Expert hired to gauge ‘big picture’ of rail

A newly hired consultant is expected to bring “a fresh set of eyes” to evaluate the city’s $6 billion rail project, the largest and most expensive public works project ever undertaken in Hawaii, Mayor Kirk Caldwell said Wednesday.

Michael Burns has spent more than four decades in the transit business, both in the public and private sectors, working on projects in Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco and Santa Clara, Calif. Burns has also sat on several transit boards and is currently an independent contractor based out of San Francisco.

His job, which will pay up to $95,000 based on an hourly schedule, is to review and evaluate the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation’s 20-mile project from a “big picture” policy standpoint, Caldwell said. Burns’ contract is being paid out of the city Department of Transportation Services budget.

Burns will report not just to his administration and the City Council, but the governor, Legislature and the public, Caldwell said. Among his duties will be to present quarterly updates and an annual report on the project that will be available publicly, the mayor said.

“Are we on target, are we doing everything possible that we need to do to make sure that things are being done properly?” Caldwell said. “Can we do things better?”

Transportation Services Director Michael Formby said Burns can be objective because he is not being paid by HART or the Federal Transit Administration.

“He’ll bring a fresh set of eyes that has no conflict of interest,” Formby said.

The new hire described his role as “a collaborative, cooperative effort with HART, with the HART staff, with the city, and really all of the stakeholders. … The objective is to try to make this project the best that it can be.”

While the job title is “transit management oversight consultant” and the administration’s official news release described his role as to “assist the city with oversight” of the rail project, Burns said, “I’m not coming in as an oversight.” He said he viewed his role more as a peer reviewer who will ensure best practices are being used.

Caldwell said Burns’ position was established largely because “people wanted to see greater transparency, more information being given to the public, to the media.”

He added, “I’m this close, and I live and breathe it every single day. We talked about finding an expert, someone who’s actually built projects, massive infrastructure projects for rail, who’s served on transit boards, who knows all the issues.”

The provider of the rail cars on the San Francisco project was AnsaldoBreda, which is one of the partners in Ansaldo Hawaii, the joint venture providing the cars for the Honolulu project.

Dan Grabauskas, HART executive director, said in a written statement,“We welcome the input and we look forward to working with Mr. Burns.”

City Council Chairman Ernie Martin said he’s hopeful Burns will be able to offer concrete recommendations for the project that will make it more efficient. He said Burns’ position should have been put in place three years ago when the project was in its infancy.

“Perhaps we wouldn’t be here today talking about a $900 million deficit,” Martin said.

The Council has itself earmarked $150,000 in this year’s legislative budget to analyze and review the transit project. Martin said he does not see any overlap with Burns’ role. The money set aside by the Council is for a forensic audit of the project “from the groundbreaking to what we have now,” he said, adding, “What mistakes were made, was there anything that was preventable? Are there expenditures were not necessary?”

That contract could be with either an individual or a company, Martin said. The city auditor’s office, by charter, cannot conduct forensic audits, he said.