The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board of directors is still attempting to fill its final vacant seat.

One of the first steps to nominating a new member is creating a permitted interaction group, or PIG, of up to five board members to investigate and recommend candidates to the rest of the board. The permitted interaction group meetings are closed to the public, and while other board members can join the discussion, they cannot vote on any decisions.

Former HART board Chairman Toby Martyn resigned due to “personal reasons.”

However, during Thursday’s HART board meeting, Chairwoman Colleen Hanabusa said changes had been made to the board selection process to make it more transparent.

“The PIG will come up with at least three names. … The board will then make the final selection as opposed to rubber-stamping the PIG,” she said.

The applicants also will now be notified that their application would become public. The public also will be able to testify on the final three candidates who are brought to the board.

Kika Bukoski, Lynn McCrory, Dean Hazama and Jade Butay were selected to be on the PIG.

The HART board has nine voting members. Three are nominated by the mayor, three are nominated by the City Council, one is the state Department of Transportation director, another is the city Department of Transportation services director and the ninth member is selected by the other eight. There are six other nonvoting members who serve on the board.

Thursday was Hanabusa’s first board meeting as chairwoman. The meeting also included new member Anthony Aalto, whose nomination narrowly passed in a City Council meeting last week in a 5-4 vote.

Hanabusa said the board has received at least five applicants for the vacant position, but encouraged people to submit an application if they meet the expertise, integrity and time commitment qualifications for the the position.