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

Civil Beat is reporting from the inside.

10:08 a.m. Horner Lays It Down

The time for introductions is over. The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation is getting down to business. HART Finance Committee Chair Don Horner is stern and aggressive at this morning’s meeting.

He’s taken on Interim Executive Director Toru Hamayasu, saying the “budget” passed by HART last month is incomplete because it includes only expenditures and not revenues. He said the city has moved its goalposts with each successive financial plan, and that it’s unacceptable to use the $5.3 billion figure as the only target — he intends to avoid spending unallocated contingency funds.

Horner disagreed with Department of Transportation Services Director Wayne Yoshioka on how to interpret the business plan, saying HART should work with the city’s bus contractor to find “synergies.” He admitted to “stirring the pot” and said he’d go after all city agencies with the same tenacity — if it helps make rail work.

“Our job is to build, operate and maintain a rail system,” Horner said. “Our goal is transparency and accountability.”

Horner’s detail-oriented personality is on display, and backs up the picture of the man profiled in the August edition of Hawaii Business Magazine. Read that cover story .

9:34 a.m. Mayor’s Math Problem

Also on the site this morning is a closer look at how the union contract impacts city lifeguards. Read it here:

Emergency Services Director: Ocean Safety ‘Savings’ Will Cost Taxpayers More

9:27 a.m. Capitol Moat Sewage

From elsewhere on Civil Beat this morning, a story about the state pumping thousands of gallons of water and algae from the moat surrounding the Capitol into the wastewater system. Read it here:

Hawaii Dumps 1,000s of Gallons of Water into Maxed-Out Sewage System

Council Chair on Commissioner’s Ethics Violation

On Tuesday, the city’s Ethics Commission handed down a rebuke and a $650 fine to a member of the Planning Commission who continued to vote to extend the landfill despite warnings about a potential conflict of interest.

Andrew Jamila Jr. said he should have listened to the Ethics Commission but was relying on advice from the Hannemann administration, a mistake he regrets. Some of that advice came from an official in the Department of Community Services: current Honolulu City Council Chair Ernie Martin.

Inside Honolulu caught up with Martin outside Honolulu Hale yesterday afternoon to talk about his role.

“With respect to Andrew, and I was reading the advisory opinion, which is pretty accurate, I know he made an inquiry when he submitted his application that he was considering applying for funds that he asked whether he would be eligible,” Martin said.

“I recall discussing it with him and he said he wouldn’t be applying for any salaries itself, and I told him that I didn’t foresee a conflict but I advised him to talk to the deputy corporation counsel and the Ethics Commission knowing that he had a role with the Planning Commission, which I understand he did.

“I think what I was surprised to learn was that he was forewarned by the Ethics Commission that he had a conflict and that he should recuse himself. Because I think if that had come up, and we didn’t get that ethics advisory at that time, I think we would have basically advised him that either he withdraw his application or he resign from the Planning Commission. You cannot do both having that perceived conflict.

“There’s some degree of admiration for him that he admitted … that he should have taken the advice of the Ethics Commission, that he didn’t take it as seriously as he should have. And now he has to pay the consequences.”

Asked if the administration allowed Jamila to proceed as grantee because he was a reliable vote in favor of expanding the Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill, Martin said that’s not how it works.

“That never came up. … That’s never an issue. If you understand the department, you understand what the department is charged with, and that’s all we focus on. It’s primarily helping disadvantaged populations,” he said.

“We don’t do the service normally directly itself, but it’s primarily through private nonprofits. That’s the mission of the department, that’s all we’re charged with. And that’s the focus of the department, that’s all we’ve done.

“We don’t get involved in terms of issues that are outside of the department’s jurisdiction. That’s at another level. Each department, pretty much they just focus on their area of expertise and specialty.”

Jim Fulton, executive assistant to Mayor Peter Carlisle, said the mayor still needs time to review the advisory opinion before commenting on the potential for further punishment for Jamila.

HART Finance Committee to Meet

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation‘s Finance Committee is set to meet this morning at 8 a.m. Here’s and what’s on tap:

• Review of FY2012 Operating and Capital Budgets
• Review of Financial Policies of the Board of Directors
• FY2012 Business Plan – Draft Business Strategy

Where’s Carlisle?

In his only scheduled public appearance this week, Mayor Peter Carlisle will be a guest at the First Insurance Company of Hawaii Gala Celebration at 5:30 p.m. at Iolani Palace.

Read Previous Editions of Inside Honolulu

August 10: Vacation Rentals Argument Not Over Yet; Quintal Retires, Quietly; Packed Auditorium; Beat the School Jam; Vacation Rentals on Planning Commission Agenda; Morning Reading; Where’s Carlisle?

August 9: Ethics Agenda Out; EPA Fines Pest Control Co.; Regulating B&Bs Not So Easy; Where’s Carlisle?

August 8: Bombardier on Appeal; Carlisle In Da Hale; Where’s City Oversight?; Police Department Names Names; Carlisle on Japan, in Video; Where’s Carlisle?

August 5: 6:51 p.m. Carlisle in Japan, in Photos; Bombardier Officially Rejected; Ansaldo Enlisted to Fix San Fran’s Light Rail Cars; Traffic Ticket Quota; Carlisle’s Public Sked; Ansaldo Honolulu “Pleased” With Finmeccanica Restructuring; Waianae’s Clean Water Award; Chair Garcia’s Checklist; Where’s Carlisle?

August 4: Congestion Tolls in Honolulu … Someday; HART Here, HART There; Zoning Appeals Board Appointments Advance; Committee Moves Sign Bill Forward; Moratorium Lifted on New Sewer Connections in Waimanalo; Free Speech vs. Open Space; Today’s Committees; Where’s Carlisle?

August 3: Board Defends Rate Hike; Appointee Asked About Water Rates; Tow Trucking Debated; Seniors, Disabled Ask for Help; ORI Discussion Coming Soon; Today’s Committees; Fewer Golfers, More Money; Chang’s Public Service; Where’s Carlisle?

August 2: Case Closed, Not Decided; City Rests, Ansaldo Satisfied; City Witness Rebuts Sumitomo; Ireland, Silva Like Merger; Talking Merger; No Competition for Carlisle; Berg: GOP “Party of the Skin Heads”; Today’s Committees; Want Train? Get Brains; Where’s Carlisle?

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?