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There’s always something interesting going on at Honolulu Hale.

Civil Beat is reporting from the inside.

First District-Drawing Meeting Pau

7:14 p.m.
After a Sunshine Law and process briefing from a city lawyer and a review of the rules with City Clerk Bernice Mau, the Council Reapportionment Commission is done with its first meeting of 2011.

The board has about six months to do its job; the Commission must file a reapportionment plan by Jan. 2, 2012, per the charter.

The panel’s next two meetings are tentatively scheduled for Wednesday July 13 and Wednesday July 27, both at 4 p.m. at Honolulu Hale.

Albi Mateo Is Reapportionment Chair

6:20 p.m.
Honolulu Hale’s front doors are all locked, and the building is getting dark, but there are a handful of citizens in attendance for the first meeting of the Council Reapportionment Commission.

Albi Mateo was quickly tabbed as the body’s chair. She’s the only woman on the nine-member board.

Honolulu City Council Chair Ernie Martin and member Stanley Chang welcomed the commission members and thanked them for their service, with Martin telling them they’ll leave “a lasting impression on the political landscape of the City and County of Honolulu.”

City Clerk Bernice Mau presided over the start of the meeting.

Bombardier: Let Us Back In

4:02 p.m.
Even if rail bidder Bombardier gets its way, they still might not win the billion-dollar design-build-operate-maintain rail contract.

Minutes after formally filing the company’s appeal with the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Bombardier Vice President Andy Robbins said he doesn’t expect the department to pick his company as the winner.

“The remedy that we have suggested is not that they automatically award us the contract, or cancel the contract or re-bid the contract, but what the city should do is put us back into the process,” Robbins told Inside Honolulu outside of the DCCA office this afternoon. “In other words, reverse the improper qualification. Just finish the score where they left off.”

Robbins said the city had started to rank the three bidders — Sumitomo and current pick Ansaldo are the others — but decided part way through that Bombardier had included a condition in its bid and should be disqualified. The city didn’t grade Bombardier’s price against its competitors, but Robbins said his is the cheapest price over the life of the system.

Hoopili PR Battle Under Way

1:43 p.m.
With Hoopili back on the Land Use Commission’s tomorrow and opponents , the project’s public relations effort is ramping up.

A PR firm for the Pacific Resource Partnership sent out a press release this afternoon announcing that an island-wise survey shows 62 percent of support Hoopili. “The message is clear,” PRP Executive Director John White said in . Phone interviews of 600 likely voters were conducted between May 22 and 26.

But a , Tulchin Research, shows that the language of the question was noticeably pro-Hoopili.

Planning is underway for the Ho’opili community on the ‘Ewa Plain, west of Honolulu. It is designed to be a fully integrated community with a new University of Hawai’i at West O’ahu campus and will include 11,000 new homes, office space, two shopping
centers, new schools, roads and transit stations. It is projected to provide $4 billion to the local economy and create an estimated 35,000 jobs. From what you have heard, do you support or oppose the Ho’opili development project in ‘Ewa?

Opponents will be quick to point out that the question fails to mention the 1,500 acres of prime farmland that will be paved over to make way for Hoopili. Basically, the poll proves the developer’s buzzwords are successful in swaying public opinion.

Last week, attendees of a neighborhood board meeting supported Hoopili at a clip of better than 90 percent. The poll says the number island-wide is 62 percent. The LUC meeting tomorrow morning may break down differently.

Bombardier to File Rail Protest Today

12:52 p.m.
The awarding of the city’s billion-dollar design-build-operate-maintain contract will have to wait.

As expected, would-be contractor Bombardier will file its formal appeal with the state’s Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs today. A spokesman said company Vice President Andy Robbins will file the appeal at 2:30 p.m. at the DCCA’s King Street office.

The city rejected protests from Bombardier and Sumitomo on Friday, sticking with Ansaldo Honolulu. The city said it disqualified Bombardier because the company’s bid included a liability cap that made the bid non-responsive.

Council Mapmaking Starts Tonight

12:40 p.m.
With the state’s Reapportionment Commission already hard at work across the street, the city is about to start the process of redrawing Honolulu City Council boundaries for the next decade.

The 2011 Council Reapportionment Commission will hold its inaugural meeting at 6 p.m. tonight at the Committee Meeting Room on the second floor of Honolulu Hale.

includes remarks by the council chair, presumably Ernie Martin, and an orientation briefing from the city’s lawyers on the rules that apply to the commission’s work.

Water Panel OKs City’s Rail-In-Streams Plan

9:24 a.m.
Honolulu’s rail project has lots of boxes to check before the trains start running, and now there’s one less.

The state’s Commission on Water Resource Management voted this morning to approve [pdf] asking for permission to impact four streams as it constructs the transit system.

