Agency head awarded contract to ex-spouse
By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer
The head of the state's public housing agency awarded a $768,000 no-bid contract to a company headed by her ex-husband, with whom she still owns real estate and who still is listed as a co-borrower of a mortgage loan on her Kailua home.
Sharyn Miyashiro, executive director of the Housing and Community Development Corp. of Hawaii, instructed her staff to award the federally funded contract directly to Punaluu Builders on September 22, 2000, after no firm bid on the job. At the time, she stated in writing that she had "no immediate family or business relationship with principals in this firm."
Dennis Mitsunaga, Miyashiro's ex-husband and co-owner of their Makiki-area condominium apartment, is a part-owner of Punaluu Builders, according to Dexter Sato, president of the firm. Mitsunaga owns several engineering and construction-related companies and is a prominent campaign fund-raiser for some Democratic officeholders.
Miyashiro and Mitsunaga were divorced in 1981, but terms of their divorce agreement made him responsible for paying the mortgage, utility and repair bills on the Makiki condominium they still own together.
The divorce agreement also required that Mitsunaga pay the mortgage, utility and repair bills at Miyashiro's Kailua residence until she remarried. It stipulated that he supply her with an automobile no more than four years old and pay all operating, repair and insurance bills for the vehicle until she remarried. Miyashiro has not remarried and will not say whether the terms of her divorce agreement have changed.
However, state property records list Mitsunaga as co-borrower of a mortgage loan on the Kailua house. Mitsunaga re-married in the early 1980s and lives elsewhere on O'ahu.
In a brief written statement to The Advertiser, Miyashiro said, "I believe there is no conflict of interest or ethics violation as Mr. Mitsunaga is not a member of my immediate family nor do I consider ownership of a property acquired during the marriage as a business relationship.
"In regard to my divorce agreement ... it is personal in nature and an intrusion into my personal life," she wrote.
Mitsunaga did not respond to written questions faxed to his office early last Friday afternoon, nor to numerous requests for comment this week and last.
Miyashiro has not discussed the property ownership situation with her board of directors, according to board member Ronald Lim, who is also Gov. Ben Cayetano's special assistant for housing. Lim said he knew Mitsunaga and Miyashiro were once married, but he was unaware of their common property ownership.
If Mitsunaga is paying the mortgage, utility or repair bills on Miyashiro's home, that information should have been disclosed to the board, Lim said.
Asked if the board should look into the matter, Lim said, "At this point, I'd better not say. I can't speak for the board."
Lim said the agency has been "diligent" in reviewing the contracts awarded to Mitsunaga and noted that he has received less than 1 percent of the agency's contract awards.
Attempts to contact Wesley Segawa, board chairman of the state housing agency, were unsuccessful.
Segawa, a Big Island engineering consultant, is also related to Mitsunaga. Lim said Segawa and Mitsunaga are second cousins.
The contract Miyashiro awarded two years ago to Punaluu Builders was for termite treatment and repair of extensive termite damage at the Kauiokalani public housing project in Wai'anae. The Housing and Community Development Corp. of Hawaii, which normally approves contracts as a final step in the procurement process, granted Miyashiro unusual advance approval in March 2000 for the work because "immediate corrective actions" were necessary, according to records.
Though the contract was then publicly advertised and the agency sought competitive bids in July 2000, no contractor came forward to seek the work, citing an overload of jobs in other areas, according to agency records.
Miyashiro then received permission from the state Procurement Office to directly negotiate the contract, explaining that the termite damage was "progressing at a rapid rate. Infestation needs to be stopped immediately and repairs made expeditiously so that tenants can return," according to a document she sent to a state procurement official.
On September 20, 2000, Miyashiro ordered her staff to begin negotiations with Punaluu Builders for the contract, according to agency files. There is nothing in the files that indicates why Miyashiro chose Punaluu or whether she contacted other firms. In fact, the records show that Punaluu Builders was not among the companies that initially showed interest in the job.
"I wish I could tell you that (Punaluu Builders) was a staff recommendation, but there's nothing in the files that says that," said Darrell Young, the agency's information officer.
Sato, Punaluu Builders president, said this week that "someone at HCDCH called me" about doing the work but he did not think it was Miyashiro.
The contract was signed by Sato March 21, 2001, and by Miyashiro April 5, 2001, more than a year after she got the agency's approval to expedite the job.
Aaron Fujioka, the state's chief procurement officer, said this week that Miyashiro's selection of Punaluu Builders creates "an interesting situation and it certainly doesn't look too good. If I were her, I would have sought input and guidance from the Ethics Commission and the attorney general's office."
Miyashiro recommended another Mitsunaga company for a $324,000 contract for construction management services at the Waimaha-Sunflower public housing project in Wai'anae, but the job was never awarded.
The work would have been an amendment to an earlier design contract for $861,929 awarded to Mitsunaga & Associates in June of 1998 when Miyashiro was the agency's executive assistant. She became acting executive director in 1999 and executive director in 2000. Miyashiro has been working at the state public housing agency since 1978.
Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@ honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2447.
