The head of the city’s rail project was rated as meeting or exceeding expectations in her annual performance evaluation but rejected a $25,000 performance bonus.
Some board members of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation — including some who voted in committee to approve the bonus — reluctantly voted Thursday against the bonus for Lori Kahikina, HART’s CEO and executive director, after Kahikina said she would not accept it.
Anthony Aalto voted in favor of the bonus as a member of the board’s Human Resources Committee but later told Kahikina that he would vote against it when the full board met Thursday.
“She said, ‘Good, because I’m going to reject it anyway,’” Aalto said.
Aalto suggested that his contradictory votes reflected his praise for Kahikina’s performance and, also, “because the project’s woefully over budget. We can’t afford it. We have to save every penny. … Of course, the public is entitled to be skeptical. We sometimes look like the Keystone Cops.”
Aalto praised both Kahikina and board Chair Colleen Hanabusa.
He said the project
“15 months ago … was mired in disaster. There were calls even from within this board to halt the project at Keehi Lagoon. Today we’re looking at a situation where it appears that the FTA (Federal Transit Administration) may be willing to release the three-quarter of a billion dollars that they owe us. Today what we’re talking about is how we complete the last 6,500 feet to Ala Moana.”
HART’s Human Resources Committee rated Kahikina in four categories on a scale
of 1 to 5, and Kahikina was rated no lower than 3.5, board member Lynn McCrory reported to the board.
“So Lori in all categories was between meeting the
required expectations and exceeding the required expectations and objectives,” McCrory said.
The board went into executive session to discuss how to separate the questions of whether to accept the HR Committee’s evaluation that also supported Kahikina’s bonus.
Board member Natalie Iwasa, who continues to reject signing a new confidentiality agreement, again noted that she would not be allowed to join the executive session.
Iwasa is one of four members appointed by either Senate President Ron Kouchi or House Speaker Scott Saiki who have been directed to sign confidentiality agreements.
The state attorney general has issued an opinion that the HART board has no legal authority to require legislative appointees to sign confidentiality agreements.
Corporation Counsel Dana M.O. Viola wrote to Saiki in January that “there is a difference of opinion” between her office and the Department of the Attorney General.
Before she was excluded from Thursday’s executive session, Iwasa told Hanabusa, “Just noting for the
record the difference in opinion between the AG’s office and Corporation Counsel and that since I haven’t signed the confidentiality agreement I understand I will not be allowed in the
executive session.”
Kahikina’s positive evaluation and decision to turn down an extra $25,000 gave board members an opportunity to note the changes in the project during her tenure, which began as interim CEO and executive director before she was appointed to the permanent job in January 2021.
The original plan was to build a 20.2-mile, 21-station route from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center at a cost of $11.1 billion with a
$1.3 billion deficit but no obvious source of money
to plug the budget gap.
The latest idea, unveiled this month, would create
a truncated 18.75-mile, 19-station system costing $9.8 billion to build.
When he joined the board 18 months ago, Kika Bukoski said that HART “appeared to be a very hostile environment.”
Roger Morton, who is both a board member and director of the city Department of Transportation Services, which will run the rail system, praised “the work that Lori has done in turning around this project from one of great uncertainty to a solid path forward.”
Morton complimented Kahikina “for her decision to not take a bonus.”
Board member Jade Butay, director of the state Department of Transportation, said, “I just want to express my appreciation for Lori’s decision not to seek a performance bonus. … I think it’s a strong leadership move. Keep doing what you’re doing.”
