Councilmembers call mayor’s budget deceptive

New position requests to be clarified next week

by Nathan Eagle – THE GARDEN ISLAND

County Council members Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho and Mel Rapozo claim Mayor Bryan Baptiste’s proposed $155.7 million operating budget for the next fiscal year contains “deceptive” requests for new positions in several departments.

“Let’s call a spade a spade,” Rapozo said, noting that the administration simply wants to continue its sputtering Ka Leo O Kaua‘i community outreach program by reallocating the two positions that currently administer it.

A second full day of departmental budget reviews continued yesterday at the Historic County Building, bringing this issue to the surface again and exposing concerns related to the safety of enforcement officers. The hearing featured the Parks and Recreation Department, Liquor Commission, Civil Defense Agency and Kaua‘i Humane Society.

Gary Heu, the mayor’s administrative assistant, said the council seems to have misunderstood aspects of a recently unveiled initiative to embed community relations within some county departments.

“It’s a key role to be played,” he said, noting a general consensus among department heads “to be more in touch with the community.”

The plan would impose community outreach responsibilities on certain employees. For instance, the initiative proposes a senior clerk at the Fire Department to dedicate 25 percent of his or her time toward community relations.

But some council members said critical positions would be compromised as the plan now stands. The mayor has stated his willingness to explore alternative solutions.

A public safety worker from the Kaua‘i Police Department and a planner from the Planning Department would be converted into community outreach positions under the current proposal, Rapozo said.

It is deceptive for the administration to not identify in the budget that certain positions will be removed to afford others, Iseri-Carvalho said.

She added that she supports the idea of embedding community outreach within the departments, but not at the expense of reallocating a public safety position.

“I’m getting mixed messages here,” Baptiste told the council when the issue first arose during budget reviews on Tuesday in council chambers.

The mayor said he is doing what the seven-member legislative body asked, not “something backhanded or behind the scenes.”

Rapozo said during a break in the meeting yesterday that the mayor withdrew his budget request for two Ka Leo O Kaua‘i positions after realizing he lacked the council’s support. But the mayor is trying to retain them by redefining several job descriptions to include community outreach responsibilities.

The councilman said he will urge the council to fund those positions accordingly. For instance, he said if the parks projects manager is managing parks projects only 75 percent of the time, that job should be budgeted as such.

The issue should gain more clarity at a call-back hearing next week when the administration has a chance to respond in detail to the council’s concerns, Heu said.

Bernard Carvalho, the head of the newly created county Parks and Recreation Department, fell under council fire because one of the requested new positions for the department would require the employee to spend a portion of his/her time doing community outreach.

Council Chair Bill “Kaipo” Asing repeatedly asked Carvalho if the proposed parks projects manager would hold regular community meetings like those coordinated by the Ka Leo O Kaua‘i program.

Carvalho said the parks manager would hold community meetings to gather feedback on parks-related projects.

It was unclear if the meetings would also be used to gather feedback on public concerns extending beyond this scope.

The Ka Leo O Kaua‘i program, which celebrates its five-year anniversary this month, allows residents to raise wide-ranging concerns at bi-monthly meetings from Kekaha to Ha‘ena. The program’s successes and volunteers will be celebrated and honored at 5:30 p.m., April 10, at the War Memorial Convention Hall.

The council’s more than two-hour discussion with the Parks and Recreation Department also focused on its request for three new parks security officers, which led to concerns about how camping regulations are enforced.

Rapozo cited examples of officers waking up campers at 4 a.m. because their permit was not displayed on the outside of their tent.

After acknowledging that this may serve as the most effective way to enforce the camping laws, Rapozo said it seems “intrusive” to the campers and could present safety hazards to the officers.

“That’s quite early to be waking people up,” he said. “But if that’s the policy, that’s the policy.”

The councilman noted that even search warrants have time restrictions except in certain cases.

Iseri-Carvalho said the department should weigh the risks to the officer — such as waking a violent criminal or a camper on drugs in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere — with the number of citations this method produces.

She recalled a case when she served as county prosecutor where state Department of Land and Natural Resources officers were waking up people at 3 a.m. in the “boondocks” to enforce camping violations that carry maximum fines of $100.

“For me, it’s about risking the life of the officer,” the councilwoman said.

Rapozo said county parks officers should start at least carrying pepper spray for protection.

The three other county departments scheduled for budget reviews yesterday afternoon —the Liquor Commission, Civil Defense Agency and Kaua‘i Humane Society — proceeded with few questions and little discussion over their requests to basically maintain the status quo.

The hearing continues at 9 a.m. today at the Historic County Building with budget reviews for the Police Department, Personnel Department and Office of the County Clerk.

For more information, visit www.kauai.gov.

• Nathan Eagle, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or neagle@kauaipubco.com