where you are going to
see it in the budget. I can tell you that this is not growing government; this is just being more
efficient with our existing resources. Like I said, oftentimes we take a look at society's
complex issues and we work on them in silos and oftentimes it is a game of finger-pointing,
because you have to understand a lot of these complex issues are responsibilities previously
of what we say the State/Federal government, but we are taking a new approach. We have
the leadership presence on-island, because we are the boots on the ground, we are saying
that we want to address these upfront, on the front line, if we can be an agency of change, if
we can be a conduit and a bridge-maker and bring people all to the table, we want to be that
organization. Therefore, we are taking our Housing Agency, Life's Choices, and all of these
different departments that are in charge of making Kauai a better place, we are putting them
under one (1) roof so that they can begin to collaborate and think outside of their silos and as
an organization holistically to address some of these very complex issues. It is going to be
very challenging, so this is just a new approach, a new vision, a new philosophy as far as
solving some of our problems that have existed for a very long time.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Ken, did you want to say anything about if there
is any impact to the budget or where it is going to end up?
MICHAEL A. DAHILIG, Managing Director: Mike Dahilig, for the record. Just
to answer Councilmember Kuali`i's question. There is not a proposal to add more resources
or add positions at this time when it comes to the formulation of this Hale Kokua. As the
Mayor mentioned, it is largely a co-location of existing resources that have been spread across
four (4) different departments throughout our County. In looking at the continuum of care
approach when you are looking at wraparound services with housing, it is important that we
try to take those resources that are spread across four (4) departments and try to focus them
with a little more integration and collaboration, so that is where that co-location comes key
right now. We do not know what the intake or demand is going to be based off this new
approach and that is why we do not feel it appropriate to propose this as a "scaling up," in
more devoted resources until we are able to have some numbers that show exactly what is
the increased demand by doing this. Again, it is pulling-in resources from Economic
Development, from the Housing Agency, from Elderly Affairs, and then as we get into our
budget presentation, resources that are currently sitting in the Mayor's Office over to the
Housing Agency, because they have the better accounting mechanisms to comply with a lot
of the Federal and State grant requirements that fund Life's Choices.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Cowden.
Councilmember Cowden: I have a question about the Hale Kokua area as
well. I am really excited about it. It really overlaps deeply on both my commitments and my
passion for the past ten (10) years, so there is a silo, I think, has been overlooked and that is
cultural displacement. I am just hoping that we can figure out a way to feed that in there,
because when we look at suicide, drug addiction, and all the challenges that
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flow...houselessness, I think there is a very significant and certainly incarceration, a very
significant category in our Native Hawaiian population that we demand that they assimilate
in a way that is, for many of them, absolutely opposite of what works for them. And being
able to perpetuate their culture in a very sincere way as opposed to (inaudible) or a branding
of Hawaii, and so I look forward to seeing pieces that will directly address that because I see
that as a profound problem that is escalating and not diminishing. When we have a certain
way of looking at that, I think we will be more effective.
Mayor Kawakami: Thank you, Councilmember Cowden, for that
observation. We totally agree sense of identity is key towards being able to be a functioning
society. We have to know where we came from to know where we are going, so yes, we are
taking culture-sensitivity, displacement, as one of the top priorities as well.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock.
Councilmember Chock: Mike, I just wanted to clarify, if there are any
areas that Hale Kokua is focused on—what is sounds like is the Housing Agency while it is
somewhat taking the lead in this collaboration. Is that where this body would direct questions
or engage any particular interaction with, is it through the Housing Agency or through the
Mayor's Office?
Mr. Dahilig: I think it still would be through the Mayor's Office
in a sense that where and how structurally this makes sense if a reorganization is required,
remains to be seen. At this time, we do not run to presumptions on what this structure should
look like, we just want these four (4) different agencies to start working together to provide
quicker assessment and referral than in past. If you look at where they are even located
throughout the County, they are in four (4) different locations in the County. OED will still
be responsible for overseeing the wheel of contract in the interim. You have the Elderly
Affairs, which is still a separate agency in and of itself, and all we are doing is with the
Housing Agency's piece is understanding that they have the expertise with the grant
management and reporting and the Mayor's Office does not have that and what it does is it
frees up HR's time for the specialists that work with Life's Choices to actually focus on
assessment and referral rather than compliance.
Councilmember Chock: Yes, that is exactly where it looks like it is being
housed because of that transfer of Life's Choices, the budget for Life's Choices into the
Housing Agency, but other than that, that is the only...
Mr. Dahilig: That is the only thing.
Councilmember Chock: Okay. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Just to clarify and double-check, the four (4)
departments that you folks are consolidating is Life's Choices, the Housing Agency, the
Agency on Elderly Affairs, and the Office of Economic Development (OED)?
Mr. Dahilig: Co-locating.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Yes, or trying to mesh-together to work a little
closer.
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Mr. Dahilig: And the only real, if you were to characterize it as
a structural consolidation in the budget would be moving Life's Choices from the Mayor's
Office over to the Housing Agency.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Another point you mentioned was park
improvements and you talked about keeping the parks cleaned and maintained. I think
added to that is probably a given and understood is also safe and functional and I hate to be
really specific, but I am hearing from some kupuna in Puhi that our park there and maybe it
is not a fully functioning park like other parks, but they play softball and there is no shade,
so they have to bring their own popup tents. To me what would be good in a big scope is to
sort of have what the list of priorities is for the public and how the public can put their concern
on the list. So, there is probably already a mechanism, but it would be good to put that out
more to the public so that we do not have to hear from them and as Councilmembers, and
only be able to try and make a difference at budget time, so that all year around the public
can put in their concerns. I am sure that this investment means you are putting more money
behind that so that we can probably see more of these improvements, but I just wonder what
exists or what are you going to do so that the public can get their specific improvements
addressed.
Mayor Kawakami: Sure. We can take a look at being very innovative
as far as a...I guess a clearinghouse for our concerns for our parks and what some of the
community's wishes are. Of course, the Council as elected by their constituents, you folks are
always going to also be the first line of where people drop of their concerns and their wish
list, and so that is not going to change. We can put things out there and collect some
information. I think one of the things that our Planning Department does very well is engage
themselves and immerse themselves into the community and so our Parks & Recreation
Department, they are also going out there, talking to people, and realizing that every part of
the island is unique. There are different needs. Hanalei has approached us to say that there
is no playground equipment for little kids to go and play on monkey bars, there is nothing
out there and that is one of the concerns that has come up. Ed Justice from Talk Story Book
Store has for years been working on getting a skate park on the west side and we are finally
moving on some of these initiatives. Take for example; we put in some money for a comfort
station at the north Vidinha Soccer Fields. Right off the bat our director said, "We can work
within our existing infrastructure to accomplish a safe way where children, adults, parents,
and coaches can use our existing restroom facility and yet make it protected so that they are
not running around all in Vidinha Stadium. We continue to always strive for excellence and
whatever you may hear on the street, please present it to us. I cannot make any promises on
whether we can do it, but we will certainly hear about and take a look as to where it is feasible
to do some of these improvements as well. Shade, Councilmember Kuali`i, is a number one
thing that people have asked for, I know it is. Kapahi Park is one of those parks where it is
great to have soccer games because there is an abundance of shade and that is why everyone
wants to play soccer games at Kapahi Park. You go to some of our other facilities, it can be
very hot and if we have irrigation systems that prohibit us from putting pegs so that our
popup tents will not blow away, it becomes further restrictive, so we are constantly taking a
look at where we can create better amenities. Public safety goes without saying is a top
priority. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock.
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Councilmember Chock: I cannot help but to ask this question because I
am excited about what you are presenting as it relates to these expansion of parks and really
meeting the diversity of our community and it is probably premature because I have not
heard the Parks presentation yet,but have we identified skate park, multi-generational park,
and the rest of the ideas that you have laid out?
Mayor Kawakami: Of course we have identified possible locations
that would work. I am not sure if Parks has had the ability to approach these communities
to see how they feel, but right off the bat, I will just say that when we are talking about an
all-inclusive park for kids with all types of talents and abilities, one low-hanging fruit location
would be right at Kamalani Playground. When you talk about where we bring people with
various disabilities from Mahelona,we bring their residents out to Morgan's Pond at Lydgate,
because it is probably the safest place for people to swim. We have existing infrastructure, it
is a great amenity in and of itself, we have good comfort stations, we have lifeguards, and so
one, we see that as low-hanging fruit as a potential location for an all-inclusive park. When
we are talking about a skate park, for West Kaua`i, we are mindful that really the person
who championed that movement is Ed Justice, he always had a vision for having it at
Hanapepe. Hanapepe is great. It is dry, it is pretty central when you are talk about West
Kaua`i, you have a number of kids up in Kalaheo, all the way down to Kekaha, and it is
accessible with public transportation. One of the problem parks that we heard about was
potentially the park that is in old Hanapepe Town by the fire station. That comfort station is
infamously known as having people not necessarily doing what they are supposed to be doing,
so whenever you are bringing in a presence, it tends to discourage that type of loitering and
so that is another potential location, but our minds are open. What it boils down to is, we
want to make sure that it is done in a respectful way where the community has a say as to
where they think it should be. We understand that a lot of people may not want it in their
backyard, but we are ultimately weighing in what is the best for the community at-large and
so we are tasked with making some difficult decisions knowing that not everyone is going to
be happy, but we weigh-in as to the greater good of society, does it benefit the majority of the
people, and if it does, we move forward, but we do it in a respectful way. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any further questions from the
members on the Mayor's presentation or Ken's presentation? Councilmember Chock.
