Robbins Keeps His Job, But Rail Faces More ‘Substantial’ Impacts To Schedule And Cost
The critical utility relocation work on Dillingham Boulevard has stalled amid an epic impasse between HART and city planners.
Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation Executive Director Andrew Robbins will keep his job, for now. At least three agency board members on Thursday opposed the effort to replace him, which was enough to stop it.
It鈥檚 not clear what happens once Robbins鈥 contract expires at the end of the year.
Meanwhile, he’ll continue to preside over a multibillion-dollar megaproject whose schedule and budget woes are only getting worse. Efforts to relocate utilities along Dillingham Boulevard have stalled, officials managing the project say, due to an impasse between HART and the city鈥檚 planning department over the rail agency鈥檚 latest designs for that work.
That impasse will mean further 鈥渟ubstantial鈥 cost and schedule impacts to a rail project that has already seen a heavy share of cost increases.
Rail officials wouldn鈥檛 give a dollar amount Thursday. They said it depends on what approach they eventually use to get the Dillingham utility work done. However, it鈥檚 sure to delay that work by at least nine months and possibly as much as four years, they said.
It鈥檚 further not clear how these design snafus will impact the project鈥檚 overall completion date, which is now officially slated for late 2026. But Robbins has previously stressed that getting the utility work out of the way is critical for whomever is to build rail’s elevated pathway into town.
HART this summer tried to get design variances from the city in 13 different spots along the crowded corridor to make those designs work. But the Department of Planning and Permitting said it couldn鈥檛 approve them.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had to hold firm to full drawings and now you鈥檙e finding you can鈥檛 do it without a variance,鈥 DPP Acting Director Kathy Sokugawa, said at Thursday鈥檚 HART board meeting.
HART asked DPP to review those plans this summer 鈥渁nd we tried and it wasn鈥檛 working,鈥 she said.
The problem, according to City Center Utility Relocation Project Manager Marc Gravel, is that there are 13 鈥減inch points鈥 along Dillingham where it鈥檚 too narrow to fit all the various utility lines underground, which is why the rail agency sought the variances.
Sokugawa said that private builders and even other public agencies have to present them with full plans before they receive DPP approval. Sokugawa is a HART board member based on her role as DPP director.
Now, HART that include more property acquisition along Dillingham for the space needed to put lines underground. The agency might also submit a design that shifts the guideway slightly mauka in the roadway next to Honolulu Community College to allow for some of the electrical lines to remain overhead.
Gravel also outlined what he described as an unlikely solution to acquire property along the full mauka length of Dillingham.
Meanwhile, the Nan Inc. work crews relocating utilities along Dillingham will stop and reopen the road to the public in early November.
Work won鈥檛 resume there, rail officials said, until they鈥檝e finally figured out how to relocate all of the utilities across all of Dillingham, not just in piecemeal areas.
An Open Debate On Robbins’ Performance
Earlier in Thursday鈥檚 meeting, during the discussion to replace Robbins, board member Glenn Nohara said that HART has changed its approach to the utility relocation designs multiple times since August 2018, contributing to the current predicament.
During testimony late last year, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell blasted HART for moving too slowly on the utility relocation. He implored the board “to make sure that you鈥檙e on HART鈥檚 ass, to make sure that they鈥檙e doing what they need to do in a timely way.鈥
Nohara further said HART hasn’t been as transparent as it should be in providing timely, updated budget numbers.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 really know where we stand within our budget,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e are not taking a proactive approach to determine our true financial and schedule duration, and we keep making what-if scenarios and excuses and not presenting this information.鈥
The board鈥檚 discussion was notable because its members opted to conduct it and debate in an open public session. Typically, they鈥檝e held such discussions behind closed doors.
Terrence Lee, the current board’s longest serving member, said he 鈥渓ost a lot of sleep鈥 over whether to keep Robbins at the helm. He changed his mind, and decided to support Robbins, after initially supporting the Human Resources Committee鈥檚 recommendation to replace him.
鈥淚 believe that given the circumstances that we鈥檙e in, making a change in the CEO at this point in time is imprudent. It injects another element of uncertainty that we cannot afford,鈥 Lee said.
In 2016, one of Robbins’ predecessors, Daniel Grabauskas, resigned under a mutual agreement with the board as costs spiked that year.
Lee added that he recently spoke with both House Speaker Scott Saiki and House Finance Chair Sylvia Luke about Robbins. The two are among the most powerful members of the Legislature, and they’d be key players in any future requests for more state funding on a transit project currently estimated to cost more than $9 billion.
Both Luke and Saiki supported retaining Robbins, Lee said. Kika Bukoski and Joseph Uno, the two newest members of the HART board, agreed with Lee.
Board member Hoyt Zia disagreed, however.
鈥淥ur concern and our main focus is on making sure the project continues and is done in the best way possible,鈥 he said in arguing to replace Robbins. It鈥檚 based on what board members have seen over three years — not anyone else, he said.
鈥淭he evaluations speak for themselves,鈥 he said, although no evaluation has been made public for Robbins鈥 job performance last year.
Zia chaired the HR committee last year before Lynn McCrory took over that post on the volunteer board.聽 She said a lot of issues were raised in the committee鈥檚 recent closed-door meetings about Robbins that 鈥渨ere not positive but were negative.鈥
Robbins’ three-year contract expires at the end of the year. Board members opted Thursday not to form a search committee for a replacement.
But it remains unclear how long Robbins would stay in the job past that expiration, if at all.
“I appreciate and respect the authority, discussion and decision of the HART Board today on my employment contract. I am overwhelmed by the support I received from elected officials, and labor, business and community leaders,” he said in an emailed statement.
“I look forward to continuing to work hard over the next few months on the challenges the rail project faces as well as getting the system ready and certified for the beginning of passenger service, as the Board continues its discussions and deliberations.”
HART has yet to announce a contract award on that last leg of work, under a so-called public-private partnership. One of the bidders recently disclosed to investors a proposal amount that was hundreds of millions of dollars more than what HART has budgeted.
Robbins said Thursday that the procurement remains active.
