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+--- Thread: Keep his job, fire him, demote him, or promote him? (/showthread.php?tid=23519)
RE: Keep his job, fire him, demote him, or promote him? - HiloJulie - 01-05-2025
I agree that the guy should be fired.
I am intrigued as to how this "story" broke and got to HTH in the first place. That's why I inquired about the ownership of the vehicle he was driving. I can see a story like this hitting HTH if there was a County owned vehicle involved really quick, but since it was his own vehicle being driven, I find it hard to believe that John Burnett is reviewing arrest records and cross referencing the names of those arrested with County employee databases!
I'm thinking someone spilled the beans here!
If that's true, GOOD FOR THEM
RE: Keep his job, fire him, demote him, or promote him? - Punatang - 01-05-2025
Sorry Jules, I agree with Edge on this one. You folks always think the worst without gathering the facts. Maybe, as the safety Czar, he was trying to provide a real world demonstration kind of like that drunk driving admonition car wreck in front of Ken's towing.
Promotion.
Raise.
& reserved parking spot for 1 year. (assuming he has another car)
RE: Keep his job, fire him, demote him, or promote him? - kalakoa - 01-05-2025
Amazing what County residents are able to afford with their tax dollars.
RE: Keep his job, fire him, demote him, or promote him? - HiloJulie - 01-05-2025
(01-05-2025, 07:47 PM)Punatang Wrote: Sorry Jules, I agree with Edge on this one. You folks always think the worst without gathering the facts. Maybe, as the safety Czar, he was trying to provide a real world demonstration kind of like that drunk driving admonition car wreck in front of Ken's towing.
Promotion.
Raise.
& reserved parking spot for 1 year. (assuming he has another car)
Sorry Tang, you got to sharpen your very dull TROLLING skills!
RE: Keep his job, fire him, demote him, or promote him? - Punatang - 01-06-2025
LOL! Everyone seems really aggressive out there in Puna today. I think it's the VOG.
RE: Keep his job, fire him, demote him, or promote him? - Durian Fiend - 01-06-2025
This is the guy providing CDL training, with a record of all that bad driving? Now with this incident and his history coming to light, I think it'd be difficult for new hires to take him seriously during instruction.
The county must have been hard up to hire that dude. If county worker's assessment of the quality of his other work is accurate and has been documented by superiors, this incident should provide enough additional ammo to give him the boot.
But nah! We all know that won't happen.
RE: Keep his job, fire him, demote him, or promote him? - TomK - 01-06-2025
(01-06-2025, 02:07 AM)Durian Fiend Wrote: This is the guy providing CDL training, with a record of all that bad driving? Now with this incident and his history coming to light, I think it'd be difficult for new hires to take him seriously during instruction.
That would depend on whether they're related to him or not.
RE: Keep his job, fire him, demote him, or promote him? - CountyWorker - 01-08-2025
(01-05-2025, 07:09 AM)HiloJulie Wrote:(01-04-2025, 11:21 PM)CountyWorker Wrote: Steven was not driving his county vehicle he normally drives and takes home. He was on vacation for the holidays.
Well, that’s good to hear in this case. Maybe it may have been not so good if he was not on vacation!
(01-04-2025, 11:21 PM)CountyWorker Wrote: What is more concerning is how his poor decision is going to cost the tax payers. There is a union grievance for CDL training for employees under Department of Environmental Management as there is a shortage of drivers. They are supposed to promote within first. Now the county will have to either let him slide or have to move Doug the trainer from other department and let things fall to the side in the other department or hire an outside third party to do the training. Past practice with CDL drivers getting DUI’s was suspension without pay till they received their license back.
There are other options as far as temporarily assigning someone to his position, however there is no one available as job security was kept a priority. So ultimately his poor decisions will cost the tax payers money and county employees potential opportunities to make more money to support their families. Also, don’t forget no drivers audits for current or new hires until this debacle is addressed by Mayor Kimo Alameda.
