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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/04/2019 Department of Parks & Recreation Parks & Recreation Honorable Arthur Brun Honorable Felicia Cowden Honorable Mason K. Chock Honorable Luke A. Evslin Honorable KipuKai Kuali`i Honorable Arryl Kaneshiro Excused: Honorable Ross Kagawa The Committee reconvened on April 4, 2019 at 9:02 a.m., and proceeded as follows: Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Good morning. I would like to call back to order the Committee of the Whole and the Fiscal Year 2019-2020 Departmental Budget Reviews and please note that we do have a quorum. On the schedule for today, April 4, 2019, we will be hearing from the Department of Parks & Recreation. As we do each morning, we will take public testimony. Anyone in the audience wishing to testify on Parks & Recreation? 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: Seeing none, we have the order for Parks in which we are going through...I think it came from you folks. So please have your questions, stick to the department we are going through, and Pat, if you want to maybe just give us a brief overview of the entire budget and your synopsis and then I think we can just go through...you can do your Administration and Fiscal changes. I do not know if you want go through as we go through the budget or you want to read the whole thing now. Up to you. I know your synopsis is going to answer a bunch of questions as we go through the budget. So whatever way you want to do it, but you have the floor. PATRICK T. PORTER, Director of Parks & Recreation: Pat Porter, Director of Parks & Recreation. WALLACE G. REZENTES, JR., Deputy Director of Parks & Recreation: Hello. Wally Rezentes, Deputy Director of Parks & Recreation. Mr. Porter: I will read this write-up that we have. For Fiscal Year 2020, the Department of Parks & Recreation is requesting a $19.93 million increase of point two percent (0.2%) or $30,813 over the present fiscal year budget. As far as Wailua Golf Course, we are requesting $2.54 million. This amount represents a five point seven percent (5.7%) increase over the current fiscal year. I will just go over some highlights. For new position requests for Fiscal Year 2020, one of our priorities is to improve the park maintenance, on the weekends specifically. This is especially for our heavily-used parks. We are requesting five (5) part-time employees, nineteen (19) hour per week Park Caretakers, and one (1) supervisor position. For the supervisor position, what we are thinking about is a four (4) day, ten (10) hour work schedule from Friday to Monday for that position. It will be specifically for the weekends mostly. Then in addition, because it is a new supervisor position, we wanted to request a truck and trailer for that position as well. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 2 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Actually, Pat, I think those questions will probably come up again anyways. Maybe just go through your administration's major changes and variances and we will do it that way. Go through Administration, and as we go through the budget, you can give a brief synopsis on each one. Now that I am thinking about it, Parks Maintenance does not show up until later. We are probably going to ask the same questions twice. So maybe it is better that you go over Administration and Fiscal right now and then we will get through that budget then we will move on to Planning and Development. Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: Would you mind just speaking a little louder? I can hear you, but I am struggling. Mr. Porter: Okay. For Administration, our R&M Building account was reduced from $1,987,400 to $602,000, which is in large part due to the Kapa'a Armory Improvement Project that is being completed in Fiscal Year 2019, then the Police Station Maintenance and Repairs at $500,000. These are non-recurring costs. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: If that is it, you can just go through the budget. Do we have any questions on the budget for Administration? If not, I can start with some questions. Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: I was looking at Grant-In-Aid for $75,000. I am wondering what that goes to. That is halfway down the page. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: For $40,000? Grant-In-Aid is $40,000. It is on page 202. I have a question for Other Services—there is Energy Management Services Repairs and Parts for $15,000. What is that? Mr. Porter: That one is for a lot of the County buildings, the Annex, the Historic County Building, the Civic Center, and Police Station. There is a system that controls the energy and that is for mostly for air conditioning (AC) and lighting. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: How come that is in the Administration budget and not anywhere else? Mr. Porter: Mostly because it is falls under Brian Inouye's responsibility and Brian Inouye's funds come out of the Administration. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay, got it. Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: Special Projects, $805,001—the piece on Vidinha Stadium Soccer Fields ADA Comfort Station, $725,000. Mr. Rezentes: First of all,with the Special Projects Account, that is the $805,001 total. We apologize that the text was not updated, it is incorrect. We are intending to update the text in May, but I can go over the funding that we are requesting for that line item. Basically, we are allowed to keep the same amount in that category as from the prior fiscal year, the projects that we want to include. Councilmember Kuali`i: You mean $80,001? April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 3 Mr. Rezentes: No, the $805,001. I will go over how we want to prioritize that amount. What we would like to do is to request the Council to approve $300,000 to be allocated towards the Islandwide Parking Lot Repair and Improvements. We are looking at the repaving of Kilauea Neighborhood Center, Koloa Neighborhood Center, and Waimea Neighborhood Center, and if funding allows, we are going to look at other priority projects for the parking lots. We work closely with Public Works on this. We actually, tie it into their Islandwide Resurfacing Account. So what happens if they are in, say, the Kilauea neighborhood, we ask them to tie in the parking lot so that, the cost will be less. There is no mobilization group, demobilization issues. On this particular account, we work closely with the Roads Division of Public Works, and through their contract, we would supplement the funding from this particular account. We also wanted to allocate approximately $200,000 for Islandwide Court Resurfacing and Improvements—these are for tennis, basketball courts, and the like at our various parks. This $200,000 will be matched with an additional $250,000 that we have allocated in the Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) budget for the same purpose. So combined in the Fiscal Year 2020 Budget, we would be requesting approximately $450,000 for Islandwide Court Resurfacing and Improvements. Some of the areas that we are looking at is Kekaha, Bryan J. Baptiste (BJB) Sports Complex, Wailua Houselots, Wailua Homesteads, Peter Rayno Park, and Koloa. Then with the balance of$305,001, we are looking to place it towards park Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) improvements. These ADA improvements that we are funding is for the Waimea Canyon Park and Kekaha Fire Park and these additional funds would allow us to complete our entire ADA requirement plans for those two (2) particular parks. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Follow-up. Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: I have a follow-up question. I thought the $725,000 was what we had approved maybe a month ago to reallocate towards buying mowers, and that there was consideration of...we are buying mowers, changing the fencing, and opening into Vidinha, and then possibly dealing with some of the problematic park bathrooms. So did we change our minds? Mr. Rezentes: No. This fiscal year, yes. Councilmember Cowden: Okay. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Evslin. Councilmember Evslin: Regarding the ADA improvements, for your CIP list you have $1 million for those in parks ADA. How does that work? Is there $1 million for design and then you are using $300,000 for construction? Mr. Porter: The $1 million was not enough to complete both parks. It would be enough do the design, planning, and then start construction, but with the $300,000, we will be able to complete both parks. Councilmember Evslin: I have another question just on the Kalena Park Improvements, unless there are other follow-ups. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i, do you have a follow-up? Councilmember Kuali`i: On the first number, Islandwide Paving of Parking Lots, did you say $350,000? April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 4 Mr. Rezentes: $300,000. Councilmember Kuali`i: $300,000 even. Okay, it was not adding up. Thank you. Mr. Rezentes: Okay. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock. Councilmember Chock: You said Kilauea, but what was the other parking lot? Mr. Rezentes: Koloa Neighborhood Center and Waimea Neighborhood Center. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Evslin. Councilmember Evslin: Was Hanalei part of the resurfacing? Mr. Rezentes: No. Councilmember Evslin: Then with the Kalena Park Improvements, just from personal interest because I use the park a lot, what is that plan? Mr. Porter: The $80,000? Mr. Rezentes: Yes. That is going to be a Grant-In-Aid to Get Fit Kaua`i and we are actually working on...the grant was submitted and it is being reviewed right now by the Administration. It is going to be for some improvements in the park with equipment that we are trying to make it more of a multi-generational type of exercise equipment because of the population closeby where we have youth to seniors that utilize that park. So we are hoping to have Get Fit Kauai provide assistance for those purposes. Councilmember Evslin: Will the current playground equipment get replaced or is it an add-on? Mr. Rezentes: I think some will be replaced and new ones will be added. Then there is a major resurfacing of the...actually, a redo of the surface for the basketball court right now. Councilmember Evslin: Yes. Is there going to be construction of that rock wall? Is there no sidewalk entrance anymore?You have to walk around through the gravel? Is that going to be a new entrance of the sidewalk? I push the stroller there all the time and it is impossible to get the stroller into that park. So someone in a wheelchair would have a very difficult time getting in there. You do not need to answer right now, just a... Mr. Rezentes: There is no plan to have an access from the sidewalk fronting Rice Street. Is that what you are saying? Councilmember Evslin: Yes. From the side, that parking lot gets pretty crowded around that entry. So with wheels, it is hard to get in there, just from my own personal experience. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 5 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: With the $80,000 no longer in this line item, Special Projects, you said it will still show up in Grant-In-Aids somewhere? Mr. Rezentes: In the current fiscal year, we are using $80,000 as a grant. Councilmember Kuali`i: So this year. It will not be in next year's budget. Mr. Rezentes: So the entire $805,000 amount would be prioritized for the items that I mentioned to you folks. Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: Just a small follow-up question, for Kalena Park. Where I see all that black shade cloth, is that the project that is underway for the $80,000? Mr. Porter: Yes, that is the court itself. No, no, I am sorry, that is currently right now. Councilmember Cowden: That is occurring right now. Mr. Porter: That is a different project. Councilmember Cowden: What is that going to be? Is that going to have a senior exercise area, too since you are right next to the seniors, or is that just playground equipment? Mr. Porter: That is just the court. Councilmember Cowden: Just the court? Mr. Porter: Yes. Mr. Rezentes: The court and some restroom improvements that was funded through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). Councilmember Cowden: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions on Special Projects? If not, any other questions from the Members? Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: On the line item that is Grant-In-Aid for $40,000, is the word "grant" misleading? Is this a grant to a community organization that they can apply for?What is this exactly?What is this line item? It sounds like, it is the Mayor's Office promotional sister-cities. How is this a grant? Who is it being granted to? April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 6 Mr. Rezentes: Yes, I see what you mean. Some of the funds would be used to grant outside agencies, some of it would be used for the purposes that was listed. Councilmember Kuali`i: Give me an example, like the University of Hawai`i (UH) Women's Basketball $5,000, who is that being granted to? Mr. Rezentes: That could either be granted to the school or we use the funds for the purpose of funding that activity. Councilmember Kuali`i: Funding what? Mr. Rezentes: That activity, in providing some of the costs that would go towards that purpose of bringing the... Councilmember Kuali`i: Is there not another line item that would better fit that and so we put it in here? It is not a grant going to any entity other than the County. Mr. Rezentes: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: It is not a grant. Mr. Rezentes: Yes, maybe we can relook at it. Councilmember Kuali`i: Is it like a consultant? Mr. Rezentes: Maybe we can talk to Finance and see if we need to establish a different line that is more appropriate for the May 8 submittal. Councilmember Kuali`i: Yes, okay. Maybe we can follow-up with that. Mr. Rezentes: Yes. Okay. