I read the news today, oh boy

[JG-HPP]

Well I am perplexed by news stories the last 2 days.

Monday's Trib has an article about placing a camera on Keaau bypass road at Milo St. to monitor the traffic so people could choose to avoid the area if necessary. First, this isn't the place of the worst congestion, and second, won't this just encourage drivers to use their electronic devices while driving?

And today: County to Update HR rules:
"Individuals no longer will have to provide 'competent, efficient, loyal and ethical service to the public' to qualify for employment with Hawaii County." Wait....what???? Aren't these the exact qualities we want in municipal employees?

[Rob Tucker]

Apparently it is true, according to the Trib anyway.

http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/loc...d-hr-rules

The part I don't believe is:

"Toriano said she hasn’t met with labor union representatives about the rules changes."

[kalakoa]

About 57 percent of the county’s operating budget is devoted to their pay and benefits

[lavalava]

With a County like ours, who needs welfare?

[pahoated]

As usual, people went off on their opinions instead of reading the article. First thing, these are ->proposed<- changes. Second, this is because the department is being changed to Human Resources, needing more modern job descriptions. They just changed the wording around. Also, it adds a big change - background checks. The county being able to do background checks is going to have more effect than changing some words around.

"Mahalo nui Pele, 'ae noho ia moku 'aina" - kakahiaka oli

[leilanidude]

Maybe the County should do background checks on existing employees...

[kalakoa]

That 57% figure was quoted from the article.

Now consider: this is the same County that can't figure out proper real estate valuation, even when the property tax record includes current sales data that's 2-3x higher than the current assessed value, and we're paying them for this service.

[Tom.Yost]

I've considered this and feel that under-valuation works in my favor.

In addition, it doesn't seem to be a fair way to judge all county employees when it is likely only a handful that perform this function.