So, what is the cause of the CDL driver shortage?
Is it a lack of qualified people to take the job, or a lack of qualified people to train, test, certify etc, or both? I have a distant thought of a room full of trained CDL drivers at the DMV in line to get their CDL license and the lady behind the counter rejecting their certified birth certificate because she can’t feel the “bumps” of the embossed seal! (Happened to me – although not for a CDL license, just my regular one!)
Or, is it a lack of management desire to spend the time required to recruit CDL drivers?
We saw this with the school bus driver issue before and now from what I think I am hearing you say, the County Department of Environmental Management has the same problem.
I am assuming County CDL drivers would be Union represented, unlike the school bus drivers, thus I would assume the wages and benefits would be fairly good, I just don’t understand this seemingly constant CDL driver shortage issue here.
Now I do understand that CDL licenses require more or less a spotless driving record as well as DOT random drug testing, so is it possible that the “sacrifice” any potential CDL driver has to make for this type of employment not worth the wages/benefits being paid?
Or is it all of the above?
At any event, welcome to PunaWeb!
[quote pid="352383" dateline="1736060941"]
From my understanding the previous Mayor Mitch Roth had failed to listen to his employees and only relied on information from his appointees of his administration. The big part of the issue was Department Of Environmental Managements Director Ramzi Mansour as he reported directly to Mitch Roth. They were losing human resources personal at an alarming rate and this affected hiring. Currently they have no HR in environmental management and had to borrowing the previous HR specialist to help with hiring one time months ago.
Mitch Roth would always campaign saying he got funding for wastewater projects and a new treatment plant, ect. This was his job and his administration. He didn’t explain that the whole wastewater system was under administrative order of consent by the EPA and he had no choice but to do it. The administration in DEM has swept a lot of things under the rug and has tried to cover many legitimate problems up. Let alone down play and cover up illegal construction work and tax dollars used for it.
As far as Steven goes there insinuations and rumors that the 2017 motorcycle incident were under the same circumstances as the current arrest, but had a different outcome. It does seem like he has made a lot of enemies due to his actions and temperament. I think the HTH did the story because of the irony and someone tipped them off. I heard about the incident several days after and figured it would be swept under the rug.
There are many CDL drivers who would like to work for the county. Annual pay is $70,476 or $33.88 hourly plus around 56 days paid off. Not including overtime. So the county I assume would have a lot of applicants if they were to hire. The caveat is they are supposed to be training existing employees for CDL, but now it’s at a standstill so it will affect employees and the public if a timely solution is not implemented by this new administration.
[/quote]
RE: Keep his job, fire him, demote him, or promote him? - HiloJulie - 01-09-2025
I understand and appreciate what you're saying CountyWorker.
However, that being said, I do think that expecting the Mayor to be hands on involved in the day-to-day management of any department, including the hiring and firing of individual workers, is a bit too far of an expectation.
But then again, my expectation is that the Mayor has appointed competent people to fill those leadership roles, and it sounds to me that maybe the prior Mayor did not have a competent leader in that role and is really the core issue as you have explained.
Further, as I understand it, the new Mayor has appointed Wesley Segawa as the new director of Environmental Management. Hopefully he can wrestle this department and get it under control.
And to be clear, if he can't, or does not, then yes, it is the Mayor who has to (being this is Hawaii and even more so, Puna, I will insert SHOULD) be held accountable.
RE: Keep his job, fire him, demote him, or promote him? - leilanidude - 01-09-2025
FIRE HIM and the person who hired them, against state law to begin with.
What disqualifies you from getting a CDL in Hawaii?
CDL DISQUALIFYING OFFENSES. Driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, as prescribed by state law. Driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of a controlled substance. Driving a commercial motor vehicle while the person's blood alcohol concentration is 0.04% or more.
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CDL Disqualifiers
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More items listed in the link to the State website - it is a Word File.
His prior record of speeding is a dis-qualifier...