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Civil Beat is launching a new series of interviews with newsmakers, and we’ll start this week with Honolulu Managing Director Doug Chin. Send us your questions for Chin before noon on Tuesday.

City Council members will make decisions on a number of items this week. They have a full council meeting on Wednesday. With state business wrapped up, political trackers look to the city to see how the budget debate will play out.

Civil Beat is reporting from the inside.

After Heavy Rains, City Landfill Granted Extension

12:07 p.m.
While the Department of Environmental Services told Inside Honolulu that recent rains haven’t caused any problems at Waimanalo Gulch — a contrast from the severe rain that caused a near catastrophic failure at the landfill in January — the weather has delayed landfill operators’ ongoing repair work.

Here’s an excerpt from landfill operator Joe Whelan’s May 5 email requesting an extension to completion of a clean-up order by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:

“Currently, the north end of the basin is approximately 90% empty of sediment, and we continue to remove sediment from the southern portion. Recent rains have added about 4 feet of storm water to the northern end of the basin, which is currently being pumped out and used for on site irrigation and dust control. This rain will cause delays in completing the full restoration of the sediment basin.”

Whelan says the basin clean-up is the last task associated with the order. The federal agency granted a one-month delay from May 15 to June 15.

Check out a timeline detailing much of the work completed at Waimanalo Gulch since January.

What Happens in Copenhagen, Stays in Copenhagen?

11:01 a.m.
City Council Transportation Chairman Breene Harimoto has been back from Copenhagen for more than a week, but he’s still not talking about what he learned on the rail fact-finding trip.

Harimoto returned last week to a packed three days of City Council committee meetings, and said he’d talk about his trip at the end of last week. Understandable, but Harimoto never made time for the meeting.

City Council member Ernie Martin, who joined Harimoto on the first leg of the trip to San Francisco, then went on the Los Angeles, already told us he wasn’t going to say much about the trip. According to Martin — given the two protests against the city’s selection of Ansaldo Honolulu for a $1.1 billion rail contract — city lawyers warned the pair about how much they could say about the trip, and even specifically cautioned them about questions not to ask.

Taxpayers paid for the fact-finding trip. So when will they get to hear the facts?

Feds Monitoring City’s Use of Community Development Money

9:27 a.m.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development are monitoring Honolulu’s use of federal grant money. Specifically, they’re assessing the two programs that benefit most from , more commonly known as CDBG monies.

Mark Chandler, the director of planning development at HUD’s Honolulu office, says the monitoring is a routine part of giving federal grants. He said HUD is looking at how two nonprofit groups — ORI and — are using federal money. ORI has received about $8 million, and Palolo Homes has received about $5 million from HUD, he said.

Chandler says his team is looking at how the companies fill out time-sheets for employees, possible conflict-of-interest issues, whether the money is being spent appropriately and other “standard” questions.

“Our monitoring is not suggesting that there’s mismanagement but the city and ORI both will have to resolve issues identified in our monitoring,” Chandler told Civil Beat. “There is documentation that we have requested and have not yet received, both from the city and from ORI… Now, at this time, it is our understanding that these documents will be provided. If they’re not produced it will require finding in our report, which will need to be corrected. A finding is usually something regulatory-related. A concern is something that leads to a finding.”

Chandler says monitoring almost always leads to “findings” of some kind.

“We’re waiting for some timesheet information from ORI,” Chandler said. “We’re also waiting for information tied to national objective. Every CDBG (grantee) has to meet a national objective, a low-income moderate-income clientele, and so we are still waiting for confirmation on how the facility’s being used to determine that requirement.”

Holly Kawano, the federal grants coordinator in the city’s Budget and Fiscal Services Department, says the city is waiting to see HUD’s final report on Honolulu’s use of funds, which is expected by mid-June. The monitoring comes at a time when there is already concern about the possibility of slashes to CDBG funding.

“It is a concern, any time that there’s a potential for reduction in funding,” Kawano said. “We’re anticipating a decrease in funding but we have not been told.”

HUD’s regional public affairs officer, Gene Gibson says that while HUD officials have “some concerns about Honolulu’s compliance with national objectives,” there is no indication of wrongdoing or fraud at this time. If the monitoring uncovers fraud, she says, the city could be required to pay grant money back to the federal agency.

“If there is a violation, grant money may get pulled back, the city and county may have to pay the money back to the federal government, any number of things,” Gibson said. “If there’s somebody doing something illegal or if there’s fraud going on, some kind of conflict of interest, that will be handled by the legal channels.”

ORI did not return Civil Beat’s phone requests for interview.

Send Us Your Questions for Doug Chin

At noon on Tuesday, May 10, we’ll be live-streaming an interview with Honolulu Managing Director Doug Chin, the guy who runs Honolulu Hale on a day-to-day basis.

This marks the first interview in our new Newsmaker Series, and it promises to be a good one.

Have something you want to ask Chin? Click here and scroll down to submit a question.

Read Previous Editions of Inside Honolulu

May 6, 2011: Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle says Koolau Loa plan keeps “country country,” too; City Council’s Tulsi Gabbard gets promoted.

May 5, 2011: Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle heads to sunny East Lansing, Mich.; Emergency Management Deputy Peter Hirai clears up rumor about Waikiki sires; Double the turnout so far in Neighborhood Board elections.

May 4, 2011: City Council advances HART budgets, measure to float rail bonds; Romy Cachola irked that no Filipinos appointed to HART; Mayor would likely support end to recycling subsidy.

May 3, 2011: Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle signed into law new North Shore plan; City Planning and Permitting Director David Tanoue questions move to turn shipping containers into homes; Environmental group raises concerns about trees along rail route.

May 2, 2011: City Council member Stanley Chang takes on managing director; Ann Kobayashi defends yelling at testifier; Romy Cachola calls testifier “stupid;” Tom Berg proposes horse racetrack for Kapiolani Park; Bill to eliminate scrap yard subsidy advances; Council member miffed that rail leaders skipped special council meeting.