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Council questions IT vacancies, unspent positions and homeland-security camera funding
Summary
Council members pushed the administration for details on IT vacancies and unspent FY24 IT appropriations and received an outline of recruitment strategies and a description of a homeland-security trailer camera system funded by federal grants.
Councilmembers asked detailed questions about IT staffing vacancies, budgeted positions that were not filled, and investments in camera systems funded through homeland-security grants.
Member Paulin told the committee he calculated a nearly $4 million difference between FY24 adopted IT budget and actual spending, and he questioned why so much money for vacant positions was budgeted when vacancies remain high. "I calculated from fiscal year 24 adopted versus actual for the ITSD department. It's nearly a $4,000,000 difference," Paulin said, pressing staff for a rationale.
Managing Director Josiah Nishita acknowledged the vacancy and recruitment challenges and described efforts to recruit at lower salary bands and to augment staff with contracted services while the county modernizes systems. He said the county is pursuing modernization projects "so part of the upgrade process ... that's what people are interested in. That's what people wanna be doing." He also described that short-term incentives (moving expenses, limited incentives) have been used in individual recruitment cases and that broader retention strategies are under consideration.
Committee members raised recruitment-and-retention incentives and the possibility of targeted recruitment programs with the Department of Personnel Services. Council members said they supported exploring retention incentives because the IT workforce is critical across all county departments.
CCTV, homeland-security trailer and AI tools Committee members also asked about a CCTV trailer system funded from a Homeland Security grant described in the Management program budget. Staff said the unit is a trailer-mounted camera array used to protect county assets and public safety at sites such as base yards and to detect smoke or unusual activity. Management said one previous community deployment in Lahaina responded to community requests and that signage and public announcements accompanied the deployment.
Why this matters IT modernization and staffing affect all county services. Unfilled positions lead to contracted work and can leave projects unfinished; camera and detection systems funded by grant dollars are one of the administration's tools for protecting infrastructure.
Ending Council members asked staff to return with more detailed recruitment timelines, the rationale for unspent operating accounts in FY24, and further options for recruitment and retention incentives.
