The Department of Civil Service serves as the County’s chief human resource management agency. Its functions closely align with nationally recognized HR functions: strategic planning, recruitment, compensation, personnel development, employee and labor relations, and health and safety. As the County’s chief human resource team, the department shares its expertise with departments and employees to enable them to better accomplish their missions. Civil Service encourages and supports County employees’ efforts to nurture a healthy, safe and rewarding work environment and community.

A major focus of the department in FY 2001-2002 was in implementing public employment reform measures that were to be effective July 1, 2003. This required a rewriting of all rules and procedures, in addition to negotiating on matters not previously found in the various union contracts; this latter item being a requirement of the public employment reform legislation.

Besides the director and deputy director of personnel, the department has a staff of 20 permanent full-time positions. The department also employs three students from the Hawaii Community College under the Cooperative Vocational Educational Program.

In addition, two commissions are assigned to the department: the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the Salary Commission (SC).

The Civil Service Commission consists of five members appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council. Members must be in sympathy with and believe in the principles of the merit system.

Commission members and their term expiration dates are:

G. Rick Robinson December 31, 2002

Bill P. Thibadeau December 31, 2002

Diana Kahler December 31, 2003

Clarence Souza December 31, 2003

Jeanne E. Yagi December 31, 2005

Mr. Robinson and Mr. Thibadeau served as chairperson and vice chair, respectively, for calendar year 2001 and were re-elected to serve as chair and vice chair, respectively, for calendar year 2002.

Up until June 30, 2002, As outlined in section 76-12, Hawaii Revised Statutes, the Civil Service Commission, pursuant to section 76-12, Hawai`i Revised Statutes, served to:

1. Represent the public interest in the improvement of personnel administration in the civil service area;
2. Assist in fostering the interests of institutions of learning and civic, professional, and employee organizations in the improvement of personnel standards in civil service;
3. Advise the mayor on policies and problems concerning personnel administration; and
4. Make investigations concerning the administration of personnel policies in the civil service, including any matter involving the enforcement or effect of this chapter or the rules and regulations prescribed thereunder, or the action or failure to act of any officer or employee with respect thereto.

With public employment reform measures becoming effective July 1, 2002, the above functions, and all other functions of the commission were removed by the legislature.

The commission held five hearings:

Subject of Appeal Hearing Number Granted Denied Dismissed Withdrawn

Removal of name from

Eligible list 1 0 0 0 1

Nonselection 2 0 2 0 0

Disqualification from

performance test 1 0 0 0 0

Totals: 4 0 2 0 1

The Salary Commission consists of nine members appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council. Six members are representatives of the County geographical areas of Puna, Ka’u, Kona, Kohala, Hamakua, and Hilo; and three members are representatives of the County-at-large. During FY 2001-2002, Commissioner Tracey Lauder passed away, leaving one vacancy. Current commission members and their term expiration dates are:

Eric Inouye December 31, 2002

Rodney Watanabe December 31, 2002

Jason Hashimoto December 31, 2003

Joel W. Nye December 31, 2004

J. William Sanborn December 31, 2004

Yoshiichi "Joe" Tanaka December 31, 2005

Glenn S. Hara December 31, 2005

Gerald Kita December 31, 2006

By County Charter, the director and the deputy director of personnel serve as ex-officio members of the commission in an advisory capacity.

Mr. Inouye served as chair, with Mr. Hashimoto as vice chair, and Mr. Watanabe as secretary for calendar year 2001 and 2002.

By County Charter, the commission is assigned the task of establishing the salaries for the mayor, the prosecuting attorney, county council members and appointed officials.

The Recruitment & Examination Division administers the recruitment and examination program for the County of Hawai`i to fill all civil service positions. The program is conducted in conformity with federal, state and county laws. The division’s goals are to provide equal employment opportunities for qualified in-service personnel and residents of the County and State of Hawai`i, and to develop and maintain an effective recruitment and examination system designed to attract qualified applicants and their fitness for employment.

In Fiscal Year 2001-2002, 4,896 applications were received and reviewed in response to 75 competitive recruitments conducted and 49 promotions without examination.

We received 1,907 requests from the public to be placed on the department’s computerized mailing list for future recruitments.

The following types of examinations were administered for the competitive recruitments:

We processed 318 certification requests for filling various County positions, referring names of qualified individuals to the respective line departments. We also approved 59 emergency appointment requests from the departments to prevent the stoppage of essential business.

