Bill would apply city ethics policies to transportation workers

The Honolulu City Council will consider today whether the top nonprofit employees overseeing the city’s TheBus and TheHandi-Van services should be subject to the same ethics training, ethics policies and civil penalties as city employees.

Councilman Joey Mana­han said he introduced the proposal a couple of weeks ago as Bill 32 after he confirmed the nonprofit firm Oahu Transit Services’ contract with the city would not go out for competitive bid this year, as proposed earlier by his colleague on the Council, Ann Koba­ya­shi.

OTS has run TheBus and TheHandi-Van since 1991, and city leaders say OTS inhabits a gray area between being a city entity and independent contractor — describing the firm’s relationship to the city as "complex" and "convoluted." Mana­han’s proposal, if approved, would seemingly give more weight toward OTS falling under the city — even though most OTS employees remain Teamsters and none are members of the 13 state-recognized pubic employee unions.

"They’re the only board within the city and county that doesn’t need to conform to ethics or sunshine laws. The question came up and I was wondering why," Mana­han said Tuesday of OTS’ seven-member board. "Are they part of the city’s operations? If so, do they need" to conform to the city’s ethics policies? he added.

The City Charter establishes a code of conduct for all employees that prohibits conflicts of interest and requires disclosure of potential conflicts in advance. City employees also face civil penalties if they are found by the city Ethics Commission to have violated those standards.

OTS President and General Manager Roger Morton said Mana­han’s bill would affect about 115 non-Teamster OTS employees as well as the board but that the proposal seemed fair overall. "We don’t mind that," said Morton, who’s also an OTS board member. He added that he has always considered the firm to be more of a city entity than a private business.

OTS and its 1,850 employees oversee some $224 million in annual bus and Handi-Van services for the city. However, the city covers those costs. OTS’ contract is for $448,000, which Morton said is a "management fee" that covers the salaries and benefits for him and a top deputy, as well as board trips and expenses and company holiday parties.

OTS board members attend at least four regular meetings each year and receive a $50 stipend per meeting, Morton said. They also receive compensation for any board-related travel; there are usually no more than three board-member trips each year, not including his own as OTS president, Morton added.

The board is charged with running the city’s bus and van services as a business, but not with determining city transit policies. Mana­han said he was concerned OTS and the Hono­lulu Authority for Rapid Transit boards may have collaborated on city policy changes during a joint meeting in April in which they formed a joint committee to look at the best ways to combine bus and future rail service.

The City Council will look at Mana­han’s proposal during its meeting to consider approval of the city’s budget, starting 10 a.m. today at Hono­­lulu Hale. If approved, Bill 32 would still require several more Council hearings and two more readings.