Senators seek agency audit

By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer

The state Historic Preservation Division has serious management problems that should be examined by State Auditor Marion Higa, according to a resolution introduced yesterday by nine state senators.

The Historic Preservation Division, part of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, is the primary agency for protecting the Islands' historic sites and buildings.

According to the Senate resolution, the agency has numerous problems:

• Lengthy delays in processing county, state and federal project applications and permits; difficulty in reaching staff; inconsistent and unfair decisions by staff; lack of accountability in obtaining and spending state and federal money.
• No administrative rules have been adopted by the division for its historic preservation program. For the past 15 years, differing versions of draft rules have been used by the staff.
• The division does not charge or collect fees for regulating archaeological work in Hawai'i, despite a legislative mandate to do so.

Don Hibbard, director of the division, hung up the phone when contacted by The Advertiser yesterday afternoon about the resolution.

The resolution was introduced by eight Democratic senators and one Republican. It would require the auditor's office to examine the division and deliver a report on its findings before next year's legislative session.

The senators are Democrats Russell Kokubun, 3rd (Kau, S. Kona, Puna); Jan Buen, 4th (North/West Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i); Donna Kim, 15th (Moanalua Valley, 'Aiea, Pearlridge, Kalihi Valley); Lorraine Inouye, 1st (N. Hilo, Hamakua, S. Kohala); Matt Matsunaga, 9th (Kahala, Wai'alae, Palolo); Jonathan Chun, 7th (S. Kaua'i, Ni'ihau); Brian Kanno, 20th ('Ewa Beach, Makakilo, Waipahu); Colleen Hanabusa 21st (Nanakuli, Wai'anae, Makaha); and Republican Sam Slom, 8th (Hawai'i Kai, 'Aina Haina).

The audit would cover such areas as "records management ... personnel practices ... internal budgeting and fiscal controls ... and the status and intelligibility" of the draft administrative rules.

"It's long overdue," Big Island archaeologist Paul Rosendahl said yesterday of the proposed audit. "There can be months to years of delays in project reviews by that office. Sometimes you can get it expedited if it's a crisis situation. Other than that, people just have to wait."

Rosendahl said he understands the office is understaffed, but added, "in that situation you have to organize your priorities, and I don't see much evidence of that."

Staffers in the division's main office at Kapolei have complained that Hibbard, longtime head of the division, spends little time at the office and instead uses a small satellite office downtown as his main base of operations.

Reach Jim Dooley jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2447.