CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM There were no signs of a move yesterday afternoon at College Hill, where former UH president Evan Dobelle and his wife have been residing. They have until tomorrow to be out.

Dobelle set to
leave house after
expensive renovations

$1.2 million in work on
College Hill played a role in the
dismissal of the UH president

Former University of Hawaii president Evan Dobelle has until tomorrow to move out of College Hill, the century-old Manoa presidential residence where questions were first raised about Dobelle's spending of taxpayer and UH Foundation money.

The cost of renovating College Hill in 2001 so that Dobelle and his family could move in ballooned from about $328,000 to about $1.2 million of taxpayer funds. In addition, another $112,000 of UH Foundation money was spent on furniture, which included a $484 birdcage.

The questions raised by media reports, UH regents and lawmakers about College Hill spending appear to have been a factor in Dobelle's dismissal as UH president and were mentioned in an unflattering second-year evaluation of him last year.

Dobelle's attorney, Rick Fried, said the College Hill renovation was planned before the former president arrived in Hawaii.

"That was all organized before they got here," he said. "When they got here, they didn't have any influence."

However, project management and procurement documents indicate much of the additional spending was requested and approved by Dobelle or his wife, Kit.

Some of the costs, such as $92,000 for a new roof and $24,000 for new paint, appear to be maintenance work that would have needed to be done anyway.

Other projects, however, included about $147,000 to restore a historic greenhouse where temperatures now are too hot to grow plants. Another $175,000 was spent to install landscape and driveway lights that were then removed and put into storage.

Fried said that the university could not tear the greenhouse down because it was a historic structure, so it had to be rebuilt to meet preservation standards.

University spokeswoman Carolyn Tanaka said there was never any intention of growing plants in the greenhouse, despite a notation in a memo that said it was being considered for possible use by UH-Manoa programs.

Fried said Dobelle had nothing to do with the greenhouse; however, university documents indicate that he authorized the spending.

University documents also show Kit Dobelle special-ordered low-voltage lights for the driveway and parking lot that cost $285 a piece. Sixty lights were ordered at a cost of $16,710. Fifty of the lights were to be installed, and 10 kept as spares.

But then as the project was about 95 percent complete, an Aug. 31, 2001, memo states "Mrs. Dobelle did not like the landscape lights that were installed along the driveway. She had the electrician remove them." The memo goes on to say that Kit Dobelle wanted to choose new lights to be installed.

Other documents dated about two weeks earlier show that when a university electrical engineer raised concerns that the special-order lights would be too difficult to replace, Kit Dobelle reiterated that she had chosen the fixtures and wanted them installed.

Fried, however, said that Kit Dobelle only wanted three lights installed and was shocked when she saw the additional lights along the driveway.

"It made the place look like Disneyland," he said. "She never had any input into the other lights and thought that was an unnecessary expense and they made the place look unattractive."

After Kit Dobelle rejected the original driveway lights, eight new lights were ordered at a cost of $166 a piece and installed in October for about $5,000, the documents show.

The lights that were removed are now stored in the basement of College Hill.

Excavation work began on the project to dig up the driveway and parking lot on Aug. 22. The extensive project involved digging trenches for electrical lines and outlets and new landscaping to cover up the trenches.

Albert C. Kobayashi Inc., a company once owned and managed by former UH regent Bert A. Kobayashi, subcontracted to do the excavation for $69,455. The firm was started by the father of Bert A. Kobayashi, but he sold it to employees in 1997.

Electricians Inc. got about $68,000 for electrical work and materials, and Green Thumb Inc. submitted a bill for about $13,123 for landscaping.

When questioned about the cost of the renovations in 2001, Dobelle promised to raise $1 million in private funds to reimburse the state. But when questioned by lawmakers earlier this year, he said that he raised only about $50,000 and that it was easier to raise money for scholarships.

College Hill was built in the early 1900s for Frank and Eleanor Atherton and was donated to the university in 1963.

Fried said the Dobelles are moving to another home in Manoa.