Stand in the halls of the Kalanimoku Building in downtown Honolulu long enough, and you\u2019re bound to overhear staffers with the Department of Land and Natural Resources complain over the lack of money or personnel that prevents them from carrying out the many tasks they\u2019re charged with.<\/p>\n
A look at the budget figures given to the 2008 Legislature bears them out.<\/p>\n
\tAlthough the department\u2019s approved operating budget for fiscal year 2006-2007 came to $92.247 million, the department\u2019s expenditures for that period fell short of the mark, by 3 percent ($2.56 million), according to the so-called \u201cVariance Report\u201d prepared by the state Department of Budget and Finance. The report reflects each state department\u2019s expenditures at the end of the first three months of each fiscal year.<\/p>\n
\tWhen it comes to personnel, the discrepancy is even greater. According to the Variance Report, as of September 30, 18 percent, or 140, of the 775.5 authorized permanent staff positions in the DLNR were vacant. As in years past, the DLNR\u2019s vacancy rate is far above the rates seen in other state departments. On average, across all departments, the vacancy rate stood at 6 percent, with 2,666 unfilled positions out of more than 45,000.<\/p>\n
\tViewed in another light, the vacant posts at the DLNR represent more than 5 percent of vacancies statewide \u2013 this despite the fact that the department\u2019s operating budget accounts for less than 1 percent of the overall state budget.<\/p>\n
\tSince then, the DLNR\u2019s position count has of course changed, but many chairs continue to remain unoccupied. DLNR administrator Laura Thielen insists, however, that the department is working aggressively to fill them.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe vacancies are not intentional,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have been talking with managers about this since I started, about six, seven months ago. We want to fill these positions. The managers want to fill these positions. We\u2019re not intentionally keeping positions vacant to achieve savings.<\/p>\n
\tClerical positions account for a large number of the vacancies, Thielen said. \u201cIt\u2019s extremely frustrating not to be able to find people to fill these positions. The Department of Human Resources Development is trying to help by aggressively recruiting clerical workers. As the pace of Hawai`i\u2019s economic growth slows, we may find that the state is a more attractive employment option, and may be a bit more successful\u201d in recruiting for these posts, she told Environment Hawai`i<\/i> in an interview responding to a written list of questions.<\/p>\n
\tWithin the department itself, the vacancy rates among divisions fluctuate widely. \u201cThe vacancies tend to be concentrated in three divisions,\u201d Thielen said, naming the divisions of State Parks, Boating and Ocean Recreation, and Forestry and Wildlife.<\/p>\n
\tIn the case of State Parks, which as of late January had 41 empty spots (28 permanent, 13 temporary), most of the vacancies are paid for out of the State Parks special fund, Thielen said. \u201cDuring the economic downturn of the 1990s, the Legislature shifted general-funded positions to become special-funded. Now we\u2019re at the point where the ceiling on special funds expenditures, which includes these positions, is far higher than the revenue stream that State Parks generates. So we cannot afford to fill some of these positions.\u201d (Thirty-one of the 41 vacancies are paid for out of the parks special fund.)<\/p>\n
\tThielen acknowledged that the parks special fund had been raided in recent years, and said that the Legislature is poised to make another raid on the fund this year. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to point out to the Legislature \u2013 help us out by not raiding our fund, give us more general fund positions, and support us when we take steps to increase revenue streams. We\u2019re also pointing out to the Legislature that if they cut these positions, they won\u2019t save any money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tAs far as the vacancies in the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) are concerned, she noted that most of them are difficult-to-fill clerical posts, \u201cand when we do get folks, they take advantage of promotional opportunities within the department and move up to higher-level jobs.\u201d (All of the DOBOR personnel are paid from the boating special fund. As of late January, 19 permanent positions were empty.)<\/p>\n
