[ OUR OPINION ]
CITY Managing Director Ben Lee says the Honolulu City Council need not invoke its subpoena powers to get answers to its questions about management and construction costs for Central Oahu Regional Park. That's true. All it would take to get the Council to back down is for the administration to come up with the information and talk about the matter in a public forum. Mayor Jeremy Harris should direct city officials to do so and spare taxpayers a potentially protracted and expensive investigation. City should answer
park project questions
THE ISSUE The Council is taking steps toward forcing the Harris administration to explain cost overruns and other problems at Central Oahu Regional Park.
"I don't think there's anything to hide," Lee has said. If so, the administration should have no problem explaining why contracts for the park's development have swollen significantly beyond original figures. One of those, awarded to SSFM International, was first pegged at $932,675, but has increased to more than $2.5 million. Another, with Walters, Kimura, Motoda Inc., has gone from $512,425 to $1.95 million.
City officials have balked at discussing the problems and the cost overruns involved in developing the 269-acre park, part of which opened last summer. As a result, five Council members have approved a plan for a special investigation. If cleared by the full nine-member Council, the resolution would provide the body with subpoena powers to question witnesses under oath and seek documents on the project.
After months of resistance, Lee earlier this week said the administration would brief the Council, but only behind closed doors. He contends secrecy is necessary so as not to jeopardize current investigations related to the project, including one involving a city employee who has alleged mismanagement with the construction, and another of possible campaign-spending violations concerning SSFM and Harris' now-defunct quest for the governor's office.
No authority appears to have a problem with the Council's inquiry. City prosecutors and police investigators looking into the campaign violations do not take issue and Deputy Corporation Counsel Paul Tsukiyama has said closed meetings on the matter would not be allowable under Hawaii's sunshine laws. Council members believe questions can be asked about costs and building permits without involving any sensitive subjects.
It appears, then, that the Harris administration stands alone in its need for secrecy. It may have legitimate reasons for the increases; unforeseen problems often arise in such large-scale endeavors. Taxpayers would surely accept reasonable explanations.
What the public won't accept, however, are dodges and feints. The Harris administration should remember that. It should not force the Council and citizens to pry loose information they rightfully deserve.
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