Office of the Ombudsman
State of Hawaii
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Office of the Ombudsman
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REPORT of the OMBUDSMAN
For
the Period July 1, 2000 - June 30, 2001
Presented
to the Legislature December 2001
TABLE OF CONTENTS
United States Ombudsman Association
1. Numbers and Types of Inquiries
2. Means by Which Inquiries Are Received
3. Distribution of Population and Inquirers by Residence
4. Distribution of Types of Inquiries by
Residence of Inquirers
5. Means of Receipt
of Inquiries by Residence
6. Distribution and Disposition of Jurisdictional Complaints by Agency
7. Distribution and Disposition of Substantiated Jurisdictional Complaints
by Agency
8. Distribution of Information Requests
9. Distribution of Non-Jurisdictional Complaints LETTER
OF TRANSMITTAL Mr. President,
Mr. Speaker, and Members of the
In accordance with Section 96-16, Hawaii Revised Statutes, I am pleased
to submit the report of the Office of the Ombudsman for fiscal year 2000-2001.
This is the thirty-second annual report since the establishment of the
office in 1969.
During the past year, we have increased our efforts to improve the
public’s awareness of the Office of the Ombudsman and of our role as a link
between the people and their government. We
remain steadfast in our commitment to improve the level of public administration
in Hawaii through the independent and impartial investigation of citizen
complaints.
I would like to thank the Governor, the Mayors of the various counties,
and the State and County department heads and employees for their ongoing
cooperation and assistance in our efforts to resolve citizen complaints and
concerns.
I would also like to convey my personal appreciation to First Assistant
Donna Woo and the other professional and support staff members of the Office of
the Ombudsman for their continued commitment and dedication to the office and
its mission. Respectfully
submitted, ROBIN
K. MATSUNAGA December
2001
Chapter I THE YEAR IN BRIEF
The
Office Workload
During fiscal year 2000-2001, the office received a total of 5,880
inquiries. Of these inquiries
4,134, approximately 70 percent, may be classified as complaints within the
jurisdiction of the office. The
remaining inquiries consisted of 1,229 requests for information and 517 non-jurisdictional
complaints.
The 5,880 inquiries received during fiscal year 2000-2001 represent a
slight increase from the 5,796 inquiries received the previous fiscal year.
However, the number of complaints in fiscal year 2000-2001 decreased
slightly. A comparison of inquiries received between the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 fiscal years is presented in the accompanying table. TWO-YEAR CASELOAD COMPARISON
Staff
Changes
In December 2000, two new members joined our staff.
Mark Au, former Deputy Corporation Counsel, Family Support Division, City
and County of Honolulu, joined our staff as an analyst.
Mr. Au brings with him vast knowledge of the child support enforcement
system which has been of great benefit to the office in our handling of
complaints against the Child Support Enforcement Agency.
We also welcomed Sheila Alderman to our office.
Before joining us, Ms. Alderman was the receptionist at Central Union
Church where she also coordinated and maintained its busy calendar of events.
We extend our warmest welcome to Mr. Au and Ms. Alderman.
At the close of the fiscal year, our office consisted of Ombudsman Robin
Matsunaga, First Assistant Donna Woo, analysts Herbert Almeida, Mark Au, Gillman
Chu, Alfred Itamura, Glenn Mirikidani, Lynn Oshiro and David Tomatani, and
office staff Sheila Alderman, Edna de la Cruz, Debbie Goya, Sue Oshima and Linda
Teruya. Outreach
Efforts
In the past, the most common forms of outreach
our office engaged in were quarterly
or bimonthly advertisements in various statewide and local newspapers and
occasional speaking engagements before various schools and community
organizations. This year, we
expanded our outreach efforts to several new areas.
With the assistance of the State Senate computer staff, we created a Web
site for the office. This Web site
provides information about the office, our annual report, and links to Hawaii
government Web sites and the Web sites of other ombudsman offices and ombudsman
organizations. Our Web address is
<www.ombudsman.state.hi.us>.
We also developed an educational exhibit booth
for display at public venues, including local trade shows and exhibitions.
In June 2001, our exhibit booth made its debut at the Annual Home and
Garden Show held at the Neal Blaisdell Center.
Over the four days of the show, we handed out hundreds of informational
brochures and fielded countless questions about our functions and duties.
We believe that participation in this type of forum will introduce more
of the public to the services we offer.
In addition, in order to increase accessibility
to our office, in January 2001 a Text
Teletype (TTY) unit was installed to enable communication by telephone with
hearing/speech impaired persons. With
this device, we hope to extend our services to those who find difficulty in
using conventional means of communication. United
States Ombudsman Association
This office continues to play an active role in the United States
Ombudsman Association (USOA). Ombudsman
Robin Matsunaga has been elected to a second two-year term on the USOA Board of
Directors, and currently serves as president of the organization.
Under his presidency, Mr. Matsunaga has pledged to advance the purposes
of the organization, which are to improve the operation of Ombudsman offices
throughout the United States and to promote and encourage the establishment of
Ombudsman offices at the international, national, state, and local levels.
Chapter II STATISTICAL TABLES TABLE 1 NUMBERS AND TYPES OF INQUIRIES Fiscal Year 2000-2001
TABLE 2 MEANS BY WHICH INQUIRIES ARE RECEIVED Fiscal Year 2000-2001
TABLE 3 DISTRIBUTION
OF POPULATION AND Fiscal Year 2000-2001
*Source:
The State of Hawaii Data Book 2000, A Statistical TABLE 4 DISTRIBUTION
OF TYPES OF INQUIRIES Fiscal Year 2000-2001
TABLE 5
MEANS OF RECEIPT AND TYPES OF INQUIRIES Fiscal Year 2000-2001
TABLE 6 DISTRIBUTION
AND DISPOSITION OF Fiscal Year 2000-2001
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