It can start with a simple box of malasadas for the people at the front desk of the city Department of Planning and Permitting.

From there, according to several people who have had dealings with the agency, getting official approvals for completing a construction project can entail thousands of dollars in cash stuffed into plain envelopes or even sponsoring DPP employees in a golf tournament.

In the wake of federal charges brought against five city employees March 30, some builders and contractors say bribes are just part of doing business on Oahu.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office charged current and former building plan examiners, a data access and imaging employee, and a building inspector with soliciting thousands of dollars to move building permits through the city approval process. An architect also was charged.

The federal prosecution gives weight to decades-long rumors about corruption in a city department that holds the key to everything from small renovations at mom-and-pop businesses to major development projects.

One Oahu contractor told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the culture of bribery in DPP is “systemic.” He did not want to be identified for fear of retaliation by the department and concern about exposure to possible criminal charges.

“It starts really small: Somebody takes in the box of malasadas and you’ll hear, ‘Oh these are for you guys.’ … It helps. It’s expected,” he said.

Colin Moore, director of the University of Hawaii Public Policy Center, explained that gifts of any type to civil servants, even small ones — like a box of malasadas — can make a big impact.

“What’s the problem with buying someone lunch or giving them a little gift? The problem is … that it leads to other things,” Moore said. “The problem is that when you give someone a gift, you will often expect some favor in return. And that’s why, really, it can never be allowed because it creates a culture of corruption.”

According to the Oahu contractor, the gift of a box of malasadas quickly turned into him sponsoring nine DPP employees to play in a golf tournament at $300 each, for a total of $2,700.

“It’s always indirectly. It’s the people that draft for me, or they’re pushing my plans through,” he said.

“They say, ‘Hey, are you interested in paying? This will be helpful when we’re trying to get our permits through and our plans through.’”

These kinds of bribes are harder to track because the payments are made directly to golf tournament organizers with the names of the DPP employees who are going to play.

“I’ll be honest with you, I absolutely could have said no,” the contractor said. “But I know somebody else is going to do it.”

He said his office has had permits held up for two years at the department.

“So there comes a point where you just go, ‘OK, if this is what’s going to help, then I guess pay to play, right?’ It just becomes that mentality … like, OK, in two years, would I pay $2,000 to help this permit go through? Absolutely, no doubt,” he said.

“Then you start making pragmatic decisions on it’s a cost of getting a permit now, the cost of helping a customer get their project started.”

PROBLEMS PERSISTED

Former City Councilwoman Kym Pine said she first became aware of corruption in DPP when she was chairing the Council Zoning and Planning Committee in 2018.

She said she began meeting with contractors to discuss why it was taking so long for building permits to be approved. After a few conversations, she said, several contractors began telling her about the corruption they had observed in the department, especially when it came to employees accepting bribes.

“I said this is unacceptable. We cannot allow this to happen. We have to fight this and people need to go to jail,” Pine said.

“I said, ‘You guys, if you want to end this process, it is time for everyone as a construction community to talk about this publicly.’”

Despite efforts to shed light on the situation, the problems at DPP persisted.

A home renovator told the Star-Advertiser he was working on a project in late 2020 in East Honolulu when he was suddenly notified by DPP that the work was no longer compliant and an additional permit would be needed for construction to continue. He said he reached out to a friend who said he knew someone in DPP who could make the situation “go away.”

“They’re like, ‘It’s going to cost you … it’s super-normal. This happens all the time,’” said the home renovator, who also did not want to be named out of fear of retaliation or possible criminal charges. He said he put $2,000 cash in an envelope to have his friend deliver it to the DPP employee, and the next day, he was allowed to resume work on the house.

Those who refuse to pay can end up waiting for months, sometimes even over a year, for a permit.

A Kaneohe homeowner, who didn’t want to be identified, told the Star-Advertiser he was trying to get a permit to build an accessory dwelling unit on his property. The permit router he hired to shepherd the permit through the approval process submitted the application in July 2019.