Councilmember Chock: I have two (2) more questions.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Now is the time to ask.
Councilmember Chock: Yes, we got the man here today, so we have to ask
him. I am also very excited about potentially looking at these ohana zones and utilizing the
opportunity that is being given by the State Legislature and by the Governor. My
understanding that there is five million dollars ($5,000,000) that was initially set aside, there
may be less even as we move forward, we have already identified a location that we would
like to see of projects matched these funds. I am a little bit skeptical in terms of what we can
truly expect and where we are seeing it in the budget, for instance. The scope of such a project
and really being realistic about what we can accomplish and so I am just curious one, where
are we seeing if anything, a plan or even a feasibility study at this time being budgeted and
if there are any other details in regards to that.
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Mayor Kawakami: I will be honest we did not do a feasibility study.
What we did is we took a look at best practices and when you take a look at `ohana zones,
one, we have heard proposals that maybe they should be located by Ahukini, around the
outskirts, but that does not work. When you want to talk about addressing the homeless
situation, we have to be cognizant that homelessness is not necessarily a housing issue as it
is a mental health issue. Therefore, one, we are differentiating between the different sectors
within homelessness, we have identified that we would like to prioritize it up-front families
with children. This particular `ohana zone came up really quick and it happened, like I said,
just because the opportunity popped-up. We take a look at where `ohana zones work and they
are oftentimes located near jobs, they are located near transportation, they are located near
services, and so one key location that we saw is that park by Pua Loke by the Water
Department. We tried to get the whole parcel, but the State is willing to give us a portion of
it. We have not sealed the deal on it, hopefully that can come in the near future, but we did
that because we already have a homeless shelter. The County owns that facility right across
the street. Two, I used to use that part as a child. We used to eat lunch there, but if you
notice the majority of the park users are the homeless population as it is. Three, when you
are talking about location to jobs,you have Kukui Grove, I think, a lot of those establishments
are looking for good workers and four, we have a transient-oriented development (TOD) for
moderate workforce housing that is going to be located in that parking lot behind the Kukui
Grove Theater. Therefore, when you are talking about the stars aligning themselves, we see
that property as being one that aligns itself. We did not need to do a feasibility study; we
just looked at what the components are for a successful program and one location, location,
location, so that is one factor, but two, we reached out to partners that do not necessarily
have to reinvent the wheel because they already built the wheel. You may know of a project
out on Oahu that was spearheaded by a private sector businessperson Duane Kurisu. We
reached out to him to help explain the business model, how the gears turn to make this thing
work, and he is very willing to walk with us shoulder to shoulder as we begin this journey,
so that in and of itself is a huge asset to get us on a track for success. One, the location and
two, having that mentor who has already run through the challenges, run through what
works and what does not, is very willing to work with us. We are looking, however, for a
champion. In order to make this project work, we need to have someone basically willing to
live and die for this project as the top priority. One of the things that they have identified is
they cannot be from government. It has to be from someone who comes from the private/non-
profit sector or the private/for profit sector, but it has to be someone that is unshackled from
the bureaucracy of government. We are looking, we are constantly vetting through potential
candidates and while we here out on the public domain, if someone fits that mold, we are
open-minded. We look at this thing as a pilot. Oftentimes, government fails because we look
at only being able to do things on a grand-scale and that in and of itself is a recipe for potential
disaster, because if you cannot make it succeed, every project after that is going to be met
with skepticism and resistance. Therefore, we are taking a look at how the private sector
does it and we do it in small, little pilot projects. We set ourselves up with the greatest
opportunity to succeed, so this project may not solve each single one of our problems, but it
is a step in the right direction to show people that we can succeed and these types of models
can work, as they have worked in other municipalities as well.
Councilmember Chock: I appreciate that. I think the model that
(inaudible) provides and what they are doing is exemplary and coming from the right angle
from the private sector...so if we were to look into this budget, are we targeting a certain
amount of permanent housing for families and children within this next fiscal period?
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Mayor Kawakami: No, we have not penciled that out for that
particular project. I think initially, we are still in the phase to kind of do and maximize how
much density we can get in that area.
Councilmember Chock: Okay.
Mayor Kawakami: I do know that the structures that they do use can
be built on top of each other and done in an aesthetic way where it fits in. Therefore, one we
are trying to figure out how we can maximize density, so I do not think we have come with a
concrete number as to that particular project as of yet.
Mr. Dahilig: What is going to dictate the potential design is
going to be what the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) approves to send over to
the County for via Executive Order (EO).
Councilmember Chock: Got it.
Mr. Dahilig: So, until we get that straightened out, it is kind of
up in the air as to how much can we fit in without making it seem like it is a "cookie cutter
project" type of thing.
Councilmember Chock: This is a project that I know is really important to
me, so I will continue to support it and I look forward to working on it with you.
Mr. Dahilig: We are driven to make this succeed and I tell you
why, because the legislature will only appropriate funds for this type of initiative if we can
show signs of success. If we can show signs of tangible success, this is the way that we can
get them to continue to fund these types of initiatives. Therefore, we are taking it amongst
ourselves to make sure that we get this project going. It is a top, top priority.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Cowden.
Councilmember Cowden: Yesterday, we had the Salary Commission in here
talking about a salary change. How does that fit into this budget? If we approve that, it is
going to raise some of our salary costs, do you have it planned on how we would be pushing
that backwards into the budget and where would the give and take happen as a result if we
were to raise those elements?
Mayor Kawakami: Thank you for the question. It is not in the budget
because the Salary Commission's recommendation upon approval does not guarantee a pay
increase. That is just to show what parameters we have the ability to work with. Anyone
from the private sector and the public-sector knows that as time goes along, it gets more and
more competitive to just keep up with what the private sector is offering. Even though those
ranges increased, we are holding our people accountable. I am running this as if this was Big
Save and this was our money and you do not just get a pay increase, it is based on merit, it
is based on your ability to fulfill our mission department by department and it goes down to
analyzing, evaluating all of our associates starting from the top. Like anything else, the
public-sector is a different animal oftentimes, department heads will see a bump in pay that
is in line with Hawai`i Government Employees Association (HGEA) and whatever bargaining
agreement that is tied into them, but as far as the range, just because you get a Salary
•
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Commission's recommended approval, by no means is an entitlement for you to get a bump
in pay. Now, you have to perform under this Administration and it is warranted based on
merit.
Councilmember Cowden: I have a follow-up on that. Yesterday, we were
understanding, that if this approved the Salary Commission that it would really go into the
FY 2020 budget. Is that partially also why we do not see any movement in here for that
because that commitment would be solid?
Mr. Dahilig: We had the discussion yesterday, Councilmember
Cowden, and it was with the understanding that because the Mayor's authority over certain
departments only extends to thirteen (13) out of the thirty (30) position types. The
salary-setting mechanisms are given for the other seventeen (17) position types to either
Boards & Commissions or to the legislative branch. At least for the thirteen (13) position
types that we were looking at because of the turnover in the Administrations, looking at, at
least having people one-year around the job, which would come one-year from Inauguration,
from last December would be something that is necessary, because we need to see someone's
performance over that period of time. It would be a portion of that in this budget, if we were
looking at the thirteen (13) of the thirty (30), but ultimately it depends on a legal read from
the attorney on how to actually line out those increases in this year's budget. I would also
suggest as a follow-up to the question to the Mayor that if it does increase, we would have to
go back to each of the department heads and ask them, "Okay, if you were to end up with this
increase, where in your budget would you provide room for accommodating this?" so it is not
across-the-board question that we would predispose for everyone. We would have every
department take a look at their budget and ask themselves, "If you are going to accommodate
this, where would you look at it to accommodate?"
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I do not want to get too much into the Salary
Commission's Resolution because that conversation is going to come back up again, but if it
does pass, I believe we had an County Attorney's opinion a few years ago that said we need
to fund it in the budget at the complete salary. Whether the Mayor folks give that actual
employee that entire salary is up to them, but in the budget, I believe the opinion said we
need to fund the entire salary and if that is the case, yes, if the Salary Resolution passes then
the supplemental budget that comes in will have to have all of those increases and there will
need to be cuts within departments or wherever they are going to find the money.
Councilmember Cowden: Thank you. I just wanted that clarification
because it certainly came up yesterday.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any other questions for the
Administration? Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Ken, I really appreciated your presentation as
well. It was very, very thorough and good information all around. It is a good way to look at
the big picture. The last part when you talked about the budget analysis tool for financial
transparency, I am just curious as to what is the period that this is live and available to the
public?
Mr. Shimonishi: It is currently available right now.
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Councilmember Kuali`i: Yes, but then does it shut down?
