County Human Resources Director Sharon Toriano resigned suddenly Wednesday, following a critical audit that showed “questionable hiring practices,” and a newspaper article Monday indicating preferential treatment of job applicants through her use of sticky notes on official hiring documents.
Toriano will be on paid sick leave in her $99,000 annual position until her resignation becomes effective Dec. 31. She was appointed director in September 2013 after several years as deputy director and a stint as HR director at Kona Community Hospital.
Toriano declined comment after announcing her resignation to the Merit Appeals Board, which had on its agenda the audit as well as her annual performance evaluation.
Chairwoman Julie Tulang said afterward she was “surprised” by Toriano’s resignation.
“She’s a professional,” Tulang said. “I’m sure she did a thorough deliberation before she made her decision.”
A special meeting is planned for Oct. 18 to consider how to best recruit a replacement. In the meantime, Deputy Director Bill Brilhante will serve as acting director.
“I feel like I was standing in line and everybody took a step back and here I am alone,” Brilhante quipped to the board.
The board deferred a discussion on the audit until Jan. 10.
The Sept. 7 audit report, by Legislative Auditor Bonnie Nims, found numerous problems in how the county selected applicants to be interviewed and how candidates were assessed. Employees who were concerned about the processes kept quiet because they feared retaliation, the audit said.
The audit said the creation of a Staffing Review Committee during former Mayor Billy Kenoi’s administration, with the power to overrule departments’ hiring choices, contributed to “questionable hiring practices” and “inappropriate involvement” in a hiring agency’s choice of qualified candidates.
“The county’s hiring practices did not ensure equitable, uniform and transparent selection of candidates which may have resulted in non-compliance with applicable laws, rules, regulations and county policies and procedures,” the audit states.
The committee was dismantled by Mayor Harry Kim in December, shortly after he took office.
Of the 404 civil service positions filled in 2016, auditors reviewed 46 and found 42 contained questionable hiring practices.
It found cases in some departments where applicants were offered positions before interviews were conducted; where no references were checked; where the number of interviews were the same as vacancies even though there was a large referred list; where a random number generator, instead of a skills test, was used to winnow applicants; where applications with mainland addresses were discarded; and other questionable practices.
Big Island newspapers, in an investigation reported Monday, expanded on the audit’s findings by revealing the use of sticky notes and the acronym “POI” to designate a “person of interest,” who was selected even before recruitment was conducted for positions.
Toriano acknowledged to the newspapers that she used that designation, but said it was only in special cases, such as when an existing employee needed to be transferred because of workplace issues.
Kim said after the Merit Appeals Board meeting Wednesday that he spoke with Tulang and County Council Chairwoman Valerie Poindexter, telling them it is important to restore public confidence in county hiring practices. He said he didn’t ask for Toriano’s resignation.
“My goal is to resolve this as best we can without creating an atmosphere of a circus,” Kim said.
Kim, who has some supervisory authority over the Human Resources director but no power to hire or fire, said in testimony to the board that he met early in his tenure with his administrators and Human Resources personnel, making it clear that proper procedures must be followed. He called it a “high priority” to restore trust in the process.
The only other testifier about the audit was Robert Gomes, who’s currently on workers’ compensation leave after almost 20 years working in the Department of Public Works. A former night shift street cleaning supervisor, he filed a lawsuit against the county on problems he encountered in the workplace.
Gomes cautioned the board about the “trickling effect” of government decisions.
“When they do things, it affects everyone right down to the littlest guy,” Gomes said. “Sometimes you just have to swallow that square pill … We all know each other. Sometimes that gets in the way of the ability to provide for the taxpayers.”
Approximately 2,600 of the county’s 190,000 people work for county government, accounting for well more than half the county budget.
Email Nancy Cook Lauer at ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com.
