Thursday, March 28, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Audit: Bulky Pickup Schemes Generate Millions in Overtime
By News Release @ 5:43 PM :: 5798 Views :: Honolulu County, Ethics, Labor

From Honolulu Auditor, August 11, 2017 (Highlights)

Improvements are needed to improve timely bulky item pickups, reduce complaints from residents, and reduce overtime costs.

Problems at the refuse collection yards related to excessive sick leave, staffing shortages, and union memoranda of agreements have resulted in untimely bulky item collections and excessive overtime. ENV also needs to increase its efforts to educate residents on bulky collection guidelines, expand their monitoring and enforcement of violations, improve staffing in the Refuse Inspection Section, and improve residents’ compliance with bulky collection rules.

Sick leave and LWOP are excessive.

From July 2015 to July 2016, 102 (of the 122) manual collection employees took 17,815 hours (2,227 days) of sick leave. The most sick leave taken by an employee was 928 hours (116 days). Between July 2015 and April 2017, 21 employees took over 3,900 hours of leave without pay (LWOP) due to insufficient leave balances. The most LWOP taken by an employee was 1,137 hours (142 days).

Overtime is excessive.

From July 2015 to July 2016, 153 employees received $1.7 million in overtime for bulky and white goods collection. The most overtime received by an employee during the period was $75,570.

Bulky full loads are not maximized.

From January 2016 to July 2016, the majority of bulky item loads collected by each collection yard were below six tons (Honolulu 61%, Kapaa 69%, Laie 54%, Pearl City 61%, Wahiawa 61%, and Waianae 53%). The Waialua collection yard (57%) was the only yard where the majority of the bulky item loads were six tons or more.

Crews are picking up non-bulky items.

O‘ahu residents are using the bulky item collection service to dispose of non-bulky refuse, as well as bulky refuse, and are not complying with bulky collection rules and guidelines. Refuse, recyclables, and green waste that should have been disposed of in the gray, blue and green carts were set out for bulky pickup. The only public education on refuse communicated to residents is done by the collection yard supervisors and refuse inspectors after a violation occurs.

Inadequate staffing for bulky collections and inspections.

The number of employees available for manual collection routes are insufficient to fully staff bulky item crews even if every scheduled manual employee reported to work on a given day. For example, because the Pearl City collection yard does not have enough drivers and collection employees to cover all of its manual routes on regular time, there are days when bulky items are not collected or collected on overtime. ENV’s refuse enforcement program has inadequate staffing to monitor the entire island. Inspectors are constantly addressing complaints, and have neither the time nor resources to monitor the entire island and respond to violations. Although the collection yards and refuse inspection section have inadequate staffing, vacant positions are not filled.

Types and Number of Bulky Item Collection Calls Received by CSD from Residents

  • Improper placement of bulky items 137
  • Missed or late bulky pickup 115
  • Off schedule set out of bulky items 38
  • Info request, reminders & other 26

We made recommendations to improve timely bulky item pickups, reduce complaints from residents, and reduce overtime costs. We also looked at how other cities with bulky item collection services compared with Honolulu (Appendix A).

PDF: Read Full Audit Report

PDF: Highlights  

Big Q: What do you think of the city’s bulky-item pickup program?

SA: Switch to Call-in System

SA: Bulky-trash program is a mess, audit finds

KITV: 10 employees with the highest sick leave took 746 sick days

CB: Audit: Some Honolulu Garbage Workers Take Excessive Sick Leave, OT

Related: Hospital Crisis: How to Use Union Work Rules for Fun and Profit

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

808 Silent Majority

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federalist Society

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Homeschool Association

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Smokers Alliance

Hawaii State Data Lab

Hawaii Together

HIEC.Coop

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Moms for Liberty

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

Investigative Project on Terrorism

July 4 in Hawaii

Kakaako Cares

Keep Hawaii's Heroes

Land and Power in Hawaii

Legislative Committee Analysis Tool

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

Malama Pregnancy Center of Maui

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Military Home Educators' Network Oahu

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Christian Foundation Hawaii

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

No GMO Means No Aloha

Not Dead Yet, Hawaii

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Oahu Alternative Transport

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

OurFutureHawaii.com

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

PEACE Hawaii

People vs Machine

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

P.U.E.O.

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

ReRoute the Rail

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

Robotics Organizing Committee

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Sink the Jones Act

Statehood for Guam

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

UCC Truths

US Tax Foundation Hawaii Info

VAREP Honolulu

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii

Yes2TMT