Mayor Hires ‘Fresh Set of Eyes’ to Monitor Honolulu Rail Project
Michael Burns聽has a long history running transit agencies on the mainland. He will be paid $95,000 to add another layer of supervision to the city’s troubled $6 billion project.
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell announced the hiring Wednesday of a Bay Area consultant with decades of transit experience to improve oversight of the city鈥檚 $6 billion commuter rail line.
Michael T. Burns is the former head of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority in California, where with pulling the agency out of debt and securing $900 million in federal funds to extend the Bay Area Rapid Transit system into San Jose.
Construction is well underway on Honolulu’s $6 billion rail project, which will be 20 miles long and include 21 stations.
Cory Lum/Civil Beat
Burns was also the CEO of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and has managed rail transit systems in Philadelphia and Boston.
鈥淲e brought Michael Burns on board because rail is our largest public works project in the history of the state, and we need to ensure to the public that public funds are spent responsibly,鈥 Caldwell said in a press release. 鈥淲ith a project this size, it鈥檚 always good to have checks and balances in place.鈥
Caldwell added that Burns will bring a 鈥渇resh set of eyes鈥 to the rail project to benefit the city and the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, which is charged with building, operating and maintaining the 20-mile system.
Michael T. Burns has a long history of running transit agencies on the mainland.
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Burns鈥 hire comes after Caldwell and HART officials were battered in the Legislature for asking for more general excise tax revenue to help cover a projected $910 million shortfall. Lawmakers had serious concerns about how the project was being managed and the perceived lack of transparency over its finances.
Burns will work under a one-year contract worth $95,000 that will be paid out of the Honolulu Department of Transportation Services budget. His annual salary at the Santa Clara VTA when he retired in 2013 was nearly $300,000.
Burns is expected to review the rail project and provide quarterly reports that will be available to the public. , he will not have any decision-making authority.
鈥淢y work scope here is a collaborative, cooperative effort with HART; with the HART staff, with the city and really with all of the stakeholders,鈥 Burns said. 鈥淭he objective is to try to make this the best project that it can be.鈥
HART Executive Director and CEO Dan Grabauskas was unavailable for comment Wednesday, but he told Civil Beat in an email that he “welcome(s) the input” and looks forward to working with Burns.
