HART board calls for more financial information on Honolulu rail

Just three weeks after the opening of the first segment of Skyline, the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board is pressing its executive director for more financial information on ongoing construction of the city’s rail project and questioning why the board was not fully made aware of a $99.1 million lawsuit filed earlier this month by a contractor.

On Thursday, following a roughly minute-long “executive director’s update” from HART Executive Director and CEO Lori Kahikina focused on the June 30 public opening of Skyline, board member Michele Chun Brunn­graber said she wanted more information presented in upcoming agendas than what’s been previously provided to the 12-person panel.

“Your updates are becoming very short,” said Brunngraber, a retired CIA employee with a background in acquisition and procurement.

Calling the reports to the board “cursory,” Brunngraber said she missed “staff being able to brief” the board on things going on, and “actually reviewing cost and finance and schedule and performance” matters related to rail construction.

“I think we really need to add that,” she said. “I think we really need to add reviewing cost, schedule and performance.”

To that, Kahikina asked, “Do you want that in my executive update?”

Brunngraber said she’d like to receive that information during full board meetings.

“I do notice that we’re missing those pieces,” she said, and added, “We’re not getting any other updates … We’re not getting updates from the staffers. … We’re getting things like ‘We need money.’”

Moreover, Brunngraber said “the people of Hawaii” should hear more information that is not being made readily available — even to board members.

Later, board Chair Colleen Hanabusa said the board’s subcommittees often delved more deeply into rail-related subjects, then made their recommendations known to the full panel for a potential future vote.

Still, Hanabusa expressed her own frustrations with HART staffers over a different matter: lawsuits against HART.

Hanabusa recounted hearing from a media report — not from HART staff — about a lawsuit filed against the rail agency by one of its own contractors.

On July 6, Shimmick/Traylor/Granite JV, a California- and Indiana-based joint venture involving Shimmick Construction Co., Traylor Bros Inc. and Granite Construction Inc., filed the suit in state Circuit Court. The contractor, also known as STG, is building the second segment of Honolulu’s rail line — a 5.2-mile route from Aloha Stadium to Middle Street — but sued the rail agency for over $99.1 million in alleged unpaid extra time and work.

STG claims HART failed to compensate the joint venture for delays stemming from a prematurely issued contract and problems with utility relocation work that were beyond the company’s control and held up its work building the route, which runs past the airport.

On Thursday the HART board heard a basic overview of the STG lawsuit, then entered into executive session to hear privileged, nonpublic information about this active litigation.

“My thing was on STG,” Hanabusa, a lawyer, said prior to entering executive session. “And this is directed at Lori and me; I understand when we say there may be claims … but that’s very different when we have a lawsuit filed.”

She added, “I don’t remember anybody saying that in the past couple of months that we had a lawsuit threatened or that a lawsuit was going to be filed. Because (as a board) it ultimately comes to us.”

Hanabusa said the board’s responsibility would be to “authorize whether an attorney is hired, for example.”

“So, if something like this is going to happen, you have to make it very clear,” Hanabusa added. “What I don’t like is the sense that you guys are playing semantics with us — there’s a difference between a lawsuit and a claim.” She added, “These are the things that, as a board, we’ve got to know” to operate effectively.

“And we don’t get slapped, and finding out in the media that all of a sudden we’ve gotten sued,” said Hanabusa. “And for a huge amount of money.”

Hanabusa added that she’d never heard about the potential for an STG lawsuit from HART’s legal representatives, either, the city’s Department of Corporation Counsel.

In response, Kahikina said HART had known about a possible lawsuit from STG for a while but was not fully aware of the company’s potential timeline to file its legal action.

“They’ve been threatening for years,” Kahikina said.

Meanwhile, Hanabusa would agree with Brunngraber over having more detailed financial reports and similar information provided to the board. She added that HART staffers could coordinate more information into the board’s regular agendas.

In related business, the HART board of directors saw the addition of a new member to its ranks.

Edwin Young, a former City and County of Honolulu auditor who retired in 2019, was sworn in Thursday morning as the ninth voting member of the panel.

Young replaces outgoing board member Mark Howland — a biologist, soil scientist and hydrologist, with rail construction experienced gleaned on the East Coast — who’s served on the board since 2021. His term expired June 30.

In addition, following separate unanimous votes over the board’s leadership for the 2024 fiscal year, which began July 1, Hanabusa will remain the panel’s chair. Kika Buko­ski, a former state representative who’s worked for the building and construction unions, will continue as the board’s vice chair.

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Honolulu Star-Advertiser staff writer Andrew Gomes contributed to this report.