Though streams less than 120 feet wide can be spanned, some fixed guideway support columns will be placed nearby or even in stream beds.

Commission staff said environmental group Life of the Land had asked that the matter be deferred pending the results of the legal challenge to the rail project’s environmental impact statement.

But the panel was advised they could proceed now because any permits would be contingent on the EIS remaining valid.

City Pay to Revert to Pre-Furlough Levels, Too?

9:05 a.m.
Elsewhere on Civil Beat this morning, Nanea Kalani has an interesting story about what will happen to state employees’ pay in absence of a new labor contract. Basically, the salaries will go back to pre-furlough levels.

That got us thinking, does the same thing happen for city employees?

The only major public employee union with city workers that is still without a contract is United Public Workers — and they haven’t returned multiple calls seeking comment.

Inside Honolulu will reach out to the city’s Department of Budget and Fiscal Services for answers.

ORI: We’ve Always Been In Compliance With HUD

8:12 a.m.
As the City and County of Honolulu tries to avoid paying back $7.9 million in grants to the federal government, the nonprofit at the center of the probe says it’s done nothing wrong.

After repeated requests for comment, a spokesman for ORI Anuenue Hale provided this statement to Inside Honolulu yesterday evening:

ORI Anuenue Hale, Inc. is continuing to cooperate with the City and County of Honolulu on the City’s response to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). While we believe that we are, and always have been, fully in compliance with HUD regulations, ORI has voluntarily submitted a Memorandum of Understanding that outlines a timeline of action to satisfy HUD’s requirements for Community Development Block Grant compliance, including inspection of client and financial files. Over the past 30 years, ORI has and continues to remain committed to serving the elderly, individuals with disabilities and all members of our community.

Read Previous Editions of Inside Honolulu

June 28, 2011: Sumitomo ‘highly likely’ to appeal rail bid; ORI still mum as city responds to HUD findings; Lieutenant governor weighs in on APEC; Tracking mayoral tweets

June 27, 2011: Kalihi weighs in on transit development; AG looking into council override; Council overrides mayor’s HART vetoes; Council uses override power to save money for private scrap yard; Where’s the aloha shirt, Ernie Martin?; Council still wants rail reimbursement; City Council moving day on Wednesday; Water panel to consider rail plans; Djou on HART Dispute: Administration is “wrong.”

June 24, 2011: HART wasting no time in first meeting agenda; Fourteen bills become law; Friends of the Queen Theater still want to see it revamped.

June 23, 2011: Last day for fireworks permit; Doug Chin hopeful lawsuit could be avoided; Last Furlough Friday?

June 22, 2011: Mayor deliberately keeps quiet on Asia trip; Veto override votes set for Monday; Ernie Martin breaks silence on council shake-up.

June 21, 2011: Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle vetoes bills; City Council member Tulsi Gabbard writes from Indonesia; Hoopili fight heating up (again).

June 20, 2011: Ethics training could be required for all city workers; Stanley Chang, mayor, back from China; Ag property-tax tweak advances; Council Budget Committee advances bond float.

June 17, 2011: City Council member Tom Berg wants commercial activity at some parks; Baby warthogs at the zoo.

June 16, 2011: Perennial mayoral candidate Panos Prevedouros‘ poetry; Opinion on Garcia ethics investigation still two months out.

June 15, 2011:: Council Chairman Nestor Garcia steps down; City offers amnesty on turned-in fireworks.

June 14, 2011: Photos released from Peter Carlisle‘s Asia trip; Carpenters Union steps up rail advocacy; Water outage on windward side.

June 13, 2011: Read the complete HUD report; Tom Berg to hold town hall on rail; Still no rail report from fact-finding trip.

June 8, 2011: Acting Mayor Doug Chin signs historic homes bill; FAA issues Record of Decision on rail; Hillary Clinton to attend APEC; Stanley Chang posts messages to Twitter from Taiwan; Precedent in the dispute between Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle and City Council members.

June 7, 2011: Two-time candidate Panos Prevedouros fundraising for 2012 mayor’s race; Tom Berg weighs in on chief of staff’s role in hacking of lawmaker’s email; Rod Tam sentencing pushed back; Ship that buried Osama bin Laden stops in Honolulu.

June 6, 2011:Creator of city rail poll says it was unbiased; More details on Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle‘s China trip; Former City Council memeber Rod Tam charged with eight counts of campaign spending violations.

June 3, 2011: City Council approves rail bond float, slew of fee increases, property-tax rate hike, operating and capital budgets; Council members reverse decision on eliminating subsidy to scrap yards.

June 2, 2011: Complete script of questions from city rail poll; Rail supporters plan virtual sit-in.

June 1, 2011: City announced poll showing majority support for rail; Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle mum on veto plans; Hurricane season starts.