Audit sears state historic office
| • | Lingle wants investigation of public housing agency |
By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
The governor should step in to improve management of the state Historic Preservation Division, state auditor Marion Higa said yesterday as she released a report highly critical of the office's operations and administration.
The Department of Land and Natural Resources division is the primary agency for protecting Hawai'i's historic sites and buildings. In her scathing report released yesterday, Higa criticized it for lax preservation of artifacts and remains, as well as questionable sick leave and overtime practices.
"Untimely and inconsistent archaeological reviews compromise the program's mission and foster an environment conducive to corruption," Higa wrote in the audit. "Moreover, the division's insufficient management controls jeopardize the preservation and safekeeping of historic artifacts and human skeletal remains."
Division administrator Don Hibbard said the information provided in the audit did not support its conclusions. "I think it was not looking at it within the total context," he said.
Higa said Gov. Linda Lingle should take actions such as informing staff that abuse of resources will not be tolerated, reminding the department chairman and division administrator of their duties as managers, and replacing them if they fail to comply.
Lingle declined to comment yesterday, saying she had not seen the audit.
The Historic Preservation Division's reviews of reports submitted by developers' archaeologists are sometimes delayed for months or years, according to the audit. Higa called the reviews inconsistent, with some reports rejected while others with similar deficiencies are accepted.
In a written response, the DLNR said delays usually result from a staff vacancy, and that "projects are rarely delayed and historic properties do not go unprotected as a result of staff not providing reviews."
The department said it could not respond to the criticism about inconsistent archaeological reports, saying the auditor's office had declined to specify the reports in question.
The audit raised ethical questions about a burial program staff member's acceptance of a cash donation from a developer. According to the audit, the employee decided that some skeletal remains found at a multimillion-dollar development in Kona should be removed, but gave inconsistent explanations for why.
The staffer, a church minister, accepted $1,000 from the developer "allegedly" for his church, although the check was made out to him personally, the audit reported.
The department said it had investigated, and that the employee no longer worked for the state.
The audit also said the division failed to inventory historical artifacts, human skeletal remains and funerary objects adequately and that it had "poor storage practices."
It said the burial program staff could not account for all skeletal remains listed on its inventory, and could not find two of 35 items randomly selected during a July visit. Higa also said human skeletal remains and historical artifacts were not stored properly. For example, skeletal remains on Kaua'i are stored in a rusting container and risk deteriorating.
Hibbard countered that the remains were not harmed. The department also defended its information system, and said staff had found the last of the 35 items requested on the next day.
It also said the audit "adopts a highly structured, impersonal, Western bias towards the treatment of human remains" that differs from the division's culturally sensitive approach. It said the division "does not view its holding of human remains in anticipation of reburial as either a museum collection nor an archaeological collection."
In another criticism, Higa said the staff appeared routinely to have abused sick leave and been paid for overtime that was unjustified or not approved. The administrator allowed staff to work elsewhere and do personal errands on state time, she said.
Higa also criticized the department's 2000 internal investigation into allegations of sick leave and overtime abuse as "substandard."
Department chairman Gilbert Coloma-Agaran, whose term ends Dec. 31, said the department planned to reopen its investigation of issues identified in the audit, as well as allegations from employees. Coloma-Agaran was named to head the department in December 2000.
The audit said a review of records showed extensive patterns of sick leave taken immediately before or after weekends, holidays and scheduled vacations. A former division employee said it was common practice for employees to run personal errands without taking leave, according to the audit.
It reported that the archaeology branch chief routinely taught University of Hawai'i classes during work hours, making up the time on an honor system.
Hibbard said the employee made up hours on nights and weekends, and that the quantity and quality of his work were not affected.
"There's nothing that says people cannot work a second job, and I felt that the modification to their daily schedule was not significant," he said.
Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.
