State unlikely to audit path

The state has no plans to audit a 16-mile multi-use path being constructed in segments from Ahukini to Anahola, government officials said yesterday.

The County Council at its Oct. 17 meeting approved a resolution requesting the state Auditor’s Office look at how the multi-million dollar Eastside project, funded mainly through federal grants, has been carried out since work started several years ago.

State Deputy Auditor Jan Yamane said the county can ask for an audit, but can not direct it. The state Auditor’s Office would not be inclined to conduct such an audit, she added, unless the state Legislature ordered it.

It would be “inappropriate” for the state Auditor’s Office to audit a county project that did not use state funds, state Rep. Mina Morita, D-14th District, said.

Sen. Gary Hooser, D-Kaua‘i, said as a courtesy he would be willing to submit a resolution and “see what happens in the legislative process.” But he said he has received no communications from council members requesting this and would need more specifics before endorsing it.

“The big question would be whose going to pay for it,” he said. “The county would have to be willing to.”

Kaua‘i lacks a county auditor or similar position to handle such matters.

During Hooser’s first term as a council member in the late 1990s, he sponsored a charter amendment that gave council the power to authorize management and other audits.

But the mechanism was left up to the council. It can go out for bid to hire an independent auditor, it can hire an in-house auditor like the state has or it can contract with the state, the senator said.

Councilman Tim Bynum, who opposed the audit request, said he assumed it unlikely the state would take it up.

“I don’t know why it would have a high priority,” he said. “There haven’t been any substantial difficulties with the project thus far.”

Council’s resolution, which passed with a 4-3 vote, calls for a state audit to examine expenditures, permitting and compliance with grant requirements among other aspects of the plan.

Councilman Mel Rapozo, who introduced the measure, and Councilwoman Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho, who supported it, did not return calls seeking comment yesterday.

While discussing the issue on the council floor, Iseri-Carvalho cited questions about failures and inconsistencies in the path’s design and construction, including its impact on monk seal habitat, placement near eroding shoreline and obstruction of views.

“Hopefully we can find the most economical way to continue building the bike path” and ensure it is preserved well into the future, she said at the meeting.

Council members voting against the requested audit said they were concerned about further delaying the estimated $50-million project, funded by an 80/20 federal/county match.

The first of six phases was completed in 2003, a 2.5-mile loop at Lydgate Park that used little, if any, county money.

Through a project Bynum coordinated and originated, the county received $2.6 million in federal grant money by contributing a “soft match” of volunteer hours to build Kamalani Playground and Bridge that was equivalent to $650,000 of labor.

The second phase, a 4.5-mile stretch nearing completion from Lihi Boat Ramp in central Kapa‘a to Ahihi Point in Kealia, was also funded with a soft match.

The county earned some $30 million in federal funds through a land exchange near Kealia Kai. Tom McCloskey, a developer, agreed to give roughly 10 acres of prime land at Kealia Beach and nearby areas that was valued at $6.5 million, Bynum said.

The second phase, expected to cost roughly $12.5 million, will likely have enough money leftover to fund the next phase, he added, which will connect the first two segments.

Morita said there were more important issues to focus on other than auditing the path, used daily by hundreds of walkers, bicyclists and skaters.

“I see so many people using the pathway and really enjoying it,” she said.

Councilman Jay Furfaro, who opposed the requested audit, said at the meeting that the county should look at a Public Works audit begun last year after a Kilauea gym project ran into issues. He said he expects that review to produce findings that could be applied to the path project.

• Nathan Eagle, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or neagle@kauaipubco.com.