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Evslin. Councilmember Evslin: For the moneys, $3,000 Golf Championship, $5,000 UH Women's Basketball, is that helping to send UH Women's Basketball here for some reason or Hawai`i teams there? Mr. Porter: Mostly just to help out with the event itself. Councilmember Evslin: Is it a Kaua`i event? Mr. Porter: Yes, it is at the Wailua Golf Course. Councilmember Kuali`i: Any chance it is things like...because I would imagine it might show up when the County provides the stage or the County provides security. Are those types of expenses going to show up in other places? Mr. Rezentes: It could. For example, if under the John A. Burns Tournament, which is another golf tournament that Wailua Golf Course has hosted for the April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 7 University of Hawai`i Golf Team for a number of years, we provide some assistance to them such as the tent, tables, chairs, and that kind of thing to assist with the event costs. Councilmember Kuali`i: It is coming out of Parks Administration, not out of Wailua Golf Course? Mr. Rezentes: Correct. Councilmember Kuali`i: You said this is an annual event? Mr. Rezentes: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: How many years now? Mr. Rezentes: About six (6) years or so. Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Evslin. Councilmember Evslin: It looks like we did not...or it is coming out of the same account...the Grant-In-Aid Account in the past...because there was $0 in 2018...I mean 2016...has the County always helped fund those things, just from different sources? Mr. Rezentes: I need to get back to you, I am not sure of that. I know it was the current fiscal year, as well as requesting it again for next year. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Yes,just get back to us. I know there was one time we were moving Grants-In-Aid around as a better description so that might be a result of that. I have seen the golf tournament, which is a wonderful tournament with lots of schools coming down, colleges coming down and playing in them. As far as the Grants-In-Aid is there a portion of the grant...I know we have Grants-In-Aid in the Mayor's Office, Grants-In-Aid in the Office of Economic Development(OED), and Grants-In-Aid all over—Is there a process, like if baseball wanted a Grant-In-Aid, how do they know where to go? What is going to be the County's policy on Grants-In-Aids? To me, I know we have Grants-In-Aid all over the place, how would someone know where to go, besides getting one in Parks every year so they know they are just going to go to parks, but if someone was new and said, "I want to do something," how would they know where to apply or where to go? Mr. Porter: As far as Parks right now, I think if it is a youth sports program, they kind of just go to the Parks & Recreation Department. We can look at it further. Right now, people submit their proposals to the Parks & Recreation Department and we just review the proposals, yes. We can revisit it and look at it and see if we can streamline some kind of process and talk to the Administration about a full streamlined system, yes. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: With Grant-In-Aid, we have the Park Beautification type of projects and people using the parks can ask to help. There are so many different ways to help, I would not know what to tell someone if they said they wanted to do something besides talk to you folks. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 8 Mr. Rezentes: I think the best thing is to apply through the County. I understand what you are saying as far as there are various pockets of funds. Historically, over the years it has been the catch-all of grant applications for multiple purposes that range. I think ours has been more focused on sports-related and youth-related activities. MICHAEL A. DAHILIG, Managing Director: Mike Dahilig, Managing Director. It is clear that when you look at different programs, there needs to be a balance between the missions of each of the different departments, versus having things be overly centralized into one intake point, right? As we discussed with the Mayor's Office and with Economic Development, there is a desire to align those types of Grants-In-Aid, because from a competitive standpoint, the Mayor wants to make sure there is a philosophy behind giving out support, so that the public knows what it is actually going to be used for. When you look at grants out of this particular department, there is an entirely different mission in terms of its specific support. It is not something that we have necessarily talked about with some of the mission-targeted Grants-In-Aid like this, but it is something that at least from a discussion of uniform intake, uniform information across all of our different departments, does it make sense to publicize where to go for what types of grants, and I think that is something that we need to work on. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I understand having these type of soccer and baseball ones in Parks, but how fairly does it get spread out? Would it be better to target grants for specific areas across the island or going to the same groups that keep applying? Mr. Dahilig: I think it is fair to say that the competitiveness factor, coming in, writing a grant application, and applying for something is something that across the board needs to be at least done so that we know what the budget is being spent on. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: For these types of grants, I do not mind it. I think it helps the community, and it relieves some of the burden on us, because a lot of the times, these organizations are actually helping to beautify or increase, the usability of our parks. It is just a matter of how we spread it out or how competitive it is. Councilmember Evslin. Councilmember Evslin: Yes, I just want to sort of second that. I agree with how vital these are.As someone who struggled to find funds for youth sports, County support is always critical. For me, I have had a hard time going through the budget and trying to get a feel on where these Grants-In-Aid, especially OED, it just has a broad category and not any specifics on where it is going to. It would be nice to sort of just have a list of all Grants- In-Aid to all departments so we could see if it is a broad category, sort of maybe where it is gone to in the past so we can have an idea of what is going where. Mr. Dahilig: It is best to transmit the question over to us and we can pull everything from the Grant-In-Aid Account by all of our different departments to get you an aggregate on that for your information. Councilmember Evslin: That would be great. Thank you so much. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We will send that as a follow-up question, who received Grants-In-Aid and what departments for last year, or if you want it for two(2)years. Councilmember Chock. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 9 Councilmember Chock: Thank you, Mike. I just wanted to clarify, I hear you say, as we look at least for this department moving forward, what we can expect is that some of this might actually fall into more of a competitive process. Then in terms of the others, which are very specific it seems, these are special events that the Parks & Recreation Department wants to support, when coming to another category, Special Events or somewhat in the future. Is that correct? Mr. Dahilig: The reality is that government cannot do everything by itself. So engaging the private sector with certain seed moneys for particular activities that they can do on their own, particularly when you look at our youth leagues, is something that really takes the burden off of us from having to actually directly provide those things.Again, the balance between making sure that the money is being spent transparently, but we are also targeting a certain amount of resources where County support can actually yield larger returns for what we are looking for from our recreational programs standpoint. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions for Grants-In-Aid? Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: Along those lines when you get back to us, if you could break down the $22,000, that would be helpful. Specifically, you mentioned John A. Burns, so that is a piece of the $22,000 I am guessing. So you may have specifics on what is planned or hoping for? The specifics that you have and what you do not would be the remaining in the funds...may be available for what might come up. Mr. Dahilig: Correct. Councilmember Kuali`i: Thanks. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I think maybe the historical grants might give us a better idea what makes up the $22,000. Any other questions for Grants-In-Aid? If not, any other questions on the Administration Budget? Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: I apologize for not being able to understand all these acronyms. I wish that acronyms would not be presumed. What is "R&M"? Mr. Rezentes: "Repair & Maintenance." Councilmember Cowden: Repair & Maintenance. Okay. That would have been helpful if it just said repair and maintenance and I would instantly know what you are talking about. So that makes a lot of sense. I had no idea what that meant. How about "MPET"? Mr. Porter: "MPET"is our program that runs our work orders. Councilmember Cowden: Do you remember what it stands for? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: That is in the Planning and Development budget. Councilmember Cowden: Okay. So we will ask that in a minute. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: That will be right after Administration and Fiscal. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 10 Councilmember Cowden: Alright. When you get there, if you could tell me what that means. Thank you so much. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I have one last question. Repair & Maintenance Equipment, Septic Pumping Hanalei Pavilion—$30,000, which is a new item. Why is the pumping in the Administration budget and not...usually, I think a lot of it goes into the Parks Maintenance budget. We have a line item for Septic Tank Pumping. Mr. Porter: That one, the responsibility was given to Brian Inouye again, and Brian Inouye funds that come out of Administration budget was put into there. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: How come it is not part of just the Islandwide Septic Pumping? Mr. Porter: This is just from Hanalei to Ha`ena. I think they wanted to keep it separate from before and we just kept on with that. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Would we ever think of just including it in as one whole Islandwide Septic Pumping? Does it have to be split between Brian? Mr. Rezentes: It does not have to. I mean we could pull it. It is just a matter of where the responsibility is, but we could still post it somewhere else and Brian would access it, as-needed to fund that purpose. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions for Administration?If not, we will move on to Fiscal. Any questions for Fiscal? Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: On the vacant Position No. 1203, Fiscal Officer II...just recently vacant—what is the status for recruitment and filling the position? Mr. Porter: That one requisition was approved March 15, and so it is at the Department of Human Resources (HR) and will probably get put out pretty soon. Councilmember Kuali`i: So do you expect it to be filled in sixty (60) to ninety (90) days? Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Which position were you asking about? Councilmember Kuali`i: That was Fiscal Officer II. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: As far as Park Security Officer, there are four (4) vacancies; where are we on filling those? I know it is a difficult job to do, but is it because people are not interested in that job? What are the chances of us filling half of these? Are they in the process of hiring? What is the status? April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 11 Mr. Porter: We are having a hard time filling them. They have been on continuous recruitment since last October 18. It has been on continuous recruitment for that long and we have gone through...we have requested several lists from that and there have been no applicants. So we are having a hard time filling those Parks Security Officer positions. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: So right now, how are our folks handling it? You have more than half of them not filled. I am sure the current Park Security Officers are just spread thin. Mr. Porter: Yes. We have three (3) and it is a skeleton crew right now with them. It is still on continuous recruitment, hoping to get more applicants. