HART director offered multi-year contract: 'Prayers!'

HONOLULU (KHON2) -- The board of the Hawaii Authority for Rapid Transit is ready to move forward with Lori Kahikina as its executive director.

There was unanimous consent to offer Kahikina a multi-year contract with a 3-year minimum, subject to negotiations. Several testified in support of her continuing leadership.

"The staff at HART believes in Lori. I believe in Lori," said HART employee Doug Herring, "I was offered a couple of other positions and I've chosen to stay at HART because I believe in her."

"What she did to earn the confidence of people like us in a community and the federal government and to secure the funding, I think hats off," testifier Allen Cardines, Jr. said.

Some might point out low ridership numbers or the several delays that Rail has gone through, but testifiers said Kahikina's engagement has been on point.

"She explains things to people, she answers everybody's questions, she does community presentations, so I think it's very wrong for people to put all the pressure on one person," Angela Melody Young said.

Chairperson Colleen Hanabusa recused herself from the vote on the contract as the City Human Resources Department looks into concerns Kahikina recently expressed about her treatment by some members of the board. Kahikina said she was not sure if she would need to start looking for new jobs before she got the offer.

"Today is more, 'Am I in or not?' So, we haven't even talked about specifics of the contract," Kahikina said. "It's, 'Do you want me to stay or not?'"

It is not a done deal just yet -- terms of the contract still need to be negotiated and agreed upon but Kahikina said one of her concerns over having a multi-year deal was resolved.

"Because I would not agree to a one-year or two-year, that's just, we're just going to be right back here in about of year, so," Kahikina said. "Best case scenario did happen today. So, prayers! I know there's prayers all around. I have my prayer warriors out there and they came through!"

Kahikina said an agreement on terms during negotiations must come before the end of August, 2024 or else she will need to look for new employment and the board will need to find a new HART CEO.