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The board of directors for the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation moved to tamp down the recent turmoil there by approving plans to negotiate a new multi-year contract for rail CEO Lori Kahikina.

Earlier this month Mayor Rick Blangiardi urged the board to grant a new multi-year contract to Kahikina. After a long discussion Friday the board voted unanimously in favor of a new contract for her that would run for least three years subject to specific terms to be negotiated later.

Kahikina said she wants to negotiate the specific terms of the new contract privately, and wants those negotiations to be completed by the end of August.

“You can’t think that you can drag this on much further than August,” Kahikina told the board.

If the two sides cannot come to terms, “I have to look for a job, and you folks have to look for a new CEO,” she said.

Kahikina’s current three-year contract pays $275,000 per year, and expires at the end of this year. She has held the CEO’s job since 2021.

The HART board gave Kahikina less-than-stellar evaluations last year and this year that included criticisms of her handling of issues such as staffing, recruitment, employee relations and transparency.

More questions surfaced about Kahikina’s future with HART after a heated discussion in April with board Chairwoman Colleen Hanabusa over the abrupt resignation of Project Director Nate Meddings. Board members regarded Meddings as a critically important leader on the $10 billion rail project.

Kahikina publicly described that exchange as workplace bullying, and Hanabusa asked the city Department of Human Relations to investigate Kahikina’s claim.

Hanabusa said Friday the city has not yet contacted her about that investigation, but she offered to step aside as board chair to reassure the public that the investigation will be impartial. Her fellow board members declined that offer, leaving Hanabusa in place as chair for at least the time being.

Hanabusa later recused herself from the vote on Kahikina’s contract, and referred the matter to the HART Human Relations Committee to negotiate the specific terms of the new deal. Hanabusa also invited Kahikina to consult with her attorney on exactly how the new contract should be negotiated.

One of the most outspoken supporters of a new contract for Kahikina was HART Vice Chairman Kika Bukoski, who said HART needs consistent, stable leadership.

“In the past we’ve just seen every so many years changing the top position at the administrative level, and I think that is a part of why the project has faltered along the way, because we’ve always had to start from scratch after each change in leadership,” he said.

He proposed that the contract be a minimum of three years “with no maximum.”

Ed Sniffen, a HART board member and director of the state Department of Transportation, suggested a multi-year contract for Kahikina though the end of the project in 2031 would be appropriate.

“Given where we are, given the momentum that we have, and given the leadership we see, I don’t see why we wouldn’t consider that as well from my perspective,” Sniffen said.

Board member Antony Aalto said he has been a vocal Kahikina supporter, and said she and her team managed significant problems she inherited when she took over the project more than two years ago.

But he also noted that Kahikina admits she is a tough boss, and “my biggest concern is the need to have a team that will stick with us going through all the way to the end, and my concern is that we’ve been losing staff.”

He reminded her that he and others including an official with the Federal Transit Administration have suggested Kahikina seek out an “executive coach” to polish her leadership style.

Aalto said he supports a new multi-year contract for Kahikina, “but that’s my concern. I want to help give you the skill set that will allow us to retain that team.”