Inside Honolulu: March 2
It’s budget week, which means voters who elected Mayor Peter Carlisle on his promise to clean up city finances will finally see how he plans to do that. Plus, Honolulu City Council members continue to propose legislation on everything from rail to tackling homelessness. Civil Beat is reporting from the inside.
Mayor Unveils New Spending Plan
Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle unveiled his first budget today. Read Civil Beat’s coverage:
Carlisle Proposes Raising Honolulu Budget By 6 %
No Shortfall, But Carlisle Still Wants Higher Taxes
Check out the budget programs for more details:
Amid Staff Shortage, City Asks for More Money for Autopsies
9:50 a.m.
Even though it’s one of the highest-paid city positions, the City and County of Honolulu has had a hard time filling the medical examiner job. A November Civil Beat open records request found William Goodhue Jr., the acting chief medical examiner** makes about $154,000 per year.
“Our issue is we still only have an acting chief,” said Deputy Managing Director Chrystn Eads. “We had been actively looking.”
Eads said someone accepted the job, and would have started on Feb. 1, but declined the offer when another job opportunity arose that paid $80,000 more per year than the City and County of Honolulu.
“We have someone else lined up to start on July 1, pending his successful passage of the board certification,” Eads told the City Council Budget Committee this morning.
Her testimony came before the Committee unanimously advanced requesting an extra $165,000 for the Department of the Medical Examiner to conduct autopsies through the remainder of the fiscal year. The money would come from the general fund. Short-staffed with two vacant forensic pathologist positions, the office has to pay contractors for autopsies.
City Council member Stanley Chang said a decline in autopsies nationwide is a “serious” public health concern.
Liquor Commission Nominee: “Nobody wants to intentionally break the law.”
9:33 a.m.
City Council members unanimously advanced the mayor’s , Wesley Fong, as a liquor commissioner. City Council members Ann Kobayashi, Tulsi Gabbard Tamayo and Stanley Chang spoke in strong support of the nominee.
Council member Breene Harimoto asked Fong how he would work to improve the public’s confidence in the commission, which has been involved in recent scandals like the arrest of a commissioner suspected of accepting bribes.
“First of all I think it’s leadership,” Fong told the committee. “(Making sure we are) singing off the same song sheet, off the same road map and going in the same direction. … There are problems with enforcement with minor things such as checking IDs, some problems with the hostess bars. Nobody wants to intentionally break the law, and it’s a matter of education.”
Fong’s nomination goes before the full City Council later this month. He would serve on the commission until December 2015, succeeding Dennis Enomoto.
Mayor to Put Complete Budget Online
5:28 a.m.
Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle is unveiling his first city spending plan today. When he does, his administration also plans to post the entire budget 鈥斅燼 line-by-line version that is typically only made available to Cabinet leaders and City Council members 鈥斅爋n the city’s website.
This would make his the first Honolulu city administration to make such a detailed budget document available online to the public.
It comes after the mayor’s State of the City address, in which he described his administration’s push to get documents online as a key component of improving government transparency.
Carlisle spent nearly two hours in a Monday meeting with Budget and Fiscal Services Director Mike Hansen, Managing Director Doug Chin, Information Technology Director Gordon Bruce and his press team. When asked for highlights from the forthcoming budget, Chin and Carlisle were similarly coy.
“You’ll have to wait,” Chin said.
“Don’t say a thing!” Carlisle cautioned his managing director with a smile.
Happy Birthday, TheBus!
TheBus may be Honolulu’s best example of how 1970s design principles have lingered on Oahu for decades. Sure, there are several newer models on the road, but we can’t help but love city buses bedecked with orange, brown and yellow stripes. They look like they drove straight out of 1971, the year former Mayor Frank Fasi launched the service.
Hard to believe TheBus system has only been in place for 40 years, a milestone city officials began celebrating Monday. Today, TheBus provides about 75 million rides to residents and visitors each year. You’ll often find this bus rider on the number 1, which travels between Civil Beat’s Kaimuki headquarters and the State Capitol.
Deadline Approaches for Council’s Transit Authority Nominees
City Council Vice Chairman Breene Harimoto is asking his fellow council members to submit one nomination each for the city’s public transit authority. The City Council is responsible for picking three of the 10 people on the board of the semi-autonomous agency, which will be formed at the start of the fiscal year in July.
Voters approved creating the authority to handle the city’s rail project. Harimoto wrote to his colleagues on Feb. 28, asking them to submit to Nestor Garcia the name of one individual, and that person’s r茅sum茅, by March 15.
Catch Up on This Month’s Inside Honolulu
March 1, 2011: City Council member Breene Harimoto worries about bandaid approach to homelessness; Planning Committee advances North Shore communities plan; Parks and Rec eyes new dog park; Tom Berg pitches Matson containers as possible living space.