Mr. Shimonishi: No. As long as the County's website is operating,
as long as you have internet access...
Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay, so it stays available. When this is all over,
they can go back and look at it.
Mr. Shimonishi: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: And when you are starting to prepare for next
year, you can already look at it?
Mr. Shimonishi: Right.
Councilmember Kuali`i: The website is there all the time.
Mr. Shimonishi: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Awesome.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: That OpenGov platform is the most transparent
we can get with our financials. Anyone can go on, they can see real-time where we are actual
to budget, they can look at our budget from last year, they can look at past years'
performance, and I mean, I think it is an awesome tool. I use it during the year without
having to go and ask Ken questions. I go on that and look-up information that I want to find.
It is a tool that even I use as a Councilmember, so it is a good tool to use and it is available
to anyone. Anyone can go on for public use.
Mayor Kawakami: This is just a tip of the iceberg. We had a
presentation that showed so much other capabilities to make it much more user-friendly and
you all know that we all learn differently, some auditory and some visual. I am a visual type
of person, but of course, there are costs associated with it, so we are beginning the dialogue
to see if we can have a more user-friendly interface to even get more educational outreach to
our constituents and to our Councilmembers and to our Department Heads as well. The
capability of this OpenGov platform is quite frankly, from what I saw yesterday, amazing.
The type of possibilities that lie ahead are something that excite me. Like I said we are bound
by what we can actually...what we need right, and then what we can afford and then can we
afford to maintain it. Those are the three fundamental questions we ask as we go into new
territory as well.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock.
Councilmember Chock: Thank you, Scott Sato, for getting us moving in
that direction (inaudible). I just wanted to reference that as well because since we are talking
about this improvement is that at the Council-level we had the discussion about the way we
communicate particularly to (inaudible), but also as a Countywide approach, looking at
providing the community these statistical information and bits that really reflect the health
of our County, I think, is really key. I think that you have the support from us if you are
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looking in that direction for technological improvements going forward. Council Chair
Kaneshiro, I do have another question that is separate.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Again, as far as OpenGov goes, you know, a lot of
what we look at in our binder is probably a printout from OpenGov as far as year-to-year
actuals, I believe Ken is pulling a lot of the graphs. OpenGov, you can do a lot of things, it is
a good tool. Councilmember Chock.
Councilmember Chock: This is probably a "Ken" question and just for my
clarity, which is one Slide 3, when you talked about the excess reserves. I am trying to get a
handle on the General Fund versus the Reserves. I know that we have this resolution that
states we need a certain amount in that reserve. It is apparent to me based on what we have
done here with the budget that anything that ends up in the Reserve is basically General
Fund and we can tap into it, and that is what we are doing here. I just wanted to clarify the
process as it relates to reserves and what we can expect moving forward fiscally in terms of
policy. We have an excess, for instance, of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000), but what
should be the practice? Government Financial Officers Association (GFOA) give us this
certain amount for how much we need in the reserves (inaudible) a percentage of thirty
percent (30%), but what about the overages? Are there any best practices and needs for us
to look at moving forward and how it is we manage these funds?
Mr. Shimonishi: In the adoption of the Reserve Resolution, and in
fact the policy, we identified whenever we have an excess of reserves, it be communicated
and also what is the allowed uses of that excess. You know it was like CIP projects, deferred
maintenance, roads, pay down of debt, and I think there was something else, but again, you
can get that off of the Resolution and the policy copy. So, as long as that criteria is met, we
are saying, "This is what we already pre-identified our allowed uses. Whether or not it is a
communication, an agreement between Council and the Administration as where we kind of
have to have this discussion of what the priorities on the use of the excess, there is also a
policy that if we fall below that, what do we fund in terms of the priority because the reserve
is made up of certain priority items; disaster type of things, volatility, or liabilities or things
like that. Again, when we adopted the policy, we said, "These are the rules that we should
live by in order to ensure that we continue to main the reserve based on what the
recommended percentage."
Councilmember Chock: Okay, so to clarify it is not General Fund. It
clearly is Reserve funds and in this case, there is a specific guideline that we can use any
overdrawn.
Mr. Shimonishi: Correct, but I would say it is General Fund...think
of it as your General Fund savings account and you said, "I need to maintain this much in
my savings account to be somewhat safe," I guess, "to address future needs," anything above
that savings account amount is the excess of that reserve. It is General Fund money, it is
just an equity holding position, I guess, I would say.
Councilmember Chock: Okay. The only reason I bring that up is as it
relates to accountability on whatever excess moving forward, how it is we manage it and how
we see it, so that is why I asked the question.
Mr. Shimonishi: Right.
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Committee Chair Kaneshiro: After the Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report (CAFR) is done, they identified this is how much money we have lapsed money, we
fulfil our Reserve policy, this is how much money is left over that is excess General Fund
money that typically we could put it in the Reserve and leave it there and increase our
Reserve Fund or we can put it into Special Projects. This is probably only the second year we
have been able to do this once we have instituted that resolution having a Reserve Fund. I
believe last year, this money came in as a money bill for Parks projects and Roads projects
and we decided that was a good thing to do. They were projects that are tangible, that can
get done right away, and we approved it that way. This year with a different Administration,
it came in through the budget, but again, these are numbers that can still be adjusted in the
budget. If there is a project we want to do, we can possibly cut one of them or ask questions
about these. If we do not feel that they are that important for now, Council can always adjust
the numbers on this also. You know it is two (2) different ways, but in the end, we still have
the power to adjust, talk to the Administration, and decide what do we want to see with this
money. Again, this has to follow the policy though. As you can see these are CIP projects,
one-time projects. Council cannot say, "Let us cut six hundred thousand dollars ($600,000)
for the Wastewater Treatment Roof and we will put it to salaries or some recurring expense."
That is not what the policy say we can do. We can put it towards one-time projects, we can
put it to something else, but maybe we will look at the list and say, "No, we believe these are
critical and important projects," and leave it as-is. It is up to the Council and our prerogative
on it. Are there any other questions on the Mayor's presentation?
Councilmember Kuali`i: I do not have a question, but a final comment.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Mayor, I just wanted to say thank you for
identifying the audits as a top priority. The Council has been talking about some different
audits for a while and by your list of recommendations, there is overlap where we agree. I
look forward to us getting right to work on that and all with the goal, of course, with helping
you and helping our County improve services for constituents.
Mayor Kawakami: Thank you. We see audits as a tool. There is
always a level of discomfort when we have change. The only consistent thing in life is change.
"Nothing changes if nothing changes" and so we are hoping that these audits can identify
areas where we can implement low-hanging fruit, we can identify long-term type of changes
that are going to need to be made, but at the ultimate end of the day, we all share the same
goal, which is to make sure that we are giving our taxpayers the best value, the best service,
the best product that we can. Every day we strive for excellence. Council Chair, you hit the
nail on the head. This is our budget. This is not my budget or your budget. This is all of ours
and so we want to be able to incorporate some of your vision, some of your things that you
have as a priority, and this is where we engage in that collaborating discussion. It should
not be an"us versus them." This is all of us at the table, sitting down as a team, seeing where
we can find common ground moving forward, and yet being able for us to have the latitude
and flexibility to deploy our mission and our vision that has been instilled by our constituents
in this Administration as well. Therefore, we look forward to walking with you on this new
journey, like I said, this is a new day, we are turning over a new leaf, this is a new Council,
a new Administration, and so I am very excited. We are all very excited to work with you
through this process as well. It is going to be a learning opportunity for all of us. Most
importantly me. It has been an eye-opener. My gosh, I did not realize how fast things move
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on this side of the street, that is why I have to commend our Budget Team for being
fleet-footed and very diligent when it comes to fiscal responsibility.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Thank you.
Mayor Kawakami: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any last comments? Councilmember
Cowden.
Councilmember Cowden: I just really want to thank you and to emphasize
how enthusiastic I am with supporting your list. I really, really feel good about that. I like
how you highlighted guardianship and innovation. I am wondering who did all the work on
your OpenGov? The person or those people really need a big thank you.
Councilmember Chock: Ken.
Councilmember Cowden: Okay, I have been looking at...
Mayor Kawakami: Yes, who did that? I have to thank them too.
Councilmember Cowden: Was it you? Because good job.
Mr. Shimonishi: OpenGov is just the platform and we subscribed.
We take a data file and we upload it and it is their platform that does all of the interactive
type of fun things. As the Mayor said, we are talking to them about sharing an additional
feature with them as well to share more with the public, but yes, so it is not "me" or anyone,
it is just that we subscribe and that is...
Councilmember Cowden: Well, somehow it got there.
Mr. Shimonishi: Yes.
Councilmember Cowden: And I just want to say, I have seen it for maybe a
couple years or something like that and it is very good. Therefore, I am happy to be working
with you all.
Mayor Kawakami: We are happy to work with all of you as well.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. With that, we will get into the fun part and
looking at the numbers. Thank you for the presentation on the overall budget and your
message. With that, we are going to go into the Mayor's Budget, Administration. I do not
want to move around. We are going to go through the entire Administration budget, once we
are done, no more questions, we are going to move on to Youth Work Program. When we are
done with that, we are going to move to ADA, when we are done with that, Office of Boards
& Commissions, and then Human Resources (HR). We are not going backwards. We are
going to move forward. If you do have a question that pops up later, that would probably be
an E-mail question. With that, do we have any specific questions directly related to the
budget of the Mayor's Administration? If not, I have a few to get us started and warmed up.
