Board of Regents members told an advisory task group conducting a study of accountability in the University of Hawaii system that there may be a disconnect between their role and the public’s perception of that role, but that they understand they have to improve efforts to be more transparent.

The interviews were conducted in March, and the task group will next sit down with the Governor’s Office and key legislators.

Lawrence Rodriguez, chairman of the Board of Regents task group, said BOR members felt the public misunderstood their duties as a board that formulates policy and oversees the university’s president.

He also said members are looking to "enhance their transparency."

"It’s not something new to them, but it’s something that they understand they need to place higher levels of concentration on … to continue to build a trust with their constituents," Rodriguez said.

The advisory task group, made up of BOR members and members of the public, is studying a host of operational concerns at the university, many of which were raised in the wake of last year’s Stevie Wonder concert debacle. The event was to be a benefit for the cash-strapped athletic department but ended up costing the school more than $200,000 in an alleged scam.

The advisory group was first convened to examine the botched concert.

This second phase of work will cost the university up to $260,000, which will go to consultant KMH LLP, hired to assist the task group with compiling and analyzing data.

Rodriguez said the task group, which convened in February, plans to wrap up its work by June and provide a final report with recommendations based on its findings and on "leading practices" at other institutions. Along the way it will be giving the Board of Regents interim reports on what it’s doing.

In their first major effort, task group members interviewed UH’s 14 Board of Regents members separately, asking each of them 20 standardized questions, including "What can be improved in order to increase effectiveness of the board?" and "What has been your involvement with the strategic planning process?"

The Board of Regents — along with UH President M.R.C. Greenwood — was sharply criticized by legislators and members of the public over its handling of the failed concert and its fallout, and there continues to be plenty of skepticism over whether the university has turned over a new leaf.

Last week, at confirmation hearings for three Board of Regents members, state senators expressed frustration over financial decision-making at the university and a lack of communication with lawmakers.

Senate President Donna Mercado Kim also questioned why the university needed to pay KMH LLP $260,000 to assist in the second phase of the task group’s audit.

"Before you spend $260,000 that comes out of the student tuition … shouldn’t we be questioning the expenditure and whether or not we need to have it?" Kim said.

The Wonder debacle began in July when then-athletic director Jim Dono­­van announced the benefit concert would not happen because the pop star and his representative had not authorized the event.

The task group’s first audit found that while UH officials had good intentions in trying to put together a benefit concert for athletics, they used poor judgment, which led to the university’s loss of $200,000 in the alleged scam.