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: Do you have an idea what the main problem is? Is it a lack of skill in the community or is it the pay scale? What do you think is the challenge? Is there too much vandalism that people do not have a motivation to do it? Mr. Porter: I think a big part is the pay scale. Councilmember Cowden: The pay scale? Mr. Porter: Yes. We started talks with HR about the classification of that position. Councilmember Cowden: With Human Resources? Mr. Porter: With Human Resources to see if there is a possibility of upping the class. We are still talking with them though. Mr. Rezentes: Unfortunately, it is a statewide system for all counties. It would be hard to move, but hoping to have some qualified applicants soon. It is not an easy job and I do not think the pay scale represents what they should get paid. Councilmember Cowden: The people who might be watching and listening, the jack-of-all-trades...needs to be plumber, light electric...what are they doing? Fixing machinery? Mr. Porter: No, this is security, Parks Security Officers. Councilmember Cowden: Alright. The maintenance people also have a lot of vacancies, too. Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Cowden: The security, alright, I get that. Security. Who wants to do that, right?That can be difficult, yes? What do you have on the maintenance? It looks like you are half-staffed on that, too. Mr. Porter: Yes, so we are also having a hard time on that one. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 12 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We will get to the maintenance when we get to the... Councilmember Cowden: Alright. Is that not right here? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We are in Parks Fiscal right now. Councilmember Cowden: But I mean that is our employees, right? Fiscal is our employees. Okay. Alright. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We have the list right here, the order, if not, we are going to end up jumping around. Councilmember Cowden: Alright. Sorry. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i, follow-up? Councilmember Kuali`i: On these positions...and if you are recognizing it is the pay...and it is been that way for a while, I think we heard from HR when they were looking at some other hard-to-fill positions and I think they used the term "shortage pay". Is that something that would apply here or could apply here? If so, are you looking into that? Mr. Rezentes: That is a possibility that we would need to continue to discuss with HR. We are not sure of the exact hurdles that you need to get over to make it qualify, but Human Resources is well aware of our challenges for this. Councilmember Kuali`i: Are they working on it? Mr. Rezentes: We are discussing it with them, and we have one (1) applicant in the hopper that we will be interviewing shortly. Councilmember Kuali`i: Just one (1) applicant? Mr. Rezentes: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: You know when you said something about it being a Statewide issue—were you referring to collective bargaining? Mr. Rezentes: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: Are you aware then if any of the other counties have vacancies in these positions? I would imagine from the collective bargaining side that the unions representing the workers will be more than happy to advocate for raises on their behalf if they feel it is appropriate. HR in itself will do reallocations when they study a position and they find that because of the duties that they could require a higher pay. There is a lot of ways it can and should have been addressed by now. Mr. Porter: My understanding is that you can do that within a classification, and currently, there is no classification that provides for that additional pay. So it would be creating a new classification. That is where we are at with that right now and then when you create a new classification, it needs to be statewide to do that. From our talks with Human Resources it is a longer process. It can be done, but it is a longer process that we have to go through. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 13 Councilmember Kuali`i: How many, if any, of these four (4) positions do you think you can get hired by July 1? Mr. Porter: By July 1? Councilmember Kuali`i: Which is sixty (60) to ninety (90) days. Mr. Porter: Given the history, I am not too optimistic about it, but we are actively trying. Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions for Fiscal? Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: A very simple one,just it because of my confusion, why is security in Fiscal? How do we decide it goes in Fiscal? Mr. Porter: Our Park Security Officers do fall under our Fiscal Division. Councilmember Cowden: Okay. That is where my confusion comes. I do not understand why security is in Fiscal and maintenance is not, you know? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Can you just explain the role of a Park Security Officer? Mr. Porter: The way it is set up under our organization is that the Park Ranger program is under our Fiscal Division. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: These are the people that are checking the parks. When people get camping permits, they are the ones going to the park and making sure that people have camping permits and reporting anything unusual at these parks. Councilmember Cowden: They are security. They come in when we have problems in the parks, too, right? I have spoken to them and I know their job takes some stamina. Mr. Porter: Oh, yes. Councilmember Cowden: Right now, our parks tend to be where our distressed people tend to hang out. So that falls under their kuleana, correct? Mr. Porter: Yes. Mr. Rezentes: Parking as well. Anything around parks, they are managing that. Councilmember Cowden: I am just throwing appreciation out to our ranger team. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 14 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions for Parks Fiscal? If not, we will move on to Planning and Development. Oh, sorry, Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: It is just a quick one in general and it will apply to any of the other divisions that have the Leased item. Some have no description on what the vehicles are. Some just have a number. It would be good to know the vehicle purchase and replacement schedule. If you could just provide that. So we see how, what the dollars are tied to the number of vehicles, the type of vehicles, and the cost per vehicle. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: In this particular instance, there was an additional vehicle in this line item, but it was moved, to Recreation, which I think Pat will get to later about creating a new Roving Supervisor position, and that was the vehicle that moved there. Councilmember Kuali`i: Following-up, when you provide the list for the entire department, it would be helpful if you do a, division breakdown so we can look at that. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions? If not, we will move on to Planning and Development. Pat, I think you will answer Councilmember Cowden's question if you read your narrative on Planning and Development. It does not spell out what "MPET" says, so if you can say what it stands for. Mr. Porter: "MPET" stands for "Maintenance Productivity Enhancement Tool". Councilmember Cowden: Thank you. Mr. Porter: That is the system that all of the work orders are generated for the County repair and maintenance. Councilmember Cowden: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: Is that then a contract and that is the annual fee? Mr. Porter: That includes overall maintenance of the system, training, and any updates to it. Councilmember Kuali`i: Is it something that we are contractually tied to for a number of years? Mr. Porter: Yes. That is our only system. Councilmember Kuali`i: How many years are we in for or is it indefinite? Mr. Porter: It is indefinite as long as we stick to this. Councilmember Kuali`i: Unless you change over. Mr. Porter: Yes. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 15 Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Evslin. Councilmember Evslin: I see you folks have an Autocad subscription, do you folks do your design work in-house for park facilities and structures? Mr. Porter: We do some in-house and then some are hired out. We have a couple of planners on staff. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions for Planning and Development? If not, we will move on to Recreation. Councilmember Chock. Councilmember Chock: Thank you, Mr. Chair. In your narrative, you talk about requesting$50,000 for Other Services going towards some of these additional activities. Everything for our senior softball, basketball, pickleball...my question is the pickleball. I was just curious as to where, what parks are you having these activities that you are sponsoring for these cost increases? Mr. Porter: We have thirteen (13) parks with pickleball courts. which are on tennis courts so they are not solely pickleball courts. Councilmember Chock: Basically, to answer the question as a whole, when we look at these added services, we are talking about increasing islandwide. So everyone is having access to them, is kind of what my question was. Mr. Porter: Oh, yes. Councilmember Chock: Okay. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any follow-up on Other Services? Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: On vacant position, the Position No. 1895, Recreation Worker I, Kilauea was vacant since October 20, 2018, about five (5) months now. Are you just about to hire for that? What is the status? Mr. Porter: We have somebody in that position currently on an 89-day contract. Councilmember Kuali`i: What about hiring? Mr. Porter: We will be putting that out. We talked about June or so to put that out. When the 89-day contract ends then we will start. Councilmember Kuali`i: 89-days is three (3) months, and in the process of that person serving in that capacity, that allows you time for the recruitment. But the recruitment has not started, is that what you are saying? Mr. Porter: Not yet. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 16 Councilmember Kuali`i: You anticipate starting that immediately, and you could fill that position in sixty (60) to ninety (90) days? Mr. Porter: Yes, for that one we can. Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. So that is that one. Then the other thing is I noticed that this position is a changed position. What was Position No. 1895 before? Is this a reallocation and when did it become this position? Mr. Porter: It just went to Rec I. I think it was Rec II before. Councilmember Kuali`i: It was Rec II. Mr. Porter: Yes, to provide more of a competitive pool of applicants, it was dropped to a I. Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. Then the next one is...there are two (2) of them basically. They are probably the same situation. 10471, and 10472, both vacant for nine (9) months now, since July Pt of last year and they are both Senior Pool Guards, one (1) is at Waimea Pool and one (1) is at Kapa'a Pool and they are also both changed positions. You did something that you could you fill them, but so far you have been unable to fill them. Mr. Porter: For that one, what happened was, we have kind of reorganized the pool structure and so now we are going to have a Senior Pool Guard on the West and Senior Pool Guard on the East. It will be a West Supervisor, East Supervisor and that is how it was changed recently. Councilmember Kuali`i: What is the status of recruitment? Mr. Porter: They have gone out for internal recruitment and I think we just received the list from Human Resources, so we will be starting interviews. Mr. Rezentes: Both recruitments were closed in March last month. So we should be getting updates to that soon. Councilmember Kuali`i: Hiring or expecting hiring sixty (60) to ninety (90) days? Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Evslin, did you have a question? Councilmember Evslin: Yes, I do. How does the Equipment Repair & Maintenance...there is $40,000, does that get paid to the Transportation Agency Small Equipment Repair Shop? How is that, or is that outside repair work? I guess, my understanding is they handle a lot of your small equipment repair? Mr. Porter: The Transportation Maintenance Shop does all of our small engines. