Lori Kahikina’s position as the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation’s top executive and her leadership of the rail agency’s nearly $10 billion city Skyline project is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, following a vote of its board of directors Friday afternoon.
At the same meeting, HART board Chair Colleen Hanabusa indicated — but did not fully explain — that she plans to step down as leader of the nine-member board of directors, pending a deferred annual board leadership election that’s expected to be held later this year.
Tension between Hanabusa and Kahikina became public after the two had a contentious exchange during an April board meeting.
But after back-and-forth debate as well as a closed-door executive session Friday, HART’s board voted to provisionally grant Kahikina a multiyear contract, with a minimum of three years, subject to terms and conditions to be negotiated, including her future salary.
Currently, Kahikina’s annual $275,000 contract is set to expire Dec. 31. Under the latest board vote, her next contract, if adopted, would start Jan. 1. Kahikina was named HART’s permanent CEO in 2022.
But still to be determined, Kahikina’s contract negotiations — likely to include her own personal attorney — could either involve the board’s human resources committee or possibly see two designated board members take part in those deliberations.
Kahikina’s contract talks are expected to be conducted in private and, according to Hanabusa, are not expected “to go past August.”
The vote on Kahikina’s new contract was prefaced with testimony — written and oral — largely in support of her leadership, despite recent criticism that during her time as the rail agency’s leader she’d fostered a toxic work environment, increased low morale among HART employees and did not effectively address the loss of key players on its executive management team, in a timely manner, directly to the board.
But among her defenders, board member Anthony Aalto told Kahikina that he’d “known and admired” her for 10 years.
“I believe you’ve done a great job of working with contractors, with your engineering team, to handle the significant problems that you inherited,” said Aalto, noting the knot of utility lines rail had to contend with under Dillingham Boulevard, or the cracked T-shaped columns that weren’t “post-tensioned,” or the wheels that didn’t fit on the Hitachi Electric trains. “You’ve done an excellent job of pulling your team together and get those problems sorted out.”
Others, like HART board Vice Chair Kika Bukoski, claimed Kahikina ably brought the rail agency to open its first segment, from East Kapolei to Halawa, which started its public service operations June 30.
Bukoski added it was unfortunate the vote on Kahikina’s contract — what had turned into a contentious, months-long process — had taken as long as it has.
“I understand that there’s some differing views, opinions, perspectives regarding this particular matter,” he said. “It is having an impact. … Concerns are being raised on various levels that could impact the progress of this project, from a financing point of view as well as a construction point of view, and I think it’s important for us to move forward.”
To that end, the vote on Kahikina comes as the Federal Transit Administration, which in 2023 released $125 million in federal funds to HART for the first time since 2017, had raised concerns over the uncertainty of the rail agency’s leadership.
In early June, FTA told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that leadership uncertainty at HART could jeopardize another $250 million in federal money.
And allegations of Hanabusa’s “bullying and harassment” of Kahikina eventually prompted Mayor Rick Blangiardi to issue a memo in early June urging the board to offer his appointee a multiyear contract. The mayor also requested HART to fully cooperate with an investigation into any alleged harassment of Kahikina by board members.
Hanabusa said that on May 22 she referred concerns about Kahikina’s treatment by the board to the city’s human resources department for investigation in a move that Hanabusa called “self-reporting myself.”
Further information about the city’s investigation into claims of harassment involving Kahikina were not fully answered this week.
“HART Board Chair Colleen Hanabusa has requested that the city Department of Human Resources conduct an investigation regarding allegations of bullying and harassment made by Executive Director and CEO Lori Kahikina,” HART board Executive Officer Cindy Matsushita told the Star-Advertiser via email Friday morning. “The investigation is ongoing, and there are no further details at this time.”
At the meeting, Bukoski successfully advanced a motion to defer that board leadership election to determine the board’s chair and vice chair to a date no later than Dec. 31.
Bukoski said he wished to have a full nine-member board before such a vote is taken, noting his position as well as fellow board member Michele Chun Brunngraber’s position are set to terminate Sunday.
“I just feel that it’s not urgent that we make any changes at this point,” Bukoski said. “In fact, it might be better if we don’t make any significant changes at this point because of the recent, potential concerns … regarding the stability of the organization.”
He added that a change in board “leadership could potentially compound instability in the organization of HART.”
“I think it might be more prudent to wait until we have a full board,” he said
Although she was outvoted, Hanabusa — appointed to the board by Blangiardi in July 2021 — asserted she intended to remain on the board but planned to lead it no longer, citing the city’s ongoing investigation involving Kahikina and harassment allegations.
“My position was I didn’t want that process tainted,” she told the panel. “I think it’s very important that the public feel that the investigation that’s being done — I assume it’s being done, I don’t know, they haven’t contacted me — is done fairly.”
She added, “That’s the reason why I did not want me sitting as the chair, to call into question anything that was happening, and for people to believe, whatever the decision may be, that ‘Oh, it’s because she’s there as chair.’ So that’s the reason I felt it was time to pass this on.”
In related business, the HART board of directors accepted and approved the resignation of one of its voting members.
Edwin Young, a former City and County of Honolulu auditor who retired in 2019, resigned due to undisclosed health reasons, according to Hanabusa.
“We all wish him well in terms of recovery,” she said at Friday’s meeting.
Sworn in on July 20, Young replaced Mark Howland, who had served on the board since 2021.
To potentially select the next, ninth voting board member, the HART board directed its human resources committee to consider forming a permitted interaction group, or PIG, to choose at least three possible candidates for the now-vacant board seat.
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Honolulu Star-Advertiser staff writer Dan Nakaso contributed to this report.
