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Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle told Civil Beat he can’t remember what he and City Council Transportation Chairman Breene Harimoto discussed when they met last week to hash out the council member’s concerns about the city’s $5.5 billion rail project.

But Harimoto told Civil Beat he met with the mayor on Thursday, and that the two discussed the administration’s transparency on rail and other issues. He said they reached “no agreement.”

Harimoto revealed to Civil Beat last week that he has “growing and building” concerns about the project, its financial plan and the administration’s forthrightness about it.

Harimoto, a strong rail supporter, said at that time that “it would be extremely difficult to continue the project” unless his concerns are resolved. He said he would wait to elaborate further on the nature of his concerns once he and Carlisle had the opportunity to meet face-to-face, as a courtesy to the mayor.

When asked on Tuesday afternoon whether he had met with Harimoto, Carlisle was reluctant to confirm the meeting, and said he couldn’t remember what was discussed.

Civil Beat: I wonder if you’ve had a chance to talk to Council member Harimoto about his transparency concerns.
Peter Carlisle: When I speak to him, I’ll speak to him.
Civil Beat: OK, so you can’t confirm whether you met?
Peter Carlisle: I saw him this morning.
Civil Beat: So you don’t want to talk about whether you’ve discussed—
Peter Carlisle: I didn’t say anything to him. I walked by in the hall.
Civil Beat: So you guys haven’t had a meeting about his transparency concerns?
Peter Carlisle: I don’t remember.
Civil Beat: That’s baloney.
Peter Carlisle: No, that wouldn’t be, that wouldn’t be, uh, that wouldn’t be baloney.
Civil Beat: You really don’t remember?
Peter Carlisle: I don’t because I spoke to him a couple — a week ago, and I forget what all the subjects were.
Civil Beat: All right…
Peter Carlisle: What, you don’t trust me now? Oh, worse and worse… I just don’t remember, OK?

“For the record, yes, I can confirm we did meet,” Harimoto told Civil Beat on Wednesday morning. “We had a discussion last week Thursday. I can say that we did talk about several of my concerns, including the transparency issue. We did talk about the difference of opinion between the council and the mayor about how the transit authority’s budget would be handled. There was no agreement.”

Harimoto is referring to concerns from City Council members who say they feel blindsided by the administration’s attempts to remove the council’s budgetary authority over a new transit agency. Much of that argument has played out behind closed doors, in executive session.

“We talked about several other things,” Harimoto said. “One of the other big things was the (transit-oriented development) staffing. The mayor’s budget has all of the TOD positions from the (Department of Planning and Permitting) swept into the transit authority. My read of the charter is very clear that the only part of TOD that is in the transit authority is the execution portion of TOD. So, when there is a project identified, that would be the purview of the transit authority to facilitate that project. There’s no mention of entire function, including planning and policies, being swept into the authority. It is very clear to me that the planning and policy function must remain with the city in DPP. I don’t think the mayor understood my point of view. In fact, the mayor did not understand my point of view.”

Growing tension between the City Council and the administration comes ahead of a Wednesday afternoon Transportation Committee meeting that’s expected to be long and tense. The calls for the administration to provide a briefing about the new transit agency, as well as the rail contracts announced last week.

City Council Chairman Nestor Garcia said he expects the meeting will be “lively.” Harimoto said he expects many City Council members to raise serious concerns about the council’s oversight of the new Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit, and recently announced bid selections for more than $1 billion in rail contracts.

One week ago, Harimoto said he had regained some confidence that his concerns would be resolved after a visit from federal transportation officials who offered glowing, public support of the rail project. He said he remains optimistic because he believes in rail, but it’s clear Harimoto is not happy.

“I’m hopeful that we may get to that point,” Harimoto told Civil Beat. “But we have not yet.”