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Councilmember Cowden: Yes, warm us up.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: As far as overtime, historically, there has not been
overtime in the Mayor's budget. What is the overtime for? Are there employees that can
make overtime in the Mayor's Office? I know a lot of them are appointed.
Mr. Dahilig: This is where I get to admit our first mistake of
the budget. If you look at the amount, it is actually duplicative of the overtime amount that
was put for the Office of Boards & Commissions, so it is the exact same amount. That is not
supposed to be there.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I was going to ask the Office of Boards &
Commissions the same question.
Mr. Dahilig: And they can explain why there is an overtime
allocation in this year's budget for demands that are coming forth for their operation, but yes,
that should not be there.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay, so the Supplemental will get rid of that.
Mr. Dahilig: Yes.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any questions from the members? If
not, I will keep going down my list. As far as training, the amount for training went up from
five thousand dollars ($5,000) to twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), is that training
specifically in the Office of the Mayor or is that training for anyone in the County? I do know
the Leadership Kauai Program used to be in that and it is not specific to the Office of the
Mayor.
Mr. Dahilig: Right. Again, as the Mayor started off his
Administration in his Inaugural Address, he made a commitment to want to ensure that our
staff were properly trained. So, this is meant for Countywide programs that we can front our
resources towards to help build leadership throughout our County leadership structure.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: On the overtime, if you want to leave it in the
Supplemental, please do and then we will get to cut it, and spend it the way we want.
Mr. Dahilig: Fair enough.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Consultant Services, Legislative Web tracking.
That is a new line item that has not been in the budget before, can you just explain what that
is?
Mr. Dahilig: That line item is actually a transfer over from the
Office of the Boards & Commissions, which was housing that contract previously. Therefore,
it is a service that we are already subscribed to and is necessary for us to monitor Legislative
Packages and bills during the State's Legislative session.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. Are there any questions from the
members? Special Projects...
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Councilmember Cowden: I have a question.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay.
Councilmember Cowden: Is that for both federal and state?
Mr. Dahilig: It is specifically just the state. Not to federal. We
reply on our D.C. Lobbyists to do the federal tracking for us and give us a heads-up when we
have appropriations or other types of acts of congress that could affect us locally.
Councilmember Cowden: And there the D.C. Lobbyists, they are paid for out
of what part of the budget?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: It is right above that line item. Seventy thousand
dollars ($70,000).
Mr. Dahilig: Yes, the seventy thousand dollars ($70,000).
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: They come in every year and do a presentation to
the Council.
Councilmember Cowden: Yes, so I do not see where it says, "D.C. Lobbyists,"
but is that "Other Services"?
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Page 6, "Consultant Services."
Councilmember Cowden: Alright.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Special Projects, the Cultural Protocol of
thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000), that is a new item also. Can you please explain what
that is?
Mr. Dahilig: Okay. As necessary, because the Mayor is the
head of the County, there are many situations where he is required to engage with other
heads of local governments and sometimes that may require let us a Native Hawaiian
protocol to be done, so that would handle honorarium in that situation or if we have situations
where Mayor from (inaudible) City or some of our sister-cities across internationally come in
that would help assist us with those costs. Those costs were previously borne by an actual
funded position in the Office of Economic Development and as there has been a retooling of
the mission of that office, some of the sister-city obligations are coming that way also.
Therefore, it includes just a number of protocol items that we may need to provide honoraria
for people to help us through that.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. Councilmember Chock.
Councilmember Chock: Did we cover overtime already? The eighteen
thousand dollars ($18,000).
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Yes, that was a mistake.
Councilmember Chock: Okay.
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Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Grant-In-Aids projects. I know prior it used to be
a line item and there were things like Red Cross and Project Grad, what is your intent with
the Grant-In-Aid? How does it differ from the Grant-In-Aids in OED?
Mr. Dahilig: When we looked at the two (2) grant programs in
previous budgets, there was in effect a discussion of why are certain things in OED and why
are certain things in the Office of the Mayor. What we found as the general genre behind
Grant-In-Aids with the Office of the Mayor was that it was meant for support of social service
types of things. What we wanted to emphasize was a bit of a process that at least requires
application. In previous budgets, it would be a clear earmark and we would have a request
for the moneys without much explanation as to what the moneys were going to be used for,
so what we wanted to ensure is that there is at least an application process that if a grant is
to be given out, and in all of these previous uses are definitely a priority still, but we want
them to go through an application process and not just feel that it is an entitlement. That it
is something that they need to explain what the program is about, what they are going to use
the money for, and that the public is aware of what they are going to use the money for
through that grant application process.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: So, how do they know whether they are going to
go for an OED grant or for an Office of the Mayor grant? Do they all go through the OED
and then the Mayor decides which ones are priority to them from that? What will be the
process?
Mr. Dahilig: It is something that with the Act 12 processes
when we did grant and aid through Act 12 that a lot of it were consolidated with OED, so it
would make sense to at least centralize the intake with one office and then look at
distributing it like wise.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any follow-ups? Are there further
questions from the members? Councilmember Evslin.
Councilmember Evslin: On the Grant-In-Aid, the Office of the Mayor and
OED the only two (2) departments that have this Grant-In-Aid?
Mr. Dahilig: These types of Grant-In-Aids. There are grant
embedded in some other budgets, like for example, with the Office of the Public Works, you
have watershed types of things that are in there. There are different grants for different
reasons, but at least for the competitive grant processes, they are mainly are housed by OED
and the Office of the Mayor.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: The Department of Public Works has a grant to
help facilitate soil and water conservation. It is, I guess you can say, an unfunded...a small
funded by State, but pretty much an unfunded mandate for the County, so there is money
that goes there.
Councilmember Evslin: The process for all of these Grant-In-Aids is
changing a little bit and that before they were directed to one (1) agency and now, for across
the board, it is going to be a more competitive, open process?
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Mr. Dahilig: Even before that, there was already predisposed
allocations given to nonprofit and other external agency partners, and it looked at it as an
entitlement. Again, it is not to say that the work that they are doing is not needed, because
obviously it is needed, but for transparency sake, we want them to come and explain what
they are going to use the money for so that when there is a question as to what the grant is
being used for, there is at least a record through that application process to say, "Here, we
have given this money for," let us say, "Project Grad, because they are going to use it to
support x,y, and z to make sure is a safe graduation night for everyone." Those are the types
of things that we want to have on record as part of a routine process before County resources
are given out.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: In the past even when I started, the grant line
items were earmarked already with the different programs that the money was going to go
to. Since my time here, the question was asked, "How does anyone else get a grant if they are
all earmarked?" It was the Administration's prerogative to say, "Yes, we are going to stop
earmarking it, we are going to set up a program where people can apply, and from that
application process, we will award grants." So, it was not so much of an entitlement in the
budget, but a more open process.
Councilmember Evslin: So,just as my first time looking at this, it is a little
hard for me to understand and this is maybe more for OED's, but like, where is that money
going towards;what organizations it has gone through in the past and maybe it will be helpful
when we get there to find out. I am sorry if you gave an answer to Council Chair Kaneshiro
already, but the one hundred ten thousand dollars ($110,000) that you folks have here; who
has that traditionally gone to?
Mr. Dahilig: There was a five hundred thousand
dollar ($500,000) grant to the Kauai Philippine Cultural Center that we did line out in the
past, so we do not feel it is necessary to give another half million dollars to the Kaua`i
Philippine Cultural Center. Other than that, the one hundred ten thousand
dollars ($110,000) reflects generally as the Chair briefly mentioned, fifty thousand
dollars ($50,000) went to Red Cross, one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) went to each
of the Project Grad programs with each of the high schools. There was money that went to
the Kaua`i Food Bank and...
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Yes, there are a few speckled ones, if I can
remember, Kaua`i Community Players Theatre, and...
Mr. Dahilig: Yes.
Councilmember Evslin: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Red Cross was probably the biggest one.
Mr. Dahilig: Yes.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock.
Councilmember Chock: I appreciate the actual...the way you are
structuring moving forward, but it does bring up a question about process. Are we looking
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at a grant period specific to this funding now and if the Office of the Mayor will be managing
that grant application and oversee or is there a different committee? I guess my question is
to get the details in terms of how you intend to disperse and making decisions around this
money moving forward?
Mr. Dahilig: It is something that we have in concept right now.
In terms of where...how specifically we will facilitate the competitive process, obviously we
will be starting with an application. How we put together a committee is another discussion
of how we do that fairly and then how we do an application period for these things, it is
typically how when you see at the legislature for State grants-in-aids, there is a period of
time when you have to apply and actually lay out a proposal, and then it is reviewed through
committees, et cetera. I think we are open to ideas on what makes sense to ensure fairness
and transparency in the process.
Councilmember Chock: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions for the Office of the Mayor?
