LIHU’E – In an interview in his Lihu’e Civic Center office yesterday, Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste reflected on his first year on the job.
In a candid interview, sitting comfortably in his leather chair armed with documents from all divisions of county government, the mayor came prepared, his first priorities outlining his work to curtail drug use on Kaua’i and enhance education on the island.
“One of the hardest things to do in government is to remain focused in what you should be doing rather than on what you need to do,” said the mayor. “I try to spend more time being proactive, rather than reactive.”
He added that trying to trying to fix problems before they occur is difficult, since problems that are presently in one’s face take a great deal of the time.
“My biggest accomplishment was done before I started,” the mayor said. “We started hiring a great team of people. Challenges are being met by quality individuals.”
“My job is just to set the course,” he said. “I am amazed at the quality of work they have achieved.”
When asked what his hardest challenge has been, Baptiste took a long time to think about the answer.
“The hardest thing is dealing with people’s wants, needs, and dreams with the limited resources and systems available,” he said. The limitations “make it so long to get things accomplished.”
“We have to go through certain procedures to get there,” the mayor added. “It’s tough.”
“I’m quite surprised on all the things we have accomplished. I’m not really satisfied kind of guy. I’m always thinking, ‘it’s taking too long.'”
“It’s been a million different things,” Baptiste said, sometimes small and below the surface, that have made an impact.
One thing, he said, was the staff parking has been moved away from the building, so that the customer parking is closer to the offices.
He is also very proud of his community Ka Leo O Kaua’i meetings, which are “responsive to the community’s day-to-day needs and longer-term as well.”
“We have made changes to a system that hadn’t changed in a long time,” said Baptiste, using the parks department as an example.
Each parks caretaker has a checklist to be accomplished. Each caretaker is checked on a bi-weekly basis, who is, in turn, checked on by a supervisor. The supervisors report directly to the mayor.
These accountability changes, he said, “have enhanced the quality of parks and restrooms.”
“All of things (accomplished) are not highly visible,” Baptiste added. “The things being worked on are not glamorous, but created efficiencies within government.”
Another example he used was the equipment maintenance plan. Instead of relying on emergency funds to fix or replace vehicles, equipment, and buildings, he has worked implementing a routine plan to replace and fix county equipment.
Taking TGI staff into his “war room,” he showed three walls full of columns of paper. Each blue piece of paper had a division, while white papers underneath listed specific goals or objectives for each department.
The “war room” is where all his division heads meet, every weekday morning at 8 a.m., to go over the work needed to be done on a given day.
“Every day, something new comes out.
“It gets people to focus on systemic changes” to accomplish, said the mayor about the walls of paper. “It keeps us focused on goal and objectives.”
He added that the goals, due by Thursday, Jan. 15, will be accompanied by a timeline to outline their scheduled progress.
“It keeps everybody accountable to themselves,” he stated.
As for whether he enjoys his job, Baptiste smiled. “The only true enjoyment you get in this position is later, when you get out and can reflect back: ‘Was it enjoyable, productive, did it make a difference?'”
“We’re productive,” he said. Now, “it’s not about enjoyment.”
Staff Writer Tom Finnegan may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or tfinnegan@pulitzer.net.