For purposes of ensuring that applicants met minimum qualification requirements, staff reviewed applications for the following types of personnel appointments:

• Developed a new County of Hawai`i application form for the public to use and an internal recruitment application form for employees to use for internal recruitments within their department/County. Oriented department heads and their staff regarding the reform changes.

• Expanded our recruitment information by placing recruitment announcements on the Na Leo `O Hawai`i Inc. Interactive Bulletin Board, on the County of Hawai`i’s web page, and by our weekly presentations on "What’s Up In The County" program aired Tuesday and Thursday evenings on Channel 52 at 8:00 p.m.

• Developed and conducted the following training sessions for managers, supervisors, and departmental personnel representatives:

• Effective Job Interviewing (2 sessions – 28 attended)
• Employment Reference Checking (1 session – 10 attended)

• Conducted countywide job placement for medically non-qualified employees who could not perform their job duties, at the request of the line departments.

• When requested, assisted line departments with the review of their employment interview questions and other preparations for their interview and selection process.

• Coordinated placement of CVE students from Hawai`i Community College at various County worksites.

• Conducted recruitment talks for various community organizations and schools on the Island of Hawai`i, including the University of Hawai`i at Hilo.

• Participated in various job fairs on the Island of Hawai`i.

• Administered 16 written examinations to 31 island residents for the state and other jurisdictions.

• Continue with the expansion of recruitment information on the County of Hawai`i’s web page to include the downloading of application forms.
• Develop recruitment & examination procedures pursuant to Act 253, the Public Employment Reform law.
• Continue assisting departments with their interview and selection process.

The division administers a classification and pay system based on merit principles and the principle of equal pay for equal work. In doing so, the division conducts audits of positions or units of positions, develops and maintains class specifications, and evaluates classes of positions for assignment to appropriate salary or wage grades.

Program objectives and major tasks accomplished:

• Program Objectives

• Processed 468 classification actions:

• Participated in the hearing on appeals filed with the Public Employees Compensation Appeals Board during its review of the White Collar and Blue Collar Compensation Plans of the State and Counties. No appeal was filed with PECAB on a County of Hawaii class of work.

• Participated in the Conference of Personnel Director’s biennial review of the pay range assignments for the Excluded Managerial Compensation Plans for the State and Counties. Two repricing requests were received on County of Hawaii classes. One request was referred back to Hawaii for a classification review and no action was taken on the other.

• Participated in the Conference of Personnel Directors study on equal pay for equal work including an interjurisdictional comparison of classes and establishment of criteria for equal pay.

• Participated in the development and implementation of the Rules of the Department of Civil Service pursuant to Act 253 Public Employment Reform Bill.

• Completed the classification review of supervisory positions in the Department of Parks and Recreation, Parks Maintenance Division. Established new classes and processed actions to properly classify positions.

• Established the Recycling Program Coordinator class of work for the Department of Environmental Management to allocate a position responsible for the expansion and development of the recycling program for the County.

• Conducted maintenance review of classes in the following series:

b. Housing and Community Development Specialist

Fiscal Year 2002-2003 projects include:

• Participate in the cross-jurisdictional study on classification systems, pricing criteria for equal pay, and procedures for repricing, initial pricing, and negotiation as it relates to Act 253 Public Employment Reform Bill.

• Develop and implement personnel procedures on position classification, initial pricing, and repricing pursuant to Act 253 Public Employment Reform Bill.

• Implement the following reorganizations:

• Continue maintenance review of classes of work and position redescription reviews of positions allocated to those classes.

The Employee Relations Division administers programs to ensure all personnel actions are in accordance with applicable laws, rules, regulations, collective bargaining agreements, executive orders; develops policies and procedures on employee relations matters; administers the county’s Flexible Spending Plan; and oversees the county’s Leave Sharing Program. It also maintains and updates personnel and position files and data.

Leave Sharing Program Activity

No. of requests for shared leave hours 6

No. of requests approved 6

No. of requests to donate vacation leave hours 96

No. of requests approved 88

No. of employees requesting to donate vacation leave hours 85

No. of employees donating vacation leave hours 78

No. of vacation leave hours donated 2,613.7

(2,216 direct share; 397.7 leave bank)

Flexible Spending Plan. As a cafeteria plan under section 125 of the Internal Revenue Service Code, the County’s Flexible Spending Plan allows participants to pay for health insurance premiums and medical and dependent care expenses with pretax dollars. As a result, participants realize state and federal income tax savings as well as FICA tax savings. The County realizes FICA tax savings. In Plan Year 2001-2002, the County saved approximately $180,729 in FICA taxes. During this period, 1,626 employees participated in the plan.