If not, we are going to move on. Okay. Thank you, Mike. We will move on to the Youth Work
Program. It is a flat budget. This is for summer program internships that the County helps
with.
Mr. Dahilig: Yes.
Councilmember Cowden: Youth Work.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Page 9. Any questions regarding this program
from the members? It is only a one-line item. Councilmember Cowden.
Councilmember Cowden: Can I just have a brief overview?
Mr. Dahilig: We just work with the Kauai Economic
Development Board to provide...when kids come home for the summer, the ability to go in to
experience private sector work.
Councilmember Cowden: Is that the internships? The private sector or the
internship that is happening in the County like us?
Mr. Dahilig: There is both. So, that is another line item
somewhere also.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: These are programs that we have County
internship programs during the summer, I believe that ends up in Parks budget...I cannot
remember. I will need to double-check on that, but this is for internships where the County
pays a portion of a salary if college kids work in the private sector.
Councilmember Cowden: I got it.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: This is to compensate them in the private sector.
Councilmember Evslin.
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Councilmember Evslin: Did there used to be a staff position dedicated to
this in the past and no longer is and just so that I can kind of understand what it is, why is
it not just part of the other Grants-In-Aids?
Mr. Dahilig: I think that is what it evolved from was a line item
where it incurred salary cost, so then they just pushing it over to KEDB to just handle it
through a directed grant versus having to do it and house it in-house. You will see that 2016
expenditure has that position and then migrated to then just providing direct support
instead.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Cowden.
Councilmember Cowden: So I am hearing it goes to Kaua`i Economic
Development Board, is that who manages it?
Mr. Dahilig: Yes.
Councilmember Cowden: Okay.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions for Youth Work Program?
If not, we will move on to the ADA Office, the Equal Access ADA Office. Any questions on
that budget? It is pretty flat, besides benefits going up. If not, we will move on to the Office
of Boards & Commissions. Any questions on the Office of Boards & Commissions?
Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Can you start with the overtime line item? What
do you anticipate what positions for what period of time?
ELLEN CHING, Boards & Commissions Administrator: Good morning, for
the record Ellen Ching, Boards & Commissions. Starting with the overtime, the majority or
I would say the biggest impact to the budget are the contested-case hearings, which we
inherited. Boards & Commissions handles all of the contested-case hearings. There are still
some that is being managed by the Planning Department, but when I first came on, we were
assigned eleven (11) and I started mid-December and now we are up to eighteen (18). Each
contested-case hearing...I am getting more data on the time study for what involves to
support a contested-case hearing, but a contested-case officer spends about fifty (50) hours
per case and that does not include support staff. With the current staff that we have, we are
supporting sixteen (16) boards and commissions and so we are not including any...we do not
have any additional positions and we are required to manage these contested-case hearings.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Just for the general public, can you describe a
little further what a contested-case hearing is? It must be different for different commissions.
Ms. Ching: It is extremely different. It is a quasi-judicial
process. There is an attorney that is involved, who is the contested-case hearings officer, so
that individuals that are appealing the Planning Commissioners' finding that they are an
illegal TVR, is appealing and so the hearing officer is there and they rule on the proceedings
as to whether...between the County of Kaua`i and the people that are appealing. At the end
of it, our latest case was continued over two (2) days, so more than eight (8) hours for just
one (1) hearing. That resulted in a thirty-page Findings of Fact and Conclusion of Law that
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is sent to both the people who are appealing and the County Attorney. The next stop from
after the contested-case hearing with Boards & Commissions would be if they want to
continue an appeal then it would go to judiciary, to the court. It is a legal record.
Councilmember Kuali`i: You made a comment about some of it you do and
some of it Planning does, so how does it break up?
Ms. Ching: You have heard about how Planning and the
County and the Administration is really having a huge effort, a huge initiative on really
trying to enforce against illegal TVRs, so the whole process is with the Planning Department,
they are trying to search out individuals or businesses that are illegal TVRs. When they find
one, they will get the notice to basically stop. Those parties can appeal that.
Councilmember Kuali`i: They are appealing to this line item or something
over at Planning? Is this a contested-case hearing that comes to Boards & Commissions?
Ms. Ching: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. On the bottom line, the eighteen thousand
six hundred nine dollars ($18,609) is to pay for the contested-case officer, at an hourly rate?
Ms. Ching: No. The contested-case officer is under "Other
Services," which is for one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000).
Councilmember Kuali`i: Oh, okay.
Ms. Ching: The overtime is associated with the support staff
needed to be there because there is a recording of the hearing while it is going on.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Right. Okay. So these positions up here, the
Commission Support Clerk, there are three (3) of them, this is when they leave their regular
duties to support the contested-case officer for these additional contested-case hearings?
Ms. Ching: Correct.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. That is all I have on overtime, if anyone
else has follow-up on overtime.
Councilmember Cowden: I have a follow-up.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Cowden.
Councilmember Cowden: Of those eighteen (18) cases, are they all basically
"Planning," like do any of the other boards and commissions end up having contested-case
hearings like the Liquor Commission?
Ms. Ching: So far all of them are Planning except for one (1).
We had a "Water" hearing that has...we are in the end stages of that. In total nineteen (19),
but when I said eighteen (18), eighteen (18) are from Planning.
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Councilmember Cowden: Okay. Thank you.
Councilmember Kuali`i: The next one was on training. So, the training
budget of nineteen thousand three hundred seventy-three dollars ($19,373)—it is a really
large increase from the prior year.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Up from one thousand dollars ($1,000).
Councilmember Kuali`i: From one thousand dollars ($1,000) to nineteen
thousand dollars ($19,000). The biggest one is the...I do not know what that line item
means—Restoring Fiscal 2019 Budget Request Increase, oh, that is also contested-case
hearings, then? The ten thousand four hundred fifty dollars ($10,450)? What part of
contested-case hearing is that paying for?
Ms. Ching: I would not necessarily say it is directly relating
to contested-case hearings. Out of my office, we are a small office of five (5) and three (3) of
us are brand new, two (2) people are from before, and we support all of the Boards and
Commissions. There are a couple of things that I am really interested in and it really has to
do with customer service. I really believe that our customers are certainly the public, but it
is also all of the commissioners, all of the committee members, and the board of directors.
There are typically over one hundred (100)volunteers that we support. One of the key things
that we are required to do is to make sure that they follow the Sunshine Law, Robert's Rules,
and that is for all of the meetings. In my mind that is a critical piece that they need to get
training on and I would like to see every single one of them be able to get intensive online
training on Robert's Rules of Order. In addition to that, we are a kind of interesting office
where we take customer/citizen complaints involving the police. Anyone that wants to make
a complaint regarding the Police Department comes to our office. Many of them are, as you
can imagine, quite agitated and so I feel that it is important that the staff really have very
good training on how to interact with people who are already in crisis, perhaps, and already
agitated and be able to do respectful, dignified intake, and really be able to handle those
individuals with a lot of care. Especially, many of them come in and I would perceived that
there is an issue with mental illness or any number of issues that they already have when
they are trying to make a complaint. In my mind, coming from a health nonprofit, that is a
very specialized area that needs really, really specialized approach and care.
Councilmember Kuali`i: My last question is on the "Other Services" and
you kind of alluded to it already. So the line item that is "Contested-Case Hearing Officer,
one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000)," that is a consultant that you hire? What rate do
you pay them and how do you hire them?
Ms. Ching: It is a procurement and it is a contract that I
inherited. It is an attorney that is a contested-case hearings officer and the rate is one
hundred seventy-five dollars ($175) an hour.
Councilmember Kuali`i: One hundred seventy-five dollars ($175) an hour
and you said you inherited it, so what is the remainder of the contract that you inherited?
When do you get to negotiate the next contract?
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Ms. Ching: That contract ends June 30th. We are currently in
the process of learning the procurement process and learning how to renew and solicit for a
new bid and contract.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Obviously the pool of money, the one hundred
thousand dollars ($100,000) is basically your best guess, because you do not know how many
contested-case hearings you will have to facilitate. But if it ranges in the range from the
current eleven (11) to eighteen (18), the one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) will cover
that or should cover that.
Ms. Ching: I would not want to guess what it will cover.
Recently, we had about seven (7)...
Councilmember Kuali`i: That is what a budget is, right?
Ms. Ching: Yes, true. We recently had about seven (7) cases
that from the eleven (11), we acquired seven (7) more, and interesting, I am learning a lot
about this that the illegal TVRs may for instance, it may be with someone that is doing an
illegal TVR under the name of...I do not know, "Ellen Ching," let us take that, for instance.
Well"Ellen Ching, Inc."is not just one (1)TVR. What we are seeing is that there are three (3),
four (4) and so this additional seven (7) cases that we took on, we were able to consolidate
and what we are estimating is that we will be able to save about twenty-five percent (25%)
of the cost. I am not sure I feel like especially with the projection of the Planning Department,
getting new software, that they will be a "ballooning," but we are going to do the best that we
can with the resources that we have to make it stretch as far as we can.
Councilmember Kuali`i: I will just put it right out there, I mean the
Council for years have been talking about how important this enforcement is, so if it turns
out that there is huge workload and you need more money, then that is kind of a legitimate
cause to come back here.