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 17 Councilmember Evslin: Do you transfer money? Is that $40,000 going to them or coming out of their budget? How does that work? Mr. Rezentes: Actually, you are talking about the R&M Equipment line? Councilmember Evslin: Yes. Mr. Rezentes: That is mainly to repair and maintain equipment at our neighborhood centers and pools. It is not something that the Small Equipment Repair folks at Transportation do for us. Those are likely some in-house work from our Electricians, Plumbers, Carpenters, or possibly if it is out of their scope, we possibly outsource through small purchase procurement to get the necessary work done. Councilmember Evslin: Then all of your actual small equipment maintenance/repairs get paid for through the Transportation Agency's budget for their repair shop. Mr. Porter: Yes, it goes under their submittal. Councilmember Evslin: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We will see it come through one of the budgets. I cannot find it right now exactly, but I know I saw it somewhere. In this particular one for Recreation, I think it is just R&M in-house work that they are going to be doing at the pools. We will see as we get to Parks Maintenance, Facilities Maintenance, or Stadiums. I believe they have an item somewhere where it shows the ins and outs, the transfers between Parks to maintenance of equipment. Councilmember Evslin: Do we know how we are doing as far as preventative maintenance?Are we paying to maintain things that should be replaced?Do we have that type of tracking on our smaller equipment, like how are we, do we know how well we are taking care of our equipment somehow through some type of metric? Mr. Porter: Currently, there is no systematic way of checking that, no. Councilmember Evslin: The only reason, because it seems a little hard to understand, if it is coming out of their budget it could be an incentive to having them repair things, but maybe it is better off to be replaced, right?But if the replacement would come out of your budget but the repair comes out of their budget, I just do not really know how it works and where the incentive is to do preventative maintenance or buy equipment when necessary. Mr. Porter: It is kind of a communication thing between the two (2) agencies and how it works. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: You are in agreement with me on Tuesday when I was harping on them having a system that keeps track of all their equipment. Councilmember Cowden. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 18 Councilmember Cowden: I have a really simple question. About how many people are under this department element of Recreation? How many staff do you have in general in that area? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: How many staff for Recreation? Councilmember Cowden: I am curious how much is your overall staff for Parks & Recreation and how many are actually working there in the parks. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Just for the Recreation budget? Councilmember Cowden: I am looking at the amount of dollars. So I was curious on that. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: If you look at page 214 on the bottom. Mr. Rezentes: About twenty (20), and our overall staff is close to one hundred ninety (190) right now. Councilmember Cowden: One hundred ninety (190). Twenty (20) out of one hundred ninety (190). Yes. That is what I wondered. Okay. Mr. Porter: There is seasonal, too, yes? Summer, Spring. Councilmember Cowden: I just want to say I think it is great that you are hiring weekend people. That is really good. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions for Recreation? I have a question on Computer Peripherals. It is $9,000. I did not understand the description for it. Mr. Porter: Those are to replace computers at the neighborhood centers and pools per Information Technology (IT) suggestion of replacement of them. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. Got it. Any other questions? Councilmember Kuali`i: Now specifically, for three (3) different positions, the 1954 Program Specialist III; and two(2)vacant positions, Waimea Pool and Kapa'a Pool... Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: They are $3,000 each? Mr. Porter: Yes, that is for all the leg work, everything tied into the County network area. Councilmember Kuali`i: Did we ask for grants-in-aid on this one? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Not yet. Councilmember Kuali`i: Grant-In-Aid, $26,250. Same kind of question, was this actually a grant or...and it is provided through a community organization? But it is April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 19 actually our program that they can help us with, like we are hiring them or subcontracting them? Mr. Porter: That is the Child and Family Services? Councilmember Kuali`i: Yes, exactly. Mr. Porter: The previous Administration felt it was important to support the organization so we continue with that. Councilmember Kuali`i: But it is not actually a grant, right? They are not applying. Mr. Porter: It is the same process. Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: Contractual services or something. Mr. Porter: No.Actually, it is its own entity. We are not hiring to do County work. They are their own non-profit. Councilmember Kuali`i: Does Child and Family Services send people to help us with this program that they pay for?What is this? Mr. Porter: They run the program. Councilmember Kuali`i: Oh, they run the program. Mr. Porter: It is their own program. It is not a County program. Councilmember Kuali`i: We are paying them a fee to run the program where we send our constituents and they sign up for summer fun. Mr. Porter: It is a preschool, yes. Child and Family Services for their preschool program. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: They just gave us the list of grants right now. I see it says Head Start Summer Program. Any other questions for Recreation? Councilmember Kuali`i: The Special Projects $38,500 line item on Bus Service—is that for the kids for the Summer, Spring, and Winter programs? Mr. Porter: And seniors. Councilmember Kuali`i: And seniors? Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: The seniors have their own line item, Senior Busing $11,500, then the $27,000 is... Mr. Porter: Yes, correct. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 20 Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Now to confuse all the Councilmembers, we are going to move to Parks Maintenance, which is the order that we are going in. Parks Maintenance starts on page 220-226. That is the order we have to go in. Maintenance is page 220. Parks Maintenance, 226, bottom of page 226. Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: The first vacant position, 1645, Parks Maintenance Administrator, vacant since October, five and a half(5.5) months—what is the status on recruitment? Mr. Porter: This is currently out for recruitment and it closes on April 16th. Councilmember Kuali`i: It does not close until April 16th? Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: If it closes on April 16th, do you anticipate hiring in sixty (60) to ninety (90) days? Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: The other position is Park Caretaker II, Hanalei District, just vacant two and a half(2.5) months, since December. Mr. Porter: Yes. That one requires a written exam for applicants. The test itself is scheduled for late April for applicants. Mr. Rezentes: We do intend to hire within sixty (60) to ninety (90) days. Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I know you wrote about the Beautification & Parks Maintenance Supervisor and the five (5) Park Caretaker positions. Can you just explain it a little more on what the purpose of the Beautification & Parks Maintenance Supervisor is, and then we can ask about Parks Caretakers. Mr. Porter: One of the big things that we have kind of figured, as far as coverage, as far as maintenance, Park Maintenance, was that we did not have much supervisory coverage on the weekends. We wanted to try and address that issue, so we are requesting a supervisor specifically for the weekends. That is where that came from. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Follow-up question? Councilmember Evslin. Councilmember Evslin: I think so often you go to a park on a Saturday afternoon and there has been a big party or something and people leave their stuff everywhere so it is good to see you focusing on this. Just a question—you are requesting a truck for the supervisor. Since it is just weekends, why could you not we use an existing truck? April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 21 Mr. Rezentes: It would actually be Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. We are hoping to put the supervisor on a four-day, ten-hour schedule. We wanted to purchase the truck about the same time as we hire him or her. If we wait for the lease and it normally would take place towards the last quarter of the year then we would actually get the vehicle. So we are requesting that the truck would tie-in with the position to be purchased outright. In the beginning of a fiscal year. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: On this addition, the new position does not have a number yet. The 950 and 1631 is the two (2) existing positions, and the third position would be created with the same classification, the same salary. How does the responsibility break-up now between the two (2) existing positions, and how will it break up once you have the new position? Do the two (2) existing positions currently not work on the weekends? Mr. Porter: No, they are Monday through Friday. Councilmember Kuali`i: They are Monday through Friday. Its East and West. Mr. Porter: Its East and West. Yes, two (2) districts. Councilmember Kuali`i: When this new position is added, on Friday, there will be three (3) people and on Monday there will be three (3) people, but on Saturday and Sunday it will just be that new person. Mr. Porter: Yes, correct. Councilmember Kuali`i: That one (1) person will cover the whole island. Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: There was not anyone before? Mr. Porter: Correct. Councilmember Kuali`i: That truck is going to have a lot of mileage. Mr. Porter: Yes. In our long-term plan we are recognizing that the Parks Maintenance side is a seven (7) day-a-week operation. Currently the schedule does not reflect that. It is a five-day schedule with "pickup slack on the weekends" kind of deal. Our long-term plan is to reflect it as a seven-day operation and we already started talks with unions about that, too. Councilmember Kuali`i: Is that what is happening with the Park Caretakers as well? Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: They are assigned to the different districts, if you will. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 22 Mr. Porter: Yes, that is correct. Councilmember Kuali`i: They will do a similar thing where they have Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday? Mr. Porter: Those will probably just be Saturday and Sunday. Councilmember Kuali`i: Just Saturday and Sunday. Councilmember Kuali`i: Yes. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Follow-up? Councilmember Evslin. Councilmember Evslin: On the schedule, the four day, ten hour schedule, out of curiosity, is there overtime pay on the two (2) hours per day over eight (8) hours or no? Mr. Porter: No, there would not be. Councilmember Evslin: The union is good with that type of schedule? Mr. Porter: Yes, when we are creating it, we will work with the union to create that and it would be implemented. Councilmember Evslin: Do we have existing four-day, ten-hour schedules within Parks? Mr. Porter: Currently, no. Councilmember Evslin: That is great, those are good ideas. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: In regards to the five (5) new Park Caretakers positions, it is at nineteen (19) hours, do you think we will be able to find employees to work the weekends at nineteen (19) hours, no benefits? Will that fit the purpose of what we need them for? Mr. Porter: Yes. I think we will wait and see, but I think the idea was that it was to provide a second job to people...maybe somebody would have benefits through their main employer and would be interested in this type of position on the weekends. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: This would be to...say there are parties at Po`ipu Beach Park, rather than coming in at end of the day and dumping the trash, cleaning up the place and looking at the bathrooms. Mr. Porter: Yes, that would be their main responsibility. It would be the trash, the restrooms, and the comfort stations. The Monday through Friday gang would do their work and they would kind of prep the fields, or the Parks for the weekend, and then these folks would do their...they would not be doing much mowing and things but just there to clean up the trash and clean the restrooms, and that type of thing for the high-use that goes on. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 23 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: How are we handling Saturdays and Sundays right now? I have been to parties at Lydgate Beach Park and I have seen County workers there, even during the party and they will empty the trash and check the bathrooms. Are those folks coming in overtime? What are those folks doing? Mr. Porter: Currently, we do staff on the weekends. They are not overtime. It is part of their schedule. But it is skeleton crews on the weekends. They are on their own with no supervision. There is just the Park Caretakers themselves working. They are hitting multiple Parks at one time, yes. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: For the Members, these are new positions. These are positions that were not in the budget prior. If we approve the budget as-is, these will be added positions that will come with added numbers. Obviously, we have all heard the problems about Parks and Maintenance, and again, you hear of a scheduling problem, not having people there on weekends. So I guess they are trying to resolve it. If we do accept the budget with the new positions, we will be creating new positions. I would be interested to know how the nineteen (19) hour per week works and if people are actually going to want to do that or not. I think they would want the added benefits. Mr. Rezentes: We will have nine and a half (9.5) hour days for Saturdays and nine and a half(9.5) hour day for Sundays. