Former Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa said Tuesday she will turn down a controversial $924,000 consulting contract with the city’s rail project and will instead serve as a volunteer board member.
Her decision comes after the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation was criticized for hiring her at a time when other consultants and staffers were being cut, the project has a $3.5 billion shortfall, is more than a decade behind schedule and might not reach its final destination of Ala Moana Center.
“I will do whatever is necessary as a board member to do my part in seeing that the project goes through,” Hanabusa said at a news conference. “We cannot lose sight of where we’re all headed, and that is to get this project finished and get the people feeling like we didn’t waste their money.”
The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation contract Hanabusa declined was worth $216,000 for the first 18 months, with a 7.7% increase in year two and a second increase of 7.1% in the final year for a total of $924,000 over six years.
Honolulu’s 20-mile elevated rail system was originally supposed to cost
$5.2 billion, be finished by 2019 and run from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center. The cost estimate is now $12.5 billion, and several officials are proposing it stop at Middle Street.
Hanabusa’s consulting job was to serve as a liaison to city, state and federal government entities.
Hanabusa was the only applicant for the job. Critics said the contract was drawn up to make it hard for anyone but Hanabusa to meet the qualifications, which included a law degree, a minimum 20 years of practice, at least 10 years at the city and/or state level and at least five years at the federal level.
Mayor Rick Blangiardi appointed Hanabusa to the HART board and announced it at the Tuesday news conference.
“I was grateful that Colleen understood where I was coming from, recognized her abilities, and she agreed,” he said. “She’s going to bring exactly what we need and the challenges we face on a going-forward basis.”
Hanabusa will replace Glenn Nohara on the board; his term ends June 30. HART board members do not receive monetary compensation for their positions.
This will be Hanabusa’s second time on the HART board. She served from June 2015 to October 2016 and was chairwoman from May to October 2016.
Interim HART Executive Director Lori Kahikina said she was encouraged by Hanabusa’s appointment.
“On behalf of HART, I would like to extend a warm welcome to former Congresswoman and HART board member Colleen Hanabusa on her return to the HART board,” she said.
“Colleen brings to the board a unique set of skills, institutional knowledge, as well as experience with both local and federal government.”
The HART board has 14 members, but only nine can cast votes, including Hanabusa as the mayoral appointee.
The HART contract offered to Hanabusa drew criticism over HART’s spending priorities, as it just had let go of an unspecified number of consultants and 48 of the 112 HART staff in an attempt to cut costs.
Another criticism over the contract was accusations that the criteria specified in the request for proposals was specifically tailored to fit Hanabusa’s qualifications.
Hanabusa pushed back against those assertions and listed former Councilman Ernie Martin as someone who may have also fit the criteria.
“And I’m sure that though they have these qualifications, it was still all negotiable,” she said.
“I’ve always been concerned that anything that I do with HART or with government will be defined as something about me, and that cannot be the case.”
Blangiardi emphasized that Hanabusa’s appointment to the board was not a means to evade criticism over her consulting contract from HART.
“The truth of the matter is I had nothing to do with that contract,” he said.
“In this true spirit of being a public servant, she’s forgoing compensation for a volunteer position, all for the greater good. I think that speaks to Colleen’s long history of serving the state.”
During a City Council budget hearing Tuesday, Board Chairman Toby Martyn said HART would not look for another person to fill the consulting position Hanabusa declined.
The rail project faces a budget shortfall of $3.5 billion, and officials have not yet found a way to produce the funds. Two Council members, Heidi Tsuneyoshi and Augie Tulba, have called for the project to pause at Middle Street.
However, Blangiardi and Hanabusa were both adamant that the project would continue past Middle Street, and will work with the Federal Transit Authority to explore options for the rail route and funding. If the city wanted to adjust the route of the rail, it would require an amendment to the Full-Funding Grant Agreement between the city and the FTA over the $1.55 billion in federal funds for the project, of which HART has already received $806 million.
HART officials and Blangiardi are expected to talk to FTA officials in July or August about the federal funding.
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Dan Nakaso contributed
to this report.
