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Office of Council Services seeks tuition aid, scanning staff and new analyst in FY26 request
Summary
OCS told the BFED committee April 16 it plans a voluntary education assistance pilot, an in-house scanning and archiving effort and one additional legislative analyst. Directors said the measures aim to reduce overtime, preserve institutional records and expand research capacity.
Office of Council Services officials told the BFED committee on April 16 that the OCS FY26 budget includes a pilot voluntary educational assistance program, a scanning-and-archiving appropriation and a request for an additional legislative analyst.
David Rotz, director of Office of Council Services, said the proposed Voluntary Educational Assistance Program — budgeted initially as a $100,000 pilot — is intended to help staff and executive assistants pursue tuition support for remote and hybrid degree programs. “We'd like to try this with the council’s approval to help our staff and also help council members executive assistants obtain tuition assistance for higher education,” Rotz said.
OCS also requested $100,000 to hire short-term part-time staff to digitize and upload thousands of boxes of legacy paper records to the council’s SharePoint system, after contracting proved inefficient. The office said a private contractor would have required shipping paper off-island; instead, the office wants to scan in-house to expedite availability and protect records.
The department seeks one additional full-time legislative analyst to meet rising workloads, Rotz said. OCS representatives told the committee the office is near full staffing but that caseloads and record management needs have increased.
Members asked about equity and transparency in how OCS compensation proposals intersect with county-wide pay issues. Rotz said the education pilot, scanning appropriation and analyst request are separate from compensation legislation but that the office would answer follow-up questions in writing.
Ending: Committee members requested written details on program design, eligibility criteria for tuition assistance, and deliverables for the scanning project. OCS staff agreed to provide those details to the committee in writing.