Ms. Ching: I am so glad you said that.
Councilmember Kuali`i: When the time comes, yes. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: But we will evaluate it on an individual basis.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Yes, absolutely.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Just to clarify"Transcription Services," cost is the
software program. What is that again?
Ms. Ching: Because we are not getting an added position and
even with the added position, it would be very difficult to manage all of these contested-case
hearings that we are having, we have a staff person that supports the hearings officer, who
is an attorney. As soon as we get the transcription, we have very...it varies, but we have to
turn it around very quickly. We send it out to transcription service. When the transcription
comes back, the staff has to review it because of the Japanese, the Hawaiian language, all
number of things. They have to review it against the tape for accuracy and once that
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transcription is finalized, then it is made available to the Planning Department and the
people that are appealing.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Oh, it is actual typing of the hearings.
Ms. Ching: Yes.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any there any further questions? Councilmember
Chock.
Councilmember Chock: It looks like the Cost Control Report is a new item
and an expensive item. Can you explain the importance of it and the cost behind it?
Ms. Ching: One thing I saw in the prior years that there was
a bigger budget to it and when I saw that this is a mandated report that really concerns me.
One of the things that I am interested in is having things more available and having it
distributed further. So, right now I know there are a lot of questions about audits, our budget
message, and where this commission is going to go. I think given more of a clear direction on
where the Administration wants to go and certainly, this is part of the process where the
legislative branch and the Administration really sets the tone for the County fiscally. I think
that is the time for the Cost Control Commission come in to say, "Okay, how can we partner
with those efforts and how can we amplify those efforts?" Whatever we do let us make sure
that it is distributed and it really has a wide breadth of distribution and discussion with the
community because that the budget is one of the most important tools of what is accomplished
with this County.
Councilmember Chock: How many reports are we distributing out of this
printing?
Ms. Ching: I was basing it on what I am familiar with, which
is a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) report, which is an Economic
Development report. It is pretty lengthy and it is a pretty involved process with stakeholders'
groups because that is what I am familiar with. I wanted to put in a number that would not
be limiting on what this report could do and possibly and how it could be distributed.
Councilmember Chock: Just so I am clear, what you are saying is that you
want to have a hard copy available at the Office of Boards & Commissions, but that there
may be an expansion to that accessibility...
Ms. Ching: Absolutely.
Councilmember Chock: ...in providing copies to others?
Ms. Ching: Yes.
Councilmember Chock: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any further questions for the Boards &
Commissions? Councilmember Evslin.
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Councilmember Evslin: I have a general question regarding Commissions.
How are you folks doing regarding filling vacancies? I know often meetings were not being
held because of a lack of quorum. Is there anything that we can do to help support filling
those vacancies if there is an issue?
Ms. Ching: Absolutely. We welcome all and any applications,
people that are interested, and I would invite you all to send me any E-mails of people that
are interested. What happens is that I then E-mail them, send them the link for the
application, and encourage them to fill it out and return it to us so that they can be
considered. We filled about half of the positions. We have had some recent resignations, so
there are about six (6) to eight (8) vacancies that we are looking to fill now.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: If we have a lot more follow-up, I am actually
going to have to take a caption break.
Councilmember Evslin: I actually have one (1) follow-up.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay.
Councilmember Evslin: What is the best way for us to find out where those
vacancies exist?
Ms. Ching: I am more than happy to provide you with that
information.
Councilmember Evslin: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We will take a ten (10) minute caption break. We
will come back. I do not think you will have many more questions left. After that, we will
also look at the Human Resources (HR) report that we received. Ten (10) minute caption
break.
There being no objections, the Committee recessed at 11:06 a.m.
The meeting was called back to order at 11:20 a.m., and proceeded as follows:
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Welcome back. We are still on Boards &
Commissions. Councilmember Chock, you had a question.
Councilmember Chock: Thank you, Council Chair Kaneshiro. Thank you,
Ellen. I appreciate you being able to be here today and provide some insight on the budget.
Most of your responses and how you have outlined your budget really tells us the story about
what it is that you are focused on. Being a new Administrator, particularly in the budget
period, we like to also get a sense of where you are headed and what your goals are. I wanted
to just be able to provide a little bit of time for you. It sounds like you have some things that
you want to work on and if you could shed any more light on what we can expect, I think it
will help us.
Ms. Ching: Thank you for that question. Coming in, I have
never worked in government before, so it is a fascinating, exciting, and interesting time for
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me. It has been wonderful. It has been a great opportunity. Being able to work with this
Administration is just absolutely a lot of fun, a lot of interesting things, and of course, at the
top of the list is my whole career thus far has been about trying to make a difference and
trying to help an individual or create community resources for the benefit of this place where
we live. This is a great opportunity and I intend to respect it, honor it, and to always be
cognizant of the privilege of this opportunity that I have been given. One of the directions
that we received as new Department Heads or Administrators is to really take the
Department through the mission-vision process. I am in the process of finalizing that. It
was a great opportunity for me because even though being a small office, I have two (2)
individuals who have a wealth of knowledge and I have three (3)people, myself included, who
have never worked in government. Basically, the majority of the work has been in nonprofits
from the private sector, so, it is knitting together the team. My goal is to have a
high-performing team; definitely to look at efficiency, effectiveness, and looking at going
digital wherever possible; and really cutting down on paper. Every Commission right now,
gets a folder that is mailed to them with the agenda with the agenda packet, and that agenda
is posted. Then on top of that, they are digitally sent those materials. The postings, the staff
walk from our Office to here to post, as well as all of the conference rooms. There are a lot of
efficiencies that I think could be increased. I am total agreement and total support about
customer service. In my mind, customer service define really identifying who our customers
are. Certainly, the public, but it is also the Council, internally, and also our Commissioners.
Are we servicing them at the best level possible? Are we providing them the information that
they need to make the best decisions possible? These Commissions, in some ways, I feel they
are the best kept secret. We are really a bridge between the government and the public.
They actually set many of the salaries. They are the ones that make the decisions on how
much a Department Head is going to be paid, such as the Fire Chief, Chief of Police, and the
Head of HR. They evaluate those people. Are they meeting objectives? Are they meeting
their outcomes? It is the public's way of community government of having their input and
their voice expressed through the Commission on what they think is important and how they
want to express that within our government operations. It is amazing. It is incredible. I
may not agree with all of the opinions of our Commissioners, but I can tell you one thing, I
am absolutely incredibly impressed at how much they care and how dedicated they are and
willing to put in the time and the effort with all of the Commissions that they are involved
in. Their intention is absolutely stunning and amazing, honestly.
Councilmember Chock: Thank you very much.
Ms. Ching: Thank you.
Councilmember Chock: When you say that we are "the best kept secret," I
think it is true because I almost consider our Boards and Commissions like the third branch
of County government because they really have a lot of power that I think most of our public
does not realize. The direction that you mentioned in terms of community engagement, I
think, is really key and something that I think we get feedback from around the table as to
how we can improve that. So anything else that you can do in that venue, I would be fully
supportive of. Thank you.
Ms. Ching: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Again, sorry, Ellen. I should have allowed you,
the Office of the Mayor and you put together a budget and operation synopsis, and I think we
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just blew right past that. For the other Departments, I will give them the opportunity to go
over the budget synopsis in the presentation. I apologize. Councilmember Cowden.
Councilmember Cowden: I also want to thank you, Ellen. From what I have
seen so far, I am really impressed with the job that you are doing. I have three (3) key
questions: when new Board members come in, such as they are on the Arbor Committee or
we have all of these different Commissions that many people are unaware of and it is just a
diversity. It is almost as diverse as the entire government. When people are chosen for these
Commissions, it is good that they get taught Robert's Rules of Order, but is there going to be
or is there any training? I do not see dollars in here for training to help people understand
the objectives of the group that they are joining and sometimes, it is good for them to know
before they commit to doing it.
Ms. Ching: When people express an interest, and a lot of
times, they do, they have a specific interest in a Commission that they would like to volunteer
for, the first thing that I do is write them an E-mail, send them a link to the application, and
send them a link to that specific Commission so that they can read a little bit about it, see
how often it meets, and who else is on it. That is the first thing I do. One of the things on
my mission—the mission and vision, the other thing that is attached to it is basically a
strategic plan with outcomes and dates. We are almost about eight percent (80%) completed
with that, but one of the things that we want to do is really change the approach to training
to all of the Boards and Commissions. What happened prior is that they would hold one (1)
training and invite Commissioners to come. What I understood is that a lot of Commissioners
did not attend, so they did not get the training. Even though it is going to take more time
and effort, what I am interested in is seeing how we can tack on training to their Commission
Meetings and have it in smaller doses so that they are already there and we can provide
training in smaller doses, but will get more of the Commissioners in that training starting
off with the basic things like the parliamentary, Robert's Rules, Sunshine Law, and also,
what the duties are for that Commission by Charter and what they are responsible for. So,
kind of having a whole different approach and looking at a whole different curriculum to the
training to basically have a better quality and have more participation on that training.
