Some of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation’s board members say it’s time to improve the public image surrounding the nearly $10 billion Skyline project.

The board is considering whether to hire a public relations firm or appoint a city PR staff position, just as criticism outside and within the city’s rail agency reached a critical point at the end of June.

Rancor between some on the board and HART Executive Director and CEO Lori Kahikina — including a months-long deferral to discuss the Dec. 31 expiration of the CEO’s annual $275,000 contract — grew into a contentious exchange between Kahikina and HART board Chair Colleen Hanabusa back in April.

Allegations of “bullying and harassment” of Kahi­kina by Hanabusa eventually prompted Mayor Rick Blangiardi to issue a memo in early June urging the board to offer Kahikina a multiyear contract.

Hanabusa said that on May 22 she referred concerns to the city’s human resources department for investigation in a move she called “self-reporting myself.”

Amid that investigation, Hanabusa last week stated — though did not fully explain — that she intends to step down from chairing the board later this year but remain on the panel. That news came the same day the board provisionally granted Kahi­kina a multiyear contract, with a minimum of three years, subject to terms and conditions to be negotiated.

At HART’s Friday board meeting, the panel also discussed whether to tap $110,000 — money earmarked from HART’s new $138.3 million operating budget, which took effect Monday — to either hire a PR firm or appoint a PR person to serve the board only.

“In either situation we will need Lori’s cooperation, because she is the procurement officer,” Hanabusa said at the Friday meeting.

Hanabusa said she believed whoever was hired would report to the board. “It is a board-funded position,” she said. “I think that was the intent.”

But board member Anthony Aalto said, “I think it’s something we obviously have to be careful about … because taxpayers could reasonably say, ‘Why are you using our tax dollars to try to tell us why we should love you when we hate you?’ for example,” he said. “And it’s an appropriate question to ask. You know, we’re not supposed to be spending money to make ourselves look better.”

He added, “I do believe as a project we could do better on public relations: Things are getting better, now that the train is running; the project seems to be back on track; Lori’s very articulate in front of the media.”

“So I’m actually interested to know what the rationale is. Why do we think the board specifically needs public relations help?” Aalto asked.

Hanabusa said the need for public relations work was for extending rail eastward. “One of the discussions we were having was, How do we phrase the concept of Ala Moana and beyond?” she said.

“What do we do, and how do we do it without stepping all over ourselves?” She added, “That was the context under which I understood it.”

Hanabusa noted that Pang Communications — which represents HART’s executive management — does not work on behalf of the board.

“If the board is trying to promote this ‘Ala Moana or beyond,’ or whatever it is, how does the board take it out to the public?” she asked.

In response, Aalto said, “That I would support.”

He noted that Skyline’s benefits included building transit-oriented development housing on Oahu. He said city rail would also offer positive impacts to the problems of climate change — notably, getting people out of their automobiles in favor of riding Skyline.

“Again, the public, by and large, isn’t aware of that, because the conversation hasn’t been happening, and nobody’s been out there to make the case,” Aalto said. “So, if that’s what you’re talking about, then I’m supportive of it. Yes, I do think we need to go back to the public and thank them for providing us with the funds, but also to explain to them why this project is so important.”

Conversely, board member Natalie Iwasa said she’s “always been opposed” to the board having its own PR firm.

“I think the public sees HART as HART — it’s not the HART administration and the HART board; it’s all one,” she said. “And listening to this discussion, I get the feeling again that it’s kind of a two-piece thing, kind of us vs. them.”

Later, Kahikina noted that Pang’s contract with HART “is very general.” “So if the board wanted to tap into them, by all means we can do that,” she added.

But Iwasa asked, “So my follow-up question is, Why are we not doing that? Why is the board spending $110,000? And I get it, in the grand scheme of $10 billion, that’s really manini, but that’s more than a lot of people make in a year.”

“So I think the public is actually very curious and frustrated with the board with respect to this particular item,” she said.

Hanabusa asserted that she believed the funding source of the HART’s contract with Pang was related to a third-party contractor — HDR Engineering Inc. — “which is a capital improvement project source.”

Kahikina said she was “not clear that was the intent” of the board’s need for a PR team.

“If it’s Ala Moana and beyond, I think that that conversation has to be had with (the Federal Transit Administration),” she said, alluding to FTA’s 2023 release of $125 million in federal funds to HART for the first time since 2017. “Because they feel all of the funds are theirs up to Kakaako.”

Still, Kahikina said the board’s use of Pang could be justified. “And you guys could have direct correlations with them through maybe HART’s budget, not the board’s budget,” she said.

Hanabusa said they would study Pang’s contract via the board’s human resources committee.

“We don’t even know how much Pang gets paid, (but) we’re going to know,” she added. “People are concerned about transparency; you’re going to know exactly how much the board’s PR people are going to get paid. But I do believe that we need somebody who’s going to be able to speak for the board and because this is clearly something that we need to address.”

Ultimately, the board voted to refer the matter to its HR committee for a recommendation for action on a potential outside PR firm or internally appointed position.

After the meeting, HART told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser that Pang Communications began working with the rail agency, as a subcontractor to HDR, in 2021.

Pang bills HART $8,060 per month, not including general excise tax. In addition to the monthly retainer, the basic terms include the period of performance, which is an annually renewable, one-year term, “while the responsibility is to provide HART with public communication and involvement support,” HART said.

Pang does not have any similar arrangements with other government entities, HART stated.

But according to the rail agency, “Pang Communications would be very open to providing communications services to the HART board, and HART would be agreeable to this arrangement given Pang Communications’ history with and knowledge of the project.”