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

Civil Beat is reporting from the inside.

4:45 p.m. Case Closed, Not Decided

After receiving confirmation that neither of the expert reports prepared for Ansaldo will be entered into evidence, Sumitomo attorney Robert Fricke declined to call rebuttal witnesses. With that, Senior Hearings Officer David Karlen declared the evidentiary portion of the rail contract appeal closed.

The parties have until close-of-business Thursday to file their written closing arguments and proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. There will be no in-person arguments or any further face-to-face interactions as part of the hearing.

Karlen has precious little time to make a decision. The 45-day clock started ticking when Bombardier and Sumitomo first appealed the matter to the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs last month.

Depending on how one counts weekends, Karlen’s ruling could be due Aug. 12, 14 or 15, according to DCCA spokeswoman Cathy Yasuda.

4:07 p.m. City Rests, Ansaldo Satisfied

With Sumitomo now done cross-examining the city’s fourth witness, the City and County of Honolulu has rested. Joseph Stewart also renewed his motion for dismissal, and David Karlen said he’d take it under advisement.

Ansaldo is so pleased with the way the case has gone that it declined to call any witnesses.

“Ansaldo will not present any evidence,” said attorney David Minkin. “We believe the record is sufficient.”

Yesterday, Minkin said he might want to question a witness over the telephone and put others on the stand.

Sumitomo has asked for a five-minute recess to decide whether it wants to call any rebuttal witnesses.

1:48 p.m. City Witness Rebuts Sumitomo

The lone witness to take the stand so far this afternoon is Chris Gambla, an MBA who works for Lea & Elliott, a consulting firm hired by Parsons Brinckerhoff to help out on the Honolulu rail system.

The city’s attorney, Joseph Stewart, has led Gambla through what has been essentially a line-by-line rebuttal to the testimony and report offered by a Sumitomo-hired expert last week. Gambla used the word “foolish” to describe the methodology used by William Rennicke to determine that operating Ansaldo‘s system would cost the city $700 million more than Sumitomo’s over the 30-year life of the rail cars.

Gambla has talked about life cycle cost analysis, gangway width, round-trip time and other details most folks don’t usually think about.

Stewart appears to have wrapped up his direct examination. Senior Hearings Officer David Karlen is asking some questions of his own. Soon, Sumitomo will have a chance to cross-examine the witness.

10:14 a.m. Ireland, Silva Like Merger

Emergency Services Director Dr. James Ireland and Fire Chief Ken Silva both think merging their departments would help the city provide better service to its citizens.

Both said their primary focus remains on helping the community, and that combining efforts would only make that easier and cheaper.

“We have two great departments, and with synergy, potentially we could have something that’s even better,” Ireland said.

Silva said that about 70 percent of the 200 largest cities in America use a “fire-based EMS” system like the one Honolulu would have if the change was made. Asked about a timeline, Silva said that even if the switch was flipped today, it would take a number of months to talk about how to streamline duplicative services and combine disparate communications system.

Here’s a photo of the two answering questions from Committee Chair Tulsi Gabbard:

9:09 a.m. Talking Merger

Among the items on for this morning’s Safety, Economic Development and Government Affairs is a discussion-only briefing by the Honolulu Fire Department about a proposed merger with the Emergency Services Department.

The city recently published a 200-plus-page report on the potential merger to . Chief among the consultant’s findings is the fact that a merger “has the ability to generate savings in excess of $10,000,000 within the next five years.”

You can read that report in its entirety .

No Competition for Carlisle

Last week Civil Beat revealed Mayor Peter Carlisle‘s sizable haul of campaign contributions during the first half of 2011. Now his two main opponents from 2010 have filed their reports, and they don’t stack up.

Former Acting Mayor Kirk Caldwell didn’t collect a single dollar and remains heavily in debt. Panos Prevedouros took in about $6,000 — that’s about 2 percent of Carlisle’s take.

Read the full story by Nanea Kalani.

Three members of the Honolulu City Council showed impressive fundraising ability in reports filed since our last report:

• Chair Ernie Martin —
• Stanley Chang — 
• Ikaika Anderson —

Berg: GOP “Party of the Skin Heads”

Tom Berg is having a rough go of it.

Already outnumbered on the Honolulu City Council by pro-rail politicians, the Tea Party city lawmaker is now fed up with the right side of the spectrum.

In a voicemail message former Chief of Staff Eric Ryan played on the Carroll Cox radio show over the weekend, Berg said: “I think the GOP is a failure here in Hawaii. I’m setting the stage to wean myself from this party of the skin heads.”

Hawaii News Now talked to Berg and to Hawaii Republican Party Chair Jonah Kaauwai, who happens to have a shaved head, as does former party Executive Director Dylan Nonaka. The spat may be smoothed over already. But it’s another day of distracting bad press for Berg.

Read the full story over at .

Today’s Committees

Three Honolulu City Council committees are scheduled to meet today. Here are the agendas:

• 9 a.m. —
• 10:30 a.m. —
• 1 p.m. —

More meetings are set for tomorrow and Thursday.

Want Train? Get Brains

The rail project has drawn lots of scrutiny, and rightfully so. If it’s going to get done right, the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation will need smart people steering the ship.

Last month HART sent Honolulu City Council members Ann Kobayashi, Romy Cachola and Tom Berg a list of about 60 employees, complete with title, education and experience (though not salary) for each. View that communication .

By our quick tally, there are 15 Master’s degrees and three Ph.Ds on staff. Is that smart enough to get the job done?

Where’s Carlisle?

Mayor Peter Carlisle is in Japan all this week, and has no local public events.

Read Previous Editions of Inside Honolulu

August 1: Across the Street?; Waipahu Board Backs Hoopili; Executive Session?; Ansaldo Responds; Rail Appeal Continues, With Questions Churning About Ansaldo; Sewage Spill in Kailua; Where’s Carlisle?