Councilmember Cowden: Where is that training reflected on this budget
page? That $12,600 was more for the sensitivity training for the staff. Where is there a
dollar number in here for training of new Board members, or is that just part of the regular
salaries for the staff?
Ms. Ching: Two (2) of the staff members that joined, the
brand-new staff members, I am happy to say that is their...
Councilmember Cowden: Function.
Ms. Ching: No, that is not their function.
Councilmember Cowden: Okay.
Ms. Ching: But that is their main expertise from coming
outside, developing curriculum and training.
Councilmember Cowden: Okay.
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Ms. Ching: I am very pleased that they are willing to come to
the Office because there is a huge training component that I think can be really improved
and hopefully, again, it is about customer service and also knowing that the better quality of
training, the better functioning, the better decisions that these Commissioners can get.
Councilmember Cowden: I have one (1)other question that is a budget item.
That is with the physical proxemics of your Office. It feels the same as maybe when you go
to pay for property taxes where the type of customer that you are going to have coming in,
depending upon whether they are coming in with whatever challenge, very often, they are
coming there either exuberant about an idea, frightened from a bad experience, or high
anxiety. My experience in the past is that the proxemics of that Office is very difficult for
people to come away and feel heard and unfrightened. Have you given any kind of
consideration of managing that challenge?
Ms. Ching: Oh, I have given a lot of consideration. Coming
from where...
Councilmember Cowden: Where did you come from, by the way? You did
not say.
Ms. Ching: I was the Executive Director for a nonprofit
organization for twenty-nine (29) years working with people with disabilities, so you have
individuals that can vocalize, but cannot speak or they may not be able to see. There is any
number of conditions that they may have. One of the big things that we always look at is
how environment affects behavior. For me, walking into that Office, it was very institutional.
We have already started to change that. We have huge plans for changing the color, changing
the way the desks are situated and composed, and really trying to create a separate space
that is inviting and welcoming. In particular, for what I talked about earlier, when people
are coming in and they are in crisis, they should have a private place or some privacy that
they can talk about something that is traumatic to them and they want to make a complaint.
Councilmember Cowden: Is that space or those costs evaluated into this
budget?
Ms. Ching: Right now, we are doing it without additional
costs.
Councilmember Cowden: Okay. Do you feel you can address that?
Ms. Ching: For what we want to do at this point, yes.
Councilmember Cowden: Okay. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Just a short quick one. I missed earlier under
Other Services, there is a line item called "Legislative Tracking Website." What is that?
Ms. Ching: That actually is a carryover. I think that
Managing Director Dahilig talked about it earlier, that contract was with the Boards &
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Commissions, and it was software to do legislative tracking. In the past, Boards and
Commissions did all of the legislative tracking, and so that is why that contract was in the
Boards & Commissions'budget. That function has moved upstairs to the Office of the Mayor. •
I continue to have it in my budget, although the function has been moved to the Mayor's
Office. I believe that I heard earlier this morning that that website or that contract was going
to be moved to the Mayor's Office.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Evslin.
Councilmember Evslin: I also want to thank you for the work that you do.
One of the interesting things about yesterday's meeting was finding out just how few
Department Heads are under the purview of the Mayor and how many are appointed by
Boards and Commissions.
Ms. Ching: Yes.
Councilmember Evslin: I want to encourage anyone who happens to be
watching this right now to go in and get engaged. For me, I served on the Public Access,
Open Space, Natural Resources Preservation Fund Commission (Open Space Commission)
for about two (2) years and it was such an amazing learning experience for me and just a
great way to get engaged in democracy. It was also frustrating as times because you learn
about the friction of bureaucracy, but a great window into government. Anyone out there
who has never served, go to talk to Ellen Ching and get engaged in the Boards. The ones
that do not directly appoint Department Heads like Open Space or the Cost Control
Commission, they do such important work elsewhere. Thank you for doing that. Let us get
these all filled to their capacity.
Ms. Ching: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Thank you. Are there any further questions? I •
have a follow-up to Councilmember Kuali`i's question regarding moneys for legislative
tracking. Should that be eliminated from the budget if it is not going to be spent?
Ms. Ching: I am going to leave that to Managing Director to
respond.
Mr. Dahilig: As was mentioned earlier, it has been rolled over
into our budget.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: There was a number for the legislative tracking,
right?
Mr. Dahilig: It is under D.C. lobbyists.
Councilmember Kuali`i: $12,500, page 14.
Mr. Dahilig: $12,500. •
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Committee Chair Kaneshiro: So that does not need to be in the Boards &
Commission's budget anymore?
Mr. Dahilig: No, it does not.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay.
Ms. Ching: We can use if for something else. I will let you
know.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any further questions?
Councilmember Kuali`i: I just have one (1).
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Under Other Small Equipment, it is going up from
$2,900 to about $10,000 and you list headphones, laminators, scanner, and desk partitions.
Are you replacing old equipment and furniture? How does the $9,500 break down?
Ms. Ching: I want to tell you a story when I first walked into
the Office. It really freaked me out, quite frankly. You walk in, and every single desk was
in a row and you walk past it. It was like something out of a crazy movie, honestly. Just one,
two, three, everyone in a row facing that way. I thought, "Oh, my gosh." It is just really not
a working environment that I feel is conducive to a high-performing team. On top of that, if
you think about transcription where you are plugged in, I have to say, and an interesting
thing about working with the government or having a brand-new experience is, I can say that
staff they come in the morning, sit down, they plug in, and the only time they get up is to go
to the restroom. They were eating at their desk. They stay there until the end of the day. I
thought, "holy crackers." Now, two (2) of the new people were having a hard time with the
ear buds because it was actually painful, and that is a huge part of their job. On top of that,
it is transcription, so any kind of interruption with the phone or people coming in. We are
the first office to the right, so everyone comes in, just to ask the question, "Where is this" and
"where is that?" It is just a natural thing. It is trying to create an environment where they
can have high performance with reducing sound and being able to really focus and creating
a better environment for them, and a better environment, I believe, for the public because to
come in and see this really one desk after another, it was just really so institutional, honestly.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any further questions for Boards &
Commissions? If not, thank you.
Ms. Ching: Thank you.
Human Resources Reports:
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Our final item for today is Human Resources and
their Report, their Vacancy Report that they sent to us. Do we have any questions for HR?
Again, this is a Vacancy Report that line items each Department's vacancies. If we have a
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question specific to that Department, then I would ask that we hold off on asking that
question until we get to that Department. We can make a copy. It was the report that we
had from yesterday, the Vacancy Report. Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Hi, Janine. Thank you for providing this report.
I am going to reserve most of my detailed questions on vacant positions to each Manager that
comes forward, but I am just curious as to in the instance of some of these positions that have
been vacant for a long time, there is not a column in this report that basically gives us status
or anticipated change, if you will. Perhaps, some of these positions, and we will see in the
budget, too, if it ends up being dollar-funded or what have you. This report, and I do not
know if at one time it did have another column, it would be good to have a status column,
update column, or an anticipated change in the future column as far as will it remain vacant
or if it is anticipated. Maybe it is even in the middle of recruitment and recruitment takes x
amount of time, so it is anticipated to be filled at a certain time.
JANINE M.Z. RAPOZO, Acting Director of Human Resources: Good morning,
Janine Rapozo, Acting Director of Human Resources. I do have some information on that,
but I was not sure if you would want do that with the Department or if you wanted an update
to that.
Councilmember Kuali`i: No,just in the sense of making it part of the report
in the future.
Ms. Rapozo: Okay.
Councilmember Kuali`i: I am not going to ask specific ones now, but I will
end up asking at the Department-level.
Ms. Rapozo: Okay.
Councilmember Kuali`i: As long as they have the information, then they do
not have to go back to you.
Ms. Rapozo: Okay, and the budget ordinance does require one
more report to be submitted on May 1st.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Oh, right. In May, right?
Ms. Rapozo: Yes, right before deliberations.
Councilmember Kuali`i: I wonder if you would not add that piece, another
column.
Ms. Rapozo: We could.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Especially for some of the ones that have been
vacant a really long time, one thousand two hundred ninety-one (1,291) days or one thousand
three hundred fifty-three (1,353) days. Some of them have been vacant literally, for years.
Not a lot, but some.
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Ms. Rapozo: Yes. We can do that. It is a fluid document. Since
we submitted it on March 14th, we already have changes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Sure, that is why we have it updated in May.
Ms. Rapozo: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any other questions from the members
regarding the Vacancy Report? Do you want to take a break and look at it?
Councilmember Cowden: I will just look at it right here. No worries.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: It is basically a report that shows us all of the
vacancies in every Department, how long they have been vacant, and whether or not they
have been budgeted for or dollar-funded. We use this report a lot of times when the
Departments come up. We will to ask them what the status of certain positions. Maybe
positions that have not been filled for a while, we will ask, "Why has it not been filled?" They
will also give us maybe an update, maybe they did hire in certain positions. Councilmember
Chock.
Councilmember Chock: Council Chair Kaneshiro, I am going to follow suit
and look at it department-by-department as well, but since we have our Acting Director of
Human Resources here, I guess I would just ask what progress, in general, you have seen in
terms of vacancies and the Vacancy Committee's role, and what you foresee moving forward.