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i, follow-up? Councilmember Kuali`i: Yes. The budgeted amount is $20,135 for nineteen (19) hours a week, is my math correct? It is basically $20.37 an hour? Mr. Porter: Is that what you are budgeting for? Basically, you are mirroring the salary of the full-time position but just converting it into an hourly, right? Mr. Rezentes: Yes, without the benefits. Councilmember Kuali`i: Without the benefits. Mr. Rezentes: It is in a different line item. Councilmember Kuali`i: Yes. I think I calculated it at $20. Mr. Rezentes: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: I think if people want a second job over the weekend to earn extra money, they might jump at it. So let us recruit and fill it. Thanks. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Brun. Councilmember Brun: Those folks that are covering the weekends right now, if we approve these five (5) positions, would they go back to Monday through Friday or stay? Mr. Porter: No, they would stay. They would be supplementing the existing schedule since it is a skeleton crew on weekends already. This would be a supplement. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 24 Councilmember Brun: They would still be working on weekends? Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Brun: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions on this? Councilmember Evslin. Councilmember Evslin: Just an overall question on maintenance—do we have any metrics of keeping track of the amount of time it takes for a work order to be put in or average amount of work time to completion or time between mowing our fields and things like that? Mr. Porter: We do not track it. A lot of times, it is putting out fires mostly. So it is kind of all over the place. There is a routine that they have, but it gets thrown off because of various things that come up. Mr. Rezentes: Including rain. Councilmember Evslin: Yes. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions? Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: The line item, Other Rentals, is the same as last year. But $265,400, when it breaks down, there is a portable toilet rental $184,600... Can we get...I would want to see detail on what located where for what price and provided by whom? Mr. Rezentes: Okay. We can provide that. Councilmember Kuali`i: Do we subcontract? Is it with one (1) particular provider or several different ones? If that is the case, then how often do we go out with an Request for Proposal (RFP) or what is the procurement process for finding these providers each year or several years? How does that work? Mr. Rezentes: We procure a few months ago, it has been close to a year that we have a new contractor. But we have services procurement and there is one (1) contractor. Councilmember Kuali`i: You say it has not been a year yet, but when we do get into the contract, is it for multiple years? Mr. Rezentes: Yes, based on funds availability. I cannot say how many offhand or how long the term is, but we can find out. Councilmember Kuali`i: Can you follow-up? Mr. Rezentes: Sure. Councilmember Kuali`i: Thanks. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Cowden. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 25 Councilmember Cowden: My questions are really similar. We have one contractor for the portable toilets. Again, I would love it if we had a little plastic sign that said, "If There Is A Problem, Call..." Similar to that with the coconut tree-trimming, do we have a series of contractors for that regionally or is it one (1) contractor? Mr. Porter: It is an islandwide contractor. One (1) contractor. Yes. Councilmember Cowden: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: That second part of the detailed explanation is a line item for Special County-Sponsored Events, $75,800. If you have details on that, can you provide it now? Otherwise, you can follow-up. Mr. Rezentes: We have a list of group to contracts and locations. Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. That is for what in particular? Various things? Mr. Rezentes: Pretty much islandwide, different locations. Councilmember Kuali`i: Do you have an example? Of what other...it is not port-a-potties. Mr. Porter: Same contract, but there are two(2) groups in that contract. One is for the stadium. Councilmember Kuali`i: Regular. Mr. Porter: When they have County events, there is a price for that too. Councilmember Kuali`i: It is also port-a-potties. Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. Mr. Porter: Used on an as-needed basis is group two. Councilmember Kuali`i: No other details. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions for Parks Maintenance? Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: I really appreciate that container that works as a stage that goes around...the stage that we put...is the maintenance in this area for that? Does it cost much to maintain that? Really makes a difference. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 26 Mr. Porter: With that one, we house the stage and the maintenance comes out of the Maintenance Shop—Public Works. Councilmember Cowden: Public Works pays for it, okay. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: Near the end, page 231, I noticed there are two (2) different line items for Lease, one (1) is under $27,000 and the other is $252,000. I have the same question from earlier about providing a purchase and replacement schedule. But also, with the details that you have here, which, if any, are new vehicles or new leases on vehicles? It says, second of...oh, here four (4) to five (5) year. Mr. Rezentes: The first of five (5) years are seven (7) pieces of equipment, all trucks. Those would be the new ones. Councilmember Kuali`i: Seven (7) new trucks. Mr. Rezentes: Yes. First of five (5) years, seven (7) pieces of equipment that we are requesting a new lease for and the others are second of five (5) years, meaning we acquired it last year and now we are going to have a second year of lease payments. Councilmember Kuali`i: These seven (7) new trucks are...I know at least one of them is for that expansion with the new supervisor, right? Or was that listed elsewhere? They are replacing...in your reply, it is saying it is replacing. Mr. Porter: That is separate. Councilmember Kuali`i: These are trucks that are replacing existing trucks. Mr. Porter: Correct. They have been using from the maintenance shops schedule to be replaced. Mr. Rezentes: To answer your question, if you look at the above line item under Automobiles, $40,000, the truck trailer, $40,000, is for the supervisor. We incorrectly labeled it as Mower Operator position but with the $40,000, we are hoping to get a new truck trailer for the new supervisor position. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: Looking at the last items under this, it looks like we lease several bigger pieces of equipment. Mr. Rezentes: Yes. Councilmember Cowden: One (1) three-year-old dump truck and the new one is this unloader,water truck, flail mower. Is that typical each year?Do we have a rotating system? April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 27 Mr. Porter: That also came from the Public Works Maintenance Mechanics Shop. They just told us to make sure you put these...it is time for them... Councilmember Cowden: It really comes out of their budget and not yours? Mr. Porter: It comes out of ours, but they let us know, "Hey it is time for you to start switching out your equipment," so we put it into our budget. Councilmember Cowden: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: They mentioned earlier in the week that the Maintenance Shop is the one that keeps track of all of the equipment, the vehicles, machinery, they keep track of how often they need to get repaired and how often it is in the shop and they are the ones that give the suggestion on when equipment needs to be replaced. Councilmember Cowden: Okay. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Evslin. Councilmember Evslin: How come the workers' compensation amounts have all gone to zero ($0)? Looks like on every...across the board. I do not know if they are moved somewhere, but most look like they have all gone to zero ($0) on every... Mr. Porter: I am not sure. It might be coming out of a different fund. Councilmember Cowden: It might be...Michael might know. Mr. Rezentes: I think it is has been the practice over the last few years where each Department has to find money from within its own department to fund those things, to fund that item. I believe it is been done that way historically, but I guess that has continued to be the policy going forward. I think you will probably find the same thing with all of the departments. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I believe in the past, a lot of money was getting budgeted in workers'compensation, but workers'compensation money is paid out when there are retirements and you have to pay additional benefits. Mr. Rezentes: Claims. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Claims. Workers' compensation claims. Okay, sorry. Councilmember Evslin: So we are paying somebody for workers' compensation insurance, where is that coming? Out of their salaries? Mr. Rezentes: We are self-insured. Finance can speak to that. Basically, what happens is if we have a claim, the department is responsible to find moneys from within to fund. If we cannot, then we would request Finance to possibly submit a money bill and get approvals of the County Council, if it is not within our ability to pay. Knock on wood. Hopefully, the claims that we have can be absorbed from existing funds. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 28 Councilmember Evslin: I did not realize that we were self-insured. It would be great to see...I think workers' compensation is a good example of management effectiveness across all...because for my own company, we used to have a lot of claims but when you change a procedure those claims go away. Do we have tracking mechanisms for workers' compensation claims over time within our department or all departments? Mr. Rezentes: Yes. We should be able to get that information from Human Resources. Councilmember Evslin: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Sorry, I meant to say that workers' compensation usually stays zero ($0) and as workers' compensation claims come up, we leave it up to the department to try to find money within their budget to pay for those compensations. If not, they may put in a whole bunch of money that may never get spent...it may get spent but right now, I think the current policy is to leave the workers' compensation line items at zero ($0). If it comes up, they find the money within their budget to pay for it. If they do not have that money at that time then they will have to come in before Council. Mr. Rezentes: It is hard to estimate that. You do not know when one is coming up or when the settlement will be. For the smaller departments, I know historically, there has been some difficulty in finding the necessary funds. But the larger departments usually are, for the most part, able to absorb it. Councilmember Evslin: And it makes sense, it would be nice for an end-of-year summary. How much was actually paid out within the department, and if you had to find funds from elsewhere? Thanks. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Cowden, you had a question? Councilmember Cowden: (inaudible) Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions for Parks Maintenance? If not, we will move on to Beautification. Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: Position No. 1871 is just recently vacant. What is the status for replacing? Mr. Porter: So this person who is in that position moved over to Public Works and is still under their probation because every time you change positions, there is probation. There is always the possibility that they do not pass probation so they would come back. Councilmember Kuali`i: Right. Mr. Porter: So we are going to...once their probation is done then we will... Councilmember Kuali`i: On March 1st, when the position went vacant, that is when they started at Public Works? Mr. Porter: Yes. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 29 Councilmember Kuali`i: What is the probation period? Mr. Porter: Six-month probation. Councilmember Kuali`i: Six (6) months? Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: So you have to hold this position open for six (6) months? Mr. Porter: Yes, we could 89-day hire it. Councilmember Kuali`i: Is that your plan? Mr. Porter: Yes. We are going to try to look into that. Councilmember Kuali`i: When would the 89-day hire start? Mr. Porter: It could start any time if we find someone willing to take it on. Councilmember Kuali`i: How does it work? Do you have to do recruitment for that? Mr. Porter: We can go off the labor list. Councilmember Kuali`i: You can go to the list and pick the next person in line and call them up and bring them in. Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: So they could literally start really soon. Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: See this Mower Operator, we do not just have two (2) mowers for the whole island, do we? They are all over the place in different places. Okay. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: This is just for Beautification. If you want to explain what the Beautification responsibilities are. Mr. Porter: We have our Parks Caretakers that take care of our parks, but there are a lot of other County facilities that are not designated as parks. That is where the Beautification folks come in. Neighborhood center grounds, portions of the bike path, any County facility, the new improvements in right in town, and the road improvements is where the Beautification folks come in. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 30 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I believe Hardy Street Improvement Maintenance was part of it. For these planters, I know we saw some water cost go up as these improvements went on. Mr. Porter: The folks taking care of front lawn here would be Beautification, they would not be Park Caretakers. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: Going back to the 89-day hire—do you have money budgeted for the 89-day hires or do you just use salary savings from vacancies? Mr. Porter: It would be the salaries of that position. Councilmember Kuali`i: When you do the 89-day hire,what rate do you pay them at? Mr. Porter: Same. Councilmember Kuali`i: You just convert the annual salary to hourly. Mr. Porter: And they do not get benefits. Councilmember Kuali`i: No benefits. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions for Beautification? If not, we will move on to Stadiums. Page 236. Any questions for Stadiums? Stadiums is a flat budget also. Only increases were increases to benefits. If there are no questions for Stadiums, we will move on to Facilities Maintenance. So now we are going to have to go back to page 220 in our Budget. Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: There is a vacancy, 1540, Lead Electrician Equipment Repair, vacant since December, four (4) months. What is the status of recruitment? Mr. Porter: We are actively trying to recruit for that position. We are having a hard time competing with the private sector right now for these positions. It is hard finding applicants right now. Councilmember Kuali`i: Do you have any applicants? Mr. Porter: We have put out continuous recruitment and we have requested lists, and we have not...the latest go around was that we do not have applicants. Councilmember Kuali`i: So continuous recruitment requested list, no...you have none, no applications. Mr. Porter: No. Councilmember Kuali`i: Is this one that HR is working on with the "shortage pay" thing? April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 31 Mr. Porter: Yes. These classifications are part of that, yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: What is happening so that you will be successful in hiring any time soon? Mr. Porter: Well, good question. We are going to try to keep reaching out and trying to get folks to put in for it. Councilmember Kuali`i: So basically, you are not sure you will be hiring anyone in sixty (60) to ninety (90) days? Because there is no one to interview. Mr. Porter: Yes. But I am a little more optimistic about this one than the Park Rangers. Councilmember Kuali`i: Yes. The next...unless there is a follow-up? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We have a follow-up on that particular position, Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: Not that particular position. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We will stay on positions. Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: The next position, 1541, Electrician, vacant for three and a half(3.5 years). So what is the status there? Mr. Porter: Same exact. Councilmember Kuali`i: Same but you have to be less hopeful. The other one was only open four (4) months and this one has been vacant for three and a half (3.5) years. Mr. Porter: The other one (1) is the Lead Electrician...more desirable and this one is Electrician...so this was vacant since the Facilities Maintenance came to Parks from Public Works. Councilmember Kuali`i: If it is unlikely that this position can or will be filled, will you consider lowering the budget? In essence, even for this fiscal year, already it says "$41,741 salary savings." I would be curious to know and I will probably request it in writing how the salary savings were expended over the last three and a half(3.5) years. You would not know that? Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: The next position is Plumber. This one is in its third year and it must be the same thing where it is super difficult to fill. I am going ask the same questions about salary savings and how it has been expended. Mr. Porter: Okay. Councilmember Kuali`i: Then the next two (2) are just recently vacant: Maintenance Worker I, 1550, and Maintenance Worker I, 1865. Actually, maybe even the April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 32 Maintenance Worker 1550 is projecting that somebody is leaving because it said vacant "April 22nd" unless it is a typo. 4/22/19, which is not here yet, right. Mr. Porter: 1550 the requisition was put in to fill and the requisition was approved March 19th. That will probably be coming out soon. Councilmember Kuali`i: Then 1865, similar in that you will be filling it? Mr. Porter: Yes, same. Councilmember Kuali`i: Sixty (60) to ninety (90) days. Mr. Porter: March 19th, same, got approved. Councilmember Kuali`i: The last one is...I think it is the last one...no, there is one on the other page...next one is 1643, Janitor Working Supervisor, vacant since February 1st. Under recruitment, expecting to hire in sixty (60) to ninety (90) days? Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: The last one on the next page is another Janitor. This is Janitor II—Hanalei, February 1, 2019, recruitment sixty (60) to ninety (90) days? Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay, was Position No. 1730, changed from...what was it changed from? Where did it come from? I noticed it was a dollar-funded position. I am happy to see that and if the position is not anticipated to be filled then it should be dollar-funded, but what was their position before? Maybe this is something that we can follow-up with HR. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: Because there are several of these where it says, "changed" and we used to get reports. I am going to ask for it again. Mr. Rezentes: On Position No. 1730, the management of the position is under Facilities Maintenance, but since the employee works exclusively at the golf course, you will see the funding in the golf course budget for 1730. It is dollar-funded in facilities maintenance, but in the golf course budget you will see the position funded there. Councilmember Kuali`i: With the same title and same position number? Mr. Rezentes: Same position number, yes. With total funding so the dollar is a placeholder for... Councilmember Kuali`i: If this is the placeholder for a position, is it not that position number? Mr. Rezentes: Same number. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 33 Councilmember Kuali`i: How can you be holding the same number when it exists somewhere else? Mr. Rezentes: The intent was to hire for one (1) position. The position number is just one number. So we are not able to hire two (2) positions for that one number. Councilmember Kuali`i: I do not understand. Mr. Rezentes: The funding source is different, so we wanted to capture the expense for that position where the position functions out of. Since the golf fund benefits from that position, the work of that person, we have funding direct from the golf fund. Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. I think that is all on positions. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions on positions? Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: First of all, I really want to extend my gratitude for all those people working on the skeleton crews, gratitude to everyone else who is doing the hard job and making it work, sounding a little underpaid. Is Human Resources responsible for the recruitment efforts and do they do the outreach? Do you do the effort? Do you put it out? Do they come in to apply with you or come into Human Resources to do the application? Mr. Porter: I think it can be done all around, I guess. We have people in these positions in the County that know people, to reach out to them to apply, or Human Resources processes everything, to put it out. Councilmember Cowden: I have to say it sounds like it is a pretty passive process. So it would be a question we would have in Human Resources, right? To help it be a more active process? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We can ask HR when they are up. I know there are County postings with E-mails, but you can ask them what outreach is in the hiring process. I think as far as Parks goes, they probably communicate with HR and find out why people are not applying or why they may be getting rejected for a position. Maybe they do not have the skillset?HR is the one responsible for sending it out. We can ask them that question. Councilmember Cowden: I will save those questions for Human Resources. I would like to help. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We can actually send that question over to them prior to them coming in and they can be prepared to answer that. Councilmember Cowden: My question would be, "What is their outreach?" Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 34 Councilmember Kuali`i: On the line item for Regular Overtime, it is budgeted at $100,000. You broke it down between overtime $40,000, standby $40,000, and carpet and floor cleaning $20,000. So carpet and floor cleaning was not part of the regular work. Is it scheduled on nights and weekends as overtime? Mr. Porter: Because people are working during the day, those type of activities can only be done when it is vacant. Councilmember Kuali`i: These pockets of money for overtime, do they go to all of the positions? Where does it cut off? Is it primarily for the janitors? Mr. Porter: No, for all of the Facilities Maintenance, all the workers that fall under that. When there is a backup at a restroom, comfort station, et cetera. Councilmember Kuali`i: There is probably twenty five (25), or maybe more positions—at the top of the list is Facilities Maintenance Administration and at the bottom of the list is the dollar-funded Janitor II Golf Course position. So this overtime is a pool of money for all of these positions? Mr. Porter: Correct. Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions? I just had a correction under Loans. I believe that should be 14th year. We can double check and correct it.The only problem is when we start getting the years wrong we will end up, in the last year and I know we seen it with Fire, where we have a twentieth year of a loan, already paid off, and we end up with a huge amount of money. I do not mind, we can cut it at the time the Council has it and we can spend it how we want. I just want the budget to be reflective. Councilmember Kuali`i: Could you repeat what you just said? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Under Loans, the State Revolving Fund (SRF) Loan payable should be the 14th year of twenty (20). In the past, when the numbers are not updated we will get a loan that comes in 20th year of a twenty-year loan when it was actually paid off in the prior year and so we will have an amount there for a couple hundred thousand that actually should not be there anymore. Councilmember Kuali`i: Is that amount for this year only? So the total was twenty (20) times that amount? Mr. Rezentes: SRF Loans is a small interest factor, right? Usually, it is very low-interest loans through the State Revolving Fund. So a little bit of interest along with principal. Councilmember Kuali`i: Is there any detail on what is being done for this money and the progress? Basically, it is a twenty-year project? Mr. Rezentes: The cost is what was expended fourteen (14) or so years ago for this. Now, it is just like a mortgage payment. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 35 Councilmember Kuali`i: Oh, okay. It is paying back for the work that was already done. Mr. Rezentes: Yes. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: State Revolving Fund Loans. Councilmember Kuali`i: Yes. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: It is probably to convert a lot of our cesspools to septic. I have a general question and I asked the Building Division last week or this week, on how the Green Box is working? Do you see it being more efficient having control over maintenance, in general? I know you are new, but do you see any red flags or see it working well? Mr. Porter: It has been a hot topic since I came into this office. We have been talking about it, and they caught me up to speed...at least me. Wally has been around. The Green Box, whether they shifted the whole Facilities Maintenance Shop under Parks from Public Works...just with internal talks with staff, and things as far as it being more efficient, more effective, we have not seen much change in that sense. The level or output of work is about the same as it was. All it did was shift from one to the other. There was no other change to it. So that was kind of across the board just agreed upon. I do not know how much more detail you want me to go in to. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Do we see more efficiency in work orders being processed or prioritized or anything like that, or is it still the same? Mr. Porter: Pretty much the same from the feedback we are getting. Same amount of staff, same number of staff, and pretty much the same organizational structure, just under a different shop. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Questions from the Members? Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: Under Other Supplies—$300,503, there are line items for Building Materials—$70,000, Electrical Materials—$50,000, and Plumbing Materials—$40,000. Earlier, on the previous page, there is a R&M Building line item. How is the R&M Building...what is covered under R&M Building and why is it not...I would assume these materials are for Repair&Maintenance—$70,000 Building, $50,000 Electrical, and $40,000 Plumbing. What is that paying for? Mr. Porter: The line item ones are for in-house crews to purchase their materials for what our in-house crews are doing. Councilmember Kuali`i: Is that under Other Supplies? Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: The other under R&M Building is?... Mr. Porter: R&M Building... April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 36 Councilmember Kuali`i: It is just specific projects. Mr. Rezentes: Yes. Its fixtures, improvements type of versus supplies... Councilmember Kuali`i: The bigger amount is islandwide in the sense of all electrical, all plumbing, and in-house crews. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions for Facilities Maintenance? If not, we will move on to the Convention Hall. Any questions for Convention Hall? Councilmember Chock. Councilmember Chock: Convention Hall is on page 239. I guess my question is about the Adopt-A-Parks Program and the reason why it is under Convention Hall? Mr. Rezentes: That is just where it has been historically...I think it might have been there from decades ago when Mayor Baptiste was the Convention Hall Manager. It has just been carried through that way and managed through the Convention Hall management. Councilmember Chock: Is there a better place for it in the budget? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: You folks can chew on it. I had the same exact question on why those projects are in Convention Hall budget. Mr. Rezentes: Okay. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Evslin. Councilmember Evslin: That electricity cost is just Convention Hall? Is that right? Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Evslin: A lot of electricity. Mr. Rezentes: A lot of air conditioning. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions? Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: I asked this question the other day during CIP, and basically I want to see either in the CIP budget or in the regular budget—I am not sure which line item, it might be R&M Building, possibly—I want to see some funding dedicated to fixing/repairing/painting the Convention Hall backstage, side stage and backstage. It is really long overdue. Anyone who walks through there will see it. It is kind of embarrassing when we bring entertainment from off-island to see what that facility is behind-the-scenes. The public areas are beautiful. So put some money in there and do something, whether it is CIP or if it needs to be in this line item. Mr. Porter: Okay. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 37 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions for Convention Hall? If not... Councilmember Chock: That was easy, just ask what you like. Councilmember Kuali`i: I will look for it and if it is not there, I will propose it. It is not a lot and the money is already there in CIP and elsewhere. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: If not, instead of us jumping to Wailua Golf Course, the Improvement and Maintenance Fund is the very next few pages. So let us just go through that right now before we end up losing our place in this folder. Do you have another question? Councilmember Kuali`i: On 242, there is a line item called "Equipment." What is this? It says mighty light tables, sixty (60) times $336 to get to $20,160. Is this the same as the other thing about Adopt-A-Park? Is this something for Convention Hall or for Parks Maintenance? 242, you see what I am asking, right? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Convention Hall. Councilmember Kuali`i: What kind of tables? Councilmember Chock: Benches and tables. Councilmember Kuali`i: Picnic tables for the park? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: It is probably for tables inside, it is Convention Hall. It is probably tables for the events inside. Councilmember Kuali`i: Like, in the exhibition hall. Okay. Thanks. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions for Convention Hall? If not, we will just keep moving on. On the next few pages we have Improvements and Maintenance items. 327, but it is not in order. Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: Special Projects, $1.1 million—starting on vendor booth replacement, $700,000, what is that? How many booths? At what price? What we are rebuilding?Are we putting whole vendor booths? Mr. Porter: We are redoing all vendor booths. Councilmember Kuali`i: Are they tents? Are they wooden? It seems really expensive. How many booths? Can you just follow-up with details? Mr. Rezentes: Eight (8)vendor booths. It is a major redo. We had architecture do the design and are soon going out to start bidding on construction. That is going happen in the next fiscal year. Mr. Porter: The 209 Fund is the Spouting Horn Fund. Councilmember Kuali`i: We have eight (8) booths and they are currently fully occupied and they pay rent every month. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 38 Mr. Porter: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: Now they are in such bad shape that we have to basically shut it down and redo it. How long do we shut it down? Mr. Rezentes: The hope is that we do not need to shut it down. We are going to do... Councilmember Kuali`i: Temporary? Mr. Rezentes: The proposal right now is to move the location right above where it is currently at. The current condition of the existing booths is really bad. It is been decades of...that it has been functioning so they are at the end of their useful life. This is a pretty good revenue source for the County. This is a reinvestment ultimately in an asset that returns some income that can be used for parks islandwide. Mr. Porter: The $700,000 is for construction, which is enough to complete the construction. The plans are done and the permits are finalizing now. That is the next step. Councilmember Kuali`i: Maybe I just want to see more detail on this. What is the program?How much are we collecting?Now that we are rebuilding everything, are the leases going up a reasonable amount?Have they gone up reasonable amounts over the years? Do we manage this, too? Mr. Rezentes: It is a multi-year lease and whatever the market bears at the time. I believe it is a five-year term on the lease, it is bid out. The highest bidders get awarded a booth. I believe there is one that dropped off. We had one at one time for a nonprofit that is vacant as well. When we go out again, to procure new vendors, the intent is to go out for all of the booths. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We receive about $270,000 in revenue from the Spouting Horn vendor booth and we have $800,000 in the fund right now, which equals a total $1.1 million request. Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: I am trying to look at that. It sounds like it is revenue-neutral anyway. It is creating some moneys, so it is not costing us money. Where do I find how much it generates for us? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: It is in the very top part. Scott can show it to you. Any other questions while we get through that on any of these projects? Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: The other two at the bottom—the Park/Sports Field Enhancement $425,000 and Parking Lot Resurfacing for $130,000 just the locations? Is there a list or breakdown of the costs for each? Could provide what that is in detail? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I think right now we have parking lot resurfacing. I believe...I cannot remember if it is in CIP or in our regular Operating Budget and it is in here. We can kind of get a bigger picture of what is going to get done. Any other questions? Councilmember Kuali`i: $125,000 for Kalawai Park—there is existing lighting that is in major disrepair. It seems like a lot of money. What is that going to pay for? April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 39 Mr. Porter: To repair the entire electrical system. Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions for Improvements and Maintenance Fund? If not, we will stop here and take a ten-minute caption break and the only division we have left is Wailua Golf Course. So with that we will stop and take our ten-minute caption break and be back for Wailua Golf Course There being no objections, the meeting recessed at 10:57 a.m. The meeting reconvened at 11:11 a.m., and proceeded as follows: Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Welcome back. We are on our final item. Wailua Golf Course. Do we have any questions for Wailua Golf Course? Councilmember Kuali`i: I did not see any vacancies on the vacancy report. So we do not have any vacancies? Mr. Rezentes: We just recently hired in the last couple of months for that vacancy. Councilmember Kuali`i: So you do not anticipate any vacancies? Mr. Rezentes: Not at this time. Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Do we see any change to getting more people to play at the golf course? What are we doing? I think we still lose around a million dollars. Mr. Rezentes: We lose about $1.3 million a year. I have been speaking to golfers, and even when the John A. Burns Tournament was here with the college coaches and the golf pros, it is a national trend, a slight downturn in the number of golfers that are playing. Some say it is the "Tiger Woods effect" of him not being at the top of his game, but when he was at the top of his game, we saw golf spike, internationally. But right now, we have seen it is nowhere near the highs as far as rounds that are played. As a result, the deficit between expenditures over revenues have been increasing over the years. We are cognizant of that, and we had initial discussions with staff, as well as Dick Ueoka from Kaua`i Golf Association(KGA). We are looking at putting together a package in the next few months. We believe with the support of KGA on a golf fee package, green fee package, in initial discussions with Mr. Ueoka, he feels an increase is warranted. I know in past years there has been the debate between the Council or certain members of the Council and the Administration on how much of the golf fees should cover the expenses. Some folks feel it should be one hundred percent (100%) covered. Most golfers in the public have different opinions on that. But making up $1.3 million in revenues is quite a bit of a climb that I do not personally believe is very attainable. But lessening that gap between the cost of operating the golf course and the revenues is something that we are looking at. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Personally, I do not expect us to have it be a net zero (0) operation. I do not personally...golf courses do not make money. We get the added benefit of being able to put our reprocess wastewater on the golf course, which if we needed April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 40 to find another way for that, it would cost us more money. So it is a benefit to us and having the golf course for the public, but is there any way we can close the gap on it? How are the concessionaire doing out there? I know we have not had concessions in a while. I know we have a concession there now.Are the golfers happier and have you heard any comments about having the concessions there? Mr. Rezentes: We have two (2) functioning concessions, actually, three (3) with the carts, the pro shop and the restaurant. Three (3) different entities. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: My question is mostly to the food. Mr. Rezentes: I think it is always a challenge because you are out in the middle of nowhere. But my understanding from talking to some of the golfers is that they are happy with the quality of food. I still think it is a challenge for them to make money. They have the ability to cater and diversify their income stream because they have the facility to do it. It is a pretty large backroom kitchen operation. Unfortunately, for the Golf Fund, the bids were low. But at least we have an operator that is continuing to operate. There were years in which we had none. So that was not a real positive thing. So I am hoping that they can continue to find a way to make a go of it and attract non-golfers to the restaurant as well. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I am happy to have an operator there. It is not the most ideal location for a restaurant for people that want to go out and eat for dinner. I know they definitely have good food and it helps with the golfers when they stop in. They can pick up food along their first nine, or when they are done they eat after they play golf. But I am glad we have concessions there because it has been empty for a long time. I think it is just an added benefit to our golf course. Councilmember Chock. Councilmember Chock: Thank you. I think this discussion on the budget for the golf course has come up many times, every year. Some of the feedback has been that it is one of the only recreational uses that actually has a fee for the County, which has brought up the question about revenue. So when we talk about fees and looking at fees broadly for the Department of Parks & Recreation, is that on the horizon?Is that a way that we can look towards at least balancing the field? What I am talking about is if you go to Oahu, for instance, you have these tournaments you have to pay for, some of the park usage. I think fair is fair and looking at how all of our operations that we start to actually ask the question about, "What do we need to do to balance the budget as a whole for this division?" So I agree, maybe we need to look at increasing fees at the golf course and alternatively to look at it department-wide. Is that the direction that we are headed in? If so, what are we looking at? Mr. Porter: That is the direction that we are looking at. We already have been tasked as a department to review our fee schedule across the board. So we are in the process of that. Right now, we are gathering information from other islands about that, comparing ours to the other islands. But yes, it is across the board as far as facilities, camping, neighborhood centers, all these types of things, all these fees, including the golf course, too. So that is something that we have already started to get the ball rolling and so we will be looking into it. Yes. Councilmember Chock: Do you have a timeframe that you are looking at maybe projecting when we might be able to have something on the table to look at? April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 41 Mr. Porter: I know Mayor's Office wants us to get on it, so probably within the next six (6) months we will have something. Councilmember Chock: Okay. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: My question is in alignment with Councilmember Chock's, so he might have half-answered this question. Because when I am listening to the other parks, other than Spouting Horn, which definitely contributes money in their lease fees, people are not charged to play basketball, right? It is only the golfers that are looking to being revenue neutral or close to it. For the rest of these fields and things, we do not charge soccer players or anything to be using the fields, do we? No, so the golfers... Mr. Rezentes: I just want to make sure...I do not think there is an intention to have the golf fees cover 100% of the costs. I just want to make that clear. I personally believe that is too high of a hill to climb. I think there is room to bridge the gap, narrow it. But I do not think we are going to... Councilmember Cowden: I appreciate the fact that Council Chair Kaneshiro brought up a dual purpose of having a place to supply the wastewater plant. But there is a certain amount of camping fees, right? I cannot remember paying anything to use the pavilion or to use the neighborhood center, right? There is no charge, right? Mr. Porter: It depends on what type of use it is. We have different classes of use. Councilmember Cowden: Birthday parties Mr. Porter: Those would be all free. Councilmember Cowden: Those are free. What does someone pay to rent a pavilion? Mr. Porter: We can send over the whole fee schedule. Councilmember Cowden: I would like to see that. It seems that part of the reason for parks is supporting the community. Thank you. Mr. Rezentes: It is marginal, the fees are very low. Councilmember Cowden: Very low? Mr. Rezentes: Yes. Mr. Porter: Some of the fees are in the Ordinance and Convention Hall is Administrative Rules. Councilmember Cowden: Okay, if I can get a list that would help my understanding. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Evslin. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 42 Councilmember Evslin: A follow-up to all of that—do we have any type of...is the intent clearly not to be revenue neutral? Did we have any profit and loss for each of these departments?You are unique in bringing in revenues for some of these and it would be good to see how much is coming in compared to what we are spending. Mr. Rezentes: The expenses to operate, say, a facility, comes from multiple areas within the budget. Sometimes other departments as well that are contributing to the cost structure. So it is not something that has been done in the past. The golf course is because it is a Special Fund, it is a lot clearer to determine, but maybe we can make inroads along those lines, but it has not necessarily been done that way in the past. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: I would say, too, that as you are looking at the fee schedules and all that even though it might be more difficult to quantify, that obviously you have to look at cost benefit and what kind of impact the different programs and facilities are providing. The one thing for sure that you can quantify is the amount of users. So I would guess that a basketball court versus a golf course...who is using it and how many are using it? Obviously, the bulk of our facilities are in parks for youth programs and youth use is a big part of what we want to continue doing because we are always hearing there is not enough for our young people to do, and all that we need the program to do goes with the facilities, but if we start charging for them, I do not think that is a good idea. Tough for families and what have you. It is hard to compare a basketball court with a golf course. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Ultimately, it is a policy decision and it is a balance that we make as far as the County. What services do we want to offer to the public at a cost to us and what do we want to charge or make up for? Obviously, there are big ramifications to what we do. It is a policy decision and the past policy has been that we want to make it affordable for the residents. So we have not been charging a lot or any. I can agree. It is tough. Where is the balance? Obviously, if we try to charge for everything that we offer, then the residents may not be able to enjoy our facilities. Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: I completely agree with all that has been said. This is a beginner question. Kukuiolono Golf Course in Kalaheo, I thought that was County also. Is it not? Mr. Rezentes: It is private. Councilmember Cowden: Okay, but that is inexpensive too, right? Mr. Rezentes: Yes. Councilmember Cowden: Okay that is why I thought it was County, but it is not. Okay. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Evslin. Councilmember Evslin: On the Water Expense—$30,000—is that potable water or is there extra irrigation water that is not coming from the sewage treatment plant? How does that work? April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 43 Mr. Rezentes: It is pumped water. It is not potable water. But there are pumping costs to get the water over. I think Council Chair Kaneshiro mentioned about the assistance the golf course really provides with respect to Wastewater and I think the Department of Health put on a new requirement that the outfall outside of Lydgate that was used by the Wailua Wastewater Treatment Plant option will not be available within the next couple of years. So a lot more of the treated wastewater from the Wailua Wastewater Treatment Plant will go to the golf course, and we are working with the Wastewater Division to assist us with...basically, ask that they provide us with new pumps and possibly other costs associated with taking more of their wastewater, because the golf course will be that new alternative. So we are going to be pumping a lot more, I think R-2 type water over the course, not potable water, in the near future. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I know a potential revenue source that came up before, but I believe did not pass, was allowing alcohol on the golf course, which I think every other golf course on the island allows. But I cannot remember what happened. All I know is that it did not pass. I do not remember if it was vetoed. I think at that point, I was in favor of it. Every other golf course on the island allows it, offers it and we have a lot of blowback about alcohol on the golf course, but ultimately it comes down to the responsibility of the golfers. Restaurants everywhere serve alcohol and to say that we serve alcohol on the golf course will automatically cause someone to get into a car accident—that could happen anywhere else. It all comes down to the individual responsibility of someone. It was floated, I do not know if it would come back again. But that was another option. Ultimately, we do not know what the additional revenue would be. It is the cost-risk analysis for us, if it is something we would want to allow or not. It is another option that came up before. I think as far as catering to parties and stuff, I do not think we marketed the golf course much as a venue for parties. Someone can do a wedding, set up a nice tent somewhere along the golf course, and oceanfront. So I do not know if that is something that we would want to get into or could. Any further questions for Wailua Golf Course? Mr. Rezentes: Yes, I am sorry. The real significant"ask" that we are requesting is the replacement of seven (7) pieces of equipment. The average life of the equipment that these items replace is twelve (12) to thirteen (13) years and the repair that is commensurate with the older pieces of equipment has been increasing. As a result of it being so old, there is more downtime than we would like. So we are requesting a lease of seven (7) pieces of equipment that will cost $50,800 a year for a five-year lease term. Basically, that is the significant change in the budget that we are asking for in the upcoming year. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: I am not sure if we have this information already somewhere, but there are different rates for locals versus visitors. Mr. Rezentes: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: Then how about for locals, who maybe it is one time or they rarely utilize the golf course versus people who come back on a regular basis? Is there something like a monthly pass? Mr. Rezentes: Yes, there is, it is called a"monthly card" and they can play as often as they want with the monthly card. I forget the number of how many rounds a month. It makes sense to pay the card versus pay individually. But for the people April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 44 that play two (2), three (3) times a week, they are definitely buying the monthly card versus those that maybe play once a week and what they pay on a per-day basis. Councilmember Kuali`i: You made the comment about an increase being warranted. So are you looking into all of that? Mr. Rezentes: Yes, including the residential rate, the visitor rate, and the monthly card rate. Councilmember Kuali`i: The only other thing is the breakdown between use by locals versus use by visitors. Mr. Rezentes: I have that, but not with me right now. Councilmember Kuali`i: I am curious to know if we are growing our use by visitors at all in any way by maybe working with the Kaua`i Visitor's Bureau (KVB) or others to market to visitors. Mr. Rezentes: We are. Councilmember Kuali`i: And in hotels. Basically, I would imagine our fees, even at the visitor rate, is probably less than some of these really expensive hotel golf courses. Mr. Rezentes: You are correct. We are part of a consortium of island golf courses that advertise through KVB and Sue Kanoho assists us with that advertising piece. We have done this for a few years already with some success, but as far as usage, we are still not anywhere near where we would want to be or what the golf course is capable of handling. Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions for Wailua Golf Course? That is our last item for today. Councilmember Brun. Councilmember Brun: You just said that you are not where you want to be as far as usage on the golf course—what were you doing for the last three (3) years? I thought you folks were working on this. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock. Councilmember Chock: Mr. Chair, I forgot this one. One hundred fifty(150)for the generator or electrical switches in the generator room. Sounds like support for KPD, is that correct? Mr. Porter: Yes, for KPD offices. Councilmember Chock: How is this in our budget? Mr. Porter: The Facilities Maintenance and Buildings are under Parks. April 4, 2019 Parks & Recreation Page 45 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions? If not, thanks again. At this time, we would like to recess the Departmental Budget Reviews and reconvene at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow, Friday, April 5, 2019 where we will hear from Fire and Police. There being no objections, the meeting recessed at 11:34 a.m.