“A couple of days later, he called me. He said one of the (DPP) workers said if you want to get my permit done in about three months, I need to put $2,900 cash in a blank envelope and give it to him and he’ll give it to the person,” the homeowner said.

“I said, ‘I refuse to give the money, … and well, my permit might go on the bottom.’”

More than a year and a half later, he is still waiting for his permit.

A FEW BAD APPLES

Other contractors say they have never needed to bribe DPP employees to get work completed.

Max Suiter, a principal at Canaan Builders, said he has never encountered any instances of bribery in his 41 years in the construction industry.

“Would I ever pay a dime to get a permit? Absolutely not,” he said.

“There’s a lot of people in this town that pay to play to get work done and things like that, that I’ve heard about. But I mean, we’ve been sent envelopes of political fundraiser tickets in the mail. We just send them right back.”

Suiter pointed to a main issue that many people in the building industry echoed: DPP employees are overwhelmed.

“Those poor people down there. And because construction has been crazy for the last couple of years, those guys, they are buried trying to get everything approved. And I feel bad for them,” he said.

“There’s a bunch of really great people that work down there, and I’m friends with a lot of them. They’re just doing their job. I’m sickened that there’s bad apples in there, and that there’s been that pay-to-play kind of thing, but I do not feel like it’s the norm because it’s certainly never, never happened to us.”

Pine explained that DPP workers are underpaid and some lack proper training.

“You have terribly underpaid workers that can leave in a moment to the private sector for the same type of job and get paid a whole lot more. So we’re constantly having to train very young people to be the plan checkers,” she said.

“You need twice the staffing that they have. They just don’t have enough staffing to do what they have to do.”

A 2020 audit by acting City Auditor Troy Shimasaki found that a plans reviewer made about $46,500 a year, which is just above 50% of the annual median household income on Oahu.

“I think most people who live in Hawaii can say, ‘Yeah, I’m not quite making it living here, but this is where I was born and raised and I’m going to do the best I can,” Pine said.

“Major financial stress makes it the prime place to cause these types of problems.”

STAFFING SHORTAGES

Staffing issues were addressed in that same 2020 audit of DPP.

“Permit centers are hampered by shortages of staff due to turnover, inability and delays in hiring new staff, and a significant number of staff retirements. This has resulted in staff morale problems and high work demands upon existing staff,” the audit said.

It recommended creating a plan to better train, quickly hire and increase pay for DPP workers.

Pine also pointed out that working conditions for employees were subpar.

“Their working conditions are just terrible,” she said. “They don’t have enough space. There’s these papers all over the place that they’re required to keep, even if people don’t pick them up for years.”

Pine suggested the department hire people on a contract basis to expedite staffing increases at DPP, and then start negotiations with the public workers’ union to look into raising pay levels.

Mayor Rick Blangiardi said he condemns the actions of the five current and former DPP employees who are federally charged with accepting bribes.

“There is absolutely no place for this behavior in City operations,” he said in an email.

Charges were filed against Wayne Inouye, 64, of Honolulu, a former building plans examiner at DPP; Jocelyn Godoy, 58, of Pearl City, an employee of the Data Access and Imaging Branch; Jason Dadez, 42, of Honolulu, a building inspector; Jennie Javonillo, 71, of Waipahu, a former building plans examiner; and Kanani Padeken, 36, of Kaaawa, a building plans examiner. Inouye was also charged with making a false statement to the government.

On Wednesday, Padeken pleaded guilty to honest services wire fraud. Also pleading guilty was architect William Wong, who was also charged with taking part in and devising the pay-to-play scheme and helping Padeken conceal information.

“The type of culture that allowed criminal behavior is completely unacceptable and we owe it to the public to ensure it will not happen again,” Blangiardi said.

DPP Director Dean Uchida said in an email, “This administration does not and will not condone bribery in any form. The overall goal of this administration is to serve the public in a trustworthy and professional manner.

“We plan to install a new electronic permitting process to provide for more efficiency and transparency in the building permit application process and will include more reliance on code compliance during the inspections.”

Uchida urged homeowners and permit applicants to immediately report any employee who asks for a bribe by calling his office at 768-8000.