Ms. Rapozo: The Vacancy Committee is no longer in existence.
That was a Mayor Carvalho initiative, so that is no longer in existence. We are not meeting.
However, there has been a lot of progress. I think the report looks kind of overwhelming
because of all of the Police vacancies, which has grown from before. But if you look at the
other Departments, it is not as much as before. There are some positions that are really hard
to fill and you will see that is why they are one thousand (1,000) days or whatever. That is
some of our trades; our plumbers, electricians, and of course, the police officers are in there,
too, and some of our engineers. We are looking at doing different ways of trying to attract
more people for that. We have been hiring above the minimum. That has not really been
working. We recently met with State to see if there is a way to offer shortage differentials,
so if there is a shortage in that category to hire, you can over a differential, which would be
a monetary amount in addition to the base pay. We are looking at doing that for some of our
positions that have been hard to fill for a long time. Those are some of the things we are
doing to try to get these lists down. We are trying to work with Departments. A lot of it, too,
is if you are looking at a higher-level position, we are going to promote, and so there is this
domino effect. That one takes ten (10) days and then the next one takes another ten (10)
days or even more. By the time you finally get down to the lowest-level position, that may
take a few months to actually totally get rid of the vacancy. But that is just the nature of the
beast that we have to do. Other than there, there are some other hard-to-fill ones that we
have been working with. The Park Security Officer, you will see there are four (4) vacancies
right now out of seven (7) positions, I believe, or there are seven (7) or something like that.
That one, we are working with Parks to try to look at the test itself to see if we are testing
correctly on what would be needed for that particular position. We are working with various
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Departments on the positions that they have a hard time to fill and see what kind of things
we need do. With Police, we are testing every month and trying to get those positions filled
as quickly as we can. We fill a few and then a few leave. It has been really tough. That has
been a tough battle. We came really close and then it ballooned again. They are working
really hard, but it is just nationwide, it is a hard to fill position right now.
Councilmember Chock: I guess with the disbandment of the Vacancy
Committee, it sounds like you are transitioning to really just some of the best practices that
you folks have learned about and put into...is it more of a policy? My concern is that we do
not get backwards and we learn how to manage some of this and are still learning, but how
do we actually ensure that is sustained into this next Administration?
Ms. Rapozo: The recruitment staff as well as the classification
staff who classify the position at what level it should be recruited at, work closely with each
Department when a vacancy comes up. A lot of times, they do not hire immediately because
what they do is they look at the position and see whether or not that is the best fit right now.
When there is a vacancy, should we reorganize? Where is really the need? We are not getting
new positions. Every Department knows that it is very rare to get a new position, so you
have to work within your means. Most of the time, the only time to do that would be when
there is a vacancy, to see whether or not you can restructure. We have been working through
our classification staff working with Departments to see whether or not that is the best thing.
At Finance, for example, at Motor Vehicles, there are positions that require experience within
Motor Vehicle, so you are not going to get that. Most of their positions when they leave, we
bring them down to a Senior Clerk, bring those people in, and then as they get the experience,
they are allocated to a higher level. But we bring it down first and then go from there. We
have been working with the Departments to do that. I think some of the newer Department
Heads are learning on that, but some of the ones that have been with us, they understand it,
so we have been working with them. A lot of them went through the Vacancy Review
Committee, so they are aware of what kinds of strategies we want to look at to try to make
sure that you make the best usage of your resources of what you have.
Councilmember Chock: Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Evslin.
Councilmember Evslin: What explains the difference between the current
salary range, the budgeted amount, and the estimated salary savings? Why do all of those
numbers just line up pretty closely?
Ms. Rapozo: Let us just go through the columns. The position
number would line up with your budget; the Department Division, position, and title. This
report reflects the current year budget, not the budget that you have in front of you for next
year. Some of the positions may not align the same, depending if they have already made
the change to reallocate to something else. The salary range is the range that particular
rating would be priced at. The budgeted amount, again, would be what is in the current
year's budget, FY 2019. As you see, some are just dollar-funded. That means that they just
basically held the position number and they may fill it if they have money to do it, but at this
point, they were not going to fill it. Some of them, you will see zero ($0) because this is only
General Fund money. If it is budgeted through a grant, there will not be any money that you
will consider. The main things for this report was for the Council to see what savings there
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would have been throughout the year with the vacancies, and so that is why at the end, you
see that, as well as looking at if the vacancy has been there for a while, is that a position that
still needs to be budgeted in next year? So, those are the different numbers there.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: If you look at it, you may see dollar-funded
positions, budgeted amount or dollar-fund, that basically means that they are not planning
on filling that position at that time.
Councilmember Cowden: Okay, that was a question that I had. That is
what $1 means. We need to keep $1 there to keep the place of that position. There may be
three (3) or four (4) vacant Plumbers, they are thinking that we are never going to fill all
four (4)within the next year, they may dollar-fund a Plumber or two (2), and then try and fill
the Plumber, just as an example, so you will see a dollar-funded position. Again, as far as
estimated salary savings and budget, you will sometimes see the total budget for a position
and then our actual budget is maybe half. That is the Administration trying to anticipate
that the reality of hiring this employee on July 1st is not realistic, and we are going to
half-fund it, three-quarter-fund it, or quarter-fund the position because that is when we think
that we will actually get the employee in there. You will see a variation of it.
Councilmember Evslin: It shows estimated salary savings, do the
Departments do an estimate of how much overtime accrued because of these vacancies?
Ms. Rapozo: I am not sure they do that. Some of the estimated
salary savings may not be as much because what they may do is, even if the position is vacant,
they may hire a short-term person to fill that, so there are some salaries that are being
accrued and taken out. But I do not know if they do that analysis as far as how much
overtime.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any other questions regarding this
report? Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: This is just one (1) little thing I stumbled upon
and just wondered if this has anything do with what you talked about the shortage
differential. When I opened it in Excel, I saw a hidden column and it just says, "Short-Funded
Number of Months or Part-Time Status," and they all have twelve (12) in it. Was that just
for calculations or something?
Ms. Rapozo: I do not do the calculation part, so I am not sure
what the hidden column was there for.
Councilmember Kuali`i: I guess it was probably just for calculations. That
is what I figure.
Councilmember Evslin: Can I just compliment Councilmember Kuali`i for
his attention to detail on finding hidden columns in this spreadsheet?
Councilmember Kuali`i: Well, this exists for the Council so I thought it was
important that we take the responsibility to tighten the budget. That is why the Vacancy
Review Committee existed with Mayor Carvalho. I am glad he did that,but HR has obviously
been improving, too, so I appreciate that.
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Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Cowden.
Councilmember Cowden: I was just looking at the Special Projects budget.
One of them the Employee Awards Banquet, right? I bought my ticket already. •
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Sorry. What are you looking at?
Councilmember Cowden: I am looking at, it says, "Special Projects."
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: In the HR budget?
Councilmember Cowden: Yes.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Oh, we are going to get to the HR budget later.
Councilmember Cowden: Alright, I am sorry.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: The Vacancy Report.
Councilmember Cowden: Alright, never mind.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Keep that question in your head for when Janine
comes back up.
Councilmember Cowden: Alright.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any other questions on the Vacancy
Report? Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Just one (1) other thing. You had mentioned that
what happens sometimes in response to a vacancy is that is the opportunity because new
positions do not become available necessarily so easily, that you can look at restructuring or
reorganizing. We obviously are going to see in each individual Department when any kind
of restructuring or reorganizing has happened or is happening that will move positions
around in the budget, right?
Ms. Rapozo: If it is already been moved by March 15th, you
would have seen it changed in the budget and that is, again, fluid.
Councilmember Kuali`i: If it is something that is in the works and coming
in the future, in the column on status, you could be mentioning that, right?
Ms. Rapozo: We could, yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: For example, under Recruitment, "anticipated
hire by two (2) months from now" or whatever; at start of the year, then is fully funded
budget-wise.
Ms. Rapozo: If the position challenges, such as it gets
reallocated from an Accountant I to Accountant II and it is vacant, this report would reflect
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that and change it already. Your budget from FY 2019 may be different from what is actually
on here.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Right. So, we are going to see new information?
Ms. Rapozo: Yes.
Councilmember Kuali`i: But not yet from the May report, right?
Ms. Rapozo: We are taking action every day on classifications.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Right.
Ms. Rapozo: So, if any happened from March, then...
Councilmember Kuali`i: Will the May report be the latest whatever?
Ms. Rapozo: Yes, it will take out any positions that were hired,
because that will be gone; any vacancies, because people left; as well as any allocations to the
actual positions.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any further questions? If not, this is the
last item for today. Thank you, Janine. Thank you for that. Again, thank you everyone.
Thank you to the Mayor's Office for your presentation and getting this whole budget
document together for us to review. I know budgets are never a fun time for anyone, but it
is probably the most important job that we have throughout the entire year, so we do all take
it seriously. At this time, I would like to recess the Departmental Budget Reviews. We will
reconvene at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow, Friday, March 29th, where we will hear from the
Department of Public Works.
There being no objections, the Committee recessed at 11:57 a.m.