HONOLULU — Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation CEO Lori Kahikina’s future contract agreement to continue leading the nearly $10 billion Skyline project must first undergo an investigation.
During a special HART board of directors meeting Thursday, the panel voted to establish a permitted interaction group, or PIG, to investigate Kahikina’s next work agreement with the city’s rail agency.
Named HART’s permanent CEO in 2022, Kahikina’s annual $275,000 contract is set to expire Dec. 31.
Following months of delays and internal debate, HART’s board voted June 28 to provisionally grant Kahikina a new multiyear contract, with a minimum of three years, subject to terms and conditions to be negotiated, including her future salary. Kahikina’s next contract, if adopted, would start Jan. 1.
At the same meeting, HART board Chair Colleen Hanabusa indicated — but did not fully explain — that she plans to step down as leader of the nine-member board of directors, pending a deferred annual board leadership election that’s expected to be held later this year.
Tension between Hanabusa and Kahikina became public after the two had a contentious exchange during an April board meeting.
On Thursday, Hanabusa — appearing virtually at the special meeting, which listed only one agenda item — chose five board members to be part of the PIG: Michele Chun Brunngraber, who will chair the subcommittee; Anthony Aalto, its vice chair; Roger Morton; Arthur Tolentino; and Kika Bukoski.
“The PIG’s scope is to investigate the executive director and CEO’s employment agreement,” Hanabusa said before the vote. “It is going to be the duty of the PIG to negotiate the terms of the contract with Lori and her attorney.”
She noted “it is anticipated … that this will be a multiyear contract, with terms, or benchmarks, or whatever all of you on the PIG agree to as well as with Lori’s attorney, and we’re hoping that we’ll be able to get to some agreement very shortly.”
The future contract agreement was to be completed by the end of August, according to Hanabusa.
As far as discussing Kahikina’s contract negotiations in public, Daniel Gluck, a city deputy corporation counsel who advises the HART board, said, “We had discussions with Lori’s attorney, and we also had interactions with the (state) Office of Information Practices.”
According to OIP, he said, “The only way that (the discussions) wouldn’t be in open session would be through a PIG.”
“And obviously, the board is committed to transparency and openness, but I also know that there was a concern just with logistics, and being able to have sort of a back-and-forth discussion in that way,” Gluck said. “And so we’re able to accommodate Lori’s desire to have a more private session, and also the efficiency of getting the job done.”
After the meeting, HART board Executive Officer Cindy Matsushita told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser the permitted interaction group will conduct “Kahikina’s contract negotiations in private.”
“The meetings have yet to be scheduled but are anticipated to begin soon,” she added. “The PIG will report to the board in open session at the conclusion of its work.”
In related business Thursday, the HART board’s human resources committee voted to extend its search by a week — to July 19 — to find applicants willing to fill a now-vacant seat for its ninth voting board member position, which expires June 30, 2028.
On June 28 the board accepted and approved the resignation of Edwin Young due to undisclosed health reasons, according to Hanabusa.
Sworn in on July 20, Young, a former City and County of Honolulu auditor, replaced Mark Howland, who’d served on the panel since 2021.
Before the vote Thursday, Matsushita said the vacancy was scheduled to close the next day.
“And so far we’ve received one application,” she told the committee. “There was some suggestion that perhaps if we didn’t get enough applications that we might want to extend that application period.”
Matsushita noted that the HART board previously established a PIG “that would basically kick in, in the event that we had more than three candidates, and do some preliminary screening and kick up the three finalists to the full board for their consideration.”
Board member Morton said, “At least three applicants would be nice, so that we would continue to have the ability to select from a diverse pool of applicants.”
“I note that we have … four females on the board right now, but we don’t have a really good gender balance on the board,” he said of a board that’s predominately male. “I would definitely be in favor of extending it for one week, but I think it will be a useless extension unless board members and others really try to provide a better circulation of the information.”
“And I know how hard it is to get people to want to be on this board,” Morton added. “I’ve had many people that have said, ‘Thank you very much, no way that we’re interested.’ I know how hard that can be. But still, I think that extending it for a week and then having the board at least circulate it within the professional circles that they’re in would be worthwhile.”
According to Matsushita, the HR committee could provide an update on the search for a ninth voting member at the full board’s July 26 meeting.
The HART board consists of 10 members, six of which have voting powers to establish policies pertaining to the construction of the city’s rail system, the agency indicates.