\tThielen attributed DOFAW vacancies (37 as of late January) to \u201ca combination of reasons. They\u2019re our biggest division, so they have the biggest movement\u201d of personnel. Once more, she cited problems in hiring clerical positions. Another factor, she said, is that \u201cDOFAW is an interesting division. The management philosophy there is they want to have a lot of responsibility and accountability at the local level. They\u2019ve taken some steps by redescribing or recreating new position series through civil service procedures. Take someone like a laborer. Instead of having them listed as a general laborer, you put them in as a forester, so they\u2019re held responsible for independent duties\u2026. But this process takes time. In my opinion, DOFAW is one of the better-managed, better-run divisions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe Division of Conservation and Resource Enforcement was not on Thielen\u2019s top-three list for vacancy problems. However, in recent years, it has had trouble filling its positions. Asked about that, Thielen attributed many of DOCARE\u2019s vacancies to the fact they were for positions authorized by last year\u2019s Legislature, \u201cand in creating new positions, we have to go through a series of paperwork steps \u2013 create the job, get approval to fill it, and only then can we hire.\u201d A further confounding factor that slows down the hiring process for DOCARE enforcement officers is the fact that minimum qualifications for most positions include law-enforcement training and for all officers an extensive background check. A recent recruitment drive for more senior-level officers, Thielen said, ended after \u201cwe didn\u2019t find anybody who met the minimum qualifications \u2026 or, in some cases, in their background, they had incidents which disqualified them from law enforcement.\u201d Despite the problems in recruitment and the fact that for three clerical positions vacant since 2005 there has been no appropriation made for two years, the department is requesting in this year\u2019s supplemental budget an additional 15 positions (11 officers, four clerks).<\/p>\n
\tAnother issue that arises on examination of the DOCARE spreadsheet are five vacant enforcement-officer positions paid for by the boating special fund. \u201cI think these are the five positions created a couple of years ago under a legislative budget proviso to provide cruise ship security at small boat harbors in Maui and Kona,\u201d Thielen said. \u201cDOBOR was going to be doing that security, but as the time neared, the decision was made by the prior chairman [Peter Young] to have it temporarily assigned to DOCARE\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWhen the auditor did an audit of DOCARE, the division was criticized for mission creep. One criticism was that the focus on things like cruise ship security was not appropriate. So the department began taking steps to revert the security to DOBOR, since this was always supposed to be a temporary measure.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cDOBOR has picked up security duties in Maui and is phasing in in Kona. But because the [Department of Budget and Finance] has these positions listed under DOCARE, we\u2019re asking the Legislature in our supplemental budget request to transfer these lines back to DOBOR.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe actual work involved does not require enforcement officers, Thielen said, but will be done by planners to be hired by DOBOR. \u201cThey\u2019re not doing security. They\u2019re doing administration of cruise-ship security,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019ll manage schedules, tendering, working with the Coast Guard, and handle contracts with private security companies.\u201d If security is elevated above the current level, DOCARE would be involved, but even so, Thielen said, \u201cday-to-day involvement would be significantly less than it is now.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Historic Problem<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
The Historic Preservation Division has been under fire in recent years, with charges of incompetence, inefficiency, and mismanagement being just a few of the accusations leveled against the agency. Recently, Thielen appointed a committee to look for a new administrator to replace Melanie Chinen, who resigned late last year.<\/p>\n
\tAccording to the Variance Report, as of September 30, 2007, 12 of the 13 permanent, full-time positions in Historic Preservation were filled. Notes accompanying the report, however, stated that five positions \u201cwere being actively recruited\u201d as of that date.<\/p>\n
\tAccording to the spreadsheet information provided to Environment Hawai`i<\/i>, as of January 25, 2008, the division had nine vacancies. Of those, six were reported to have been vacant as of September 30, 2007 (five of them empty since 2006).<\/p>\n
\tEnvironment Hawai`i<\/i> asked how the Variance Report, with its one listed vacancy, could be reconciled with the spreadsheet.<\/p>\n
\tAs of press time, no response had been received.<\/p>\n
— Patricia Tummons<\/p>\n
Volume 18, Number 10 April 2008<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stand in the halls of the Kalanimoku Building in downtown Honolulu long enough, and you’re bound to overhear staffers with the Department of Land and Natural Resources complain over the lack of money or personnel that prevents them from carrying … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[164],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-april-2008"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}