Major tasks accomplished during Fiscal Year 2000-2001 include:

• Established rules regarding probationary appointments, exemptions, and leave sharing. Developed policies and procedures for new probation periods, movements, and compensation.

• Revised forms for use on personal computers. Eliminated form 13A (Separation) by combining form with Form 13 (Payroll Certification).

• Established procedures for processing new hires, and conducted presentation to departments to ensure consistency and expediency.

• Conducted 10 audits on departments and agencies on matters relating to division’s activities, such as employee personnel files, job performance reports, temporary assignment reports.

• Processed 5,394 personnel transactions involving appointments, in-service changes and separations, and 1,980 transactions for mass pay adjustments for a total of 7,374 transactions. This figure represents a 12% increase in transactions from the previous fiscal year.

• Provided government service verifications for 265 service and retirement award requests. This figure represents a 10% decrease from the previous fiscal year.

The Personnel & Organization Development Division provides training, facilitation and consulting support to all departments of the county in order to continually improve both personnel and organizational effectiveness and maximize the potential of the County’s human capital.

• Conduct formal classroom training to meet identified needs in the workforce, including but not limited to leadership and supervision, customer service management, individual skill building, and organization development.

• Provide facilitative support for County departments and divisions in strategic planning, goal development, performance management, role clarification, teambuilding, conflict management and other sessions as requested.

• Provide executive consulting support to senior management in areas of complex organization problem solving.

• Provided facilitative and consulting support to six departments engaged in developing comprehensive Strategic Planning and Performance Management.

• Provided alternative dispute resolution options in the form of mediation services to several departments.

• Provided executive level consulting on complex organizational problem solving to several directors.

• The 2002 Clerical Seminar was held for approximately 105 participants.

• During the year, the division continued to provide training courses on various topics including violence in the workplace, leadership development and other personnel development courses.

• The Pre-retirement Workshop was held for nearly 100 participants.

• Coordinated the Employee of the Year program.

The Health and Safety Division is responsible for providing and advocating safe work environments and work habits in the County. It serves as resource to department and agencies on health and safety matters.

In addition, the Division administers the Workers’ Compensation Program, managing and processing our employees’ industrial injury claims.

During this reporting period, the Division reestablished a County-wide safety committee whose functions include: reviewing accident & equipment damage reports and making recommendations for corrective actions; recommending training for departments and agencies; reviewing and making recommendations on the County’s safety program; and reviewing the results of all safety inspections and making recommendations on corrective actions where needed.

As part of its responsibilities, the Division provides a variety of training programs on involving health and safety matters. During the reporting period, training was provided in such area as: mail safety (re: anthrax); respiratory fit testing; fall protection; job hazard analysis; first aid/CPR; violence in the workplace; and driver improvement

The Division coordinated Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health courtesy safety inspections for the Mass Transit Agency, the Department of Liquor, the department of Water Supply, and Wastewater Division of the Department of Environmental Management.

The Division has taken steps to reduce the inordinate amount of workers’ compensation cases (650) that were considered "active." Steps taken included initiating a review of all listed cases and updating their status, contracting with the State of Hawaii to provide case management for all Department of Parks & Recreation claims, and by contracting with other vendors to manage complex cases. The Division also initiated an audit of the workers’ compensation function which should be concluded in the next reporting period (July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2003).

The Labor Employee Relations Division advises and assists both the director and County departments and agencies on matters relating to public employee collective bargaining and labor contract administration. It provides staff support to the director in the director’s role as the mayor’s representative at the bargaining table, often serving in the director’s stead. In addition, the division is responsible for hearing all employee grievances filed with the Mayor and recommending appropriate dispositions of these grievances to the director.

During the period July 1, 2001 to June 30, 2002 negotiations with several of unions were initiated. Negotiations are ongoing with the Hawaii Fire Fighters Association, the Hawaii Government Employees Association, and the United Public Workers.

Thirty-two grievances were heard during this reporting period, of which we responded to or resolved 26 of them. Six cases remain unresolved; five of which are attributable to on-going settlement discussions. The final grievance is pending final decision making.

Five requests for grievance arbitration were received; four of which were filed by the State of Hawaii Police Officers Organization. The remaining arbitration request was received from the United Public Workers.