An O'ahu state employee has been commuting daily to Kaua'i for three years because of the state's inability to hire a qualified engineer living on the Garden Isle.

On most weekdays, Department of Transportation engineer Kyle Furuhashi commutes to the island to oversee state transportation construction projects, according to the agency. Those costs, which ranged from $19,000 to $27,000 a year, are justified because of a shortage of engineers statewide and especially on Kaua'i, said Brennon Morioka, state DOT director.

"There is a severe shortage of construction engineers on Kaua'i," Morioka said. "So the only way that we can ensure proper oversight of our projects is to get engineers over. The alternative is you don't do any federal highway projects or state highway projects on Kaua'i. That's the consequence, if you don't have proper oversight."

The circumstances surrounding DOT's frequent flier are opposite those of an administrator for the state's mental health centers who until this month was commuting three times a week from his home on Kaua'i to O'ahu for about 12 years. The health department reduced the frequency of Wayne Law's commute to once a week following an inquiry by The Advertiser.

The department has four engineering openings on Kaua'i, many of which have been open for years, Morioka said. Starting in 2006, the department started to regularly fly Furuhashi to Kaua'i to oversee transportation projects. Morioka said it's cheaper to fly an engineer to Kaua'i than to hire another Kaua'i engineer.

Furuhashi's salary range is $51,312 to $75,960 a year, according to the transportation department.

Both the Transportation Department and Furuhashi accrue frequent flier miles from the flights, Morioka said.

Those benefits could be substantial based on the frequency of travel at issue. For example, Hawaiian Airlines, the agency's vendor, provides 500 mileage points per inter-island flight. That figure rises to 1,000 points for members of the airline's frequent flier clubs. That means someone commuting five days a week from O'ahu to Kaua'i could accumulate 5,000 to 10,000 frequent flier miles a week. Hawaiian Airlines provides a one-way, free inter-island trip for as few as 7,500 points. A one-way Mainland trip is free with as few as 20,000 mileage points.

Morioka said the department is recruiting to fill several Kaua'i openings and is looking into ways to reduce the need for Furuhashi to commute inter-island on a daily basis. Those options include a possible switch to a four-day, 10-hour-a-day work week.

'RELATIVELY COMMON'

The transportation department did not respond to a request to interview Furuhashi for this story. Russell Pang, spokesman for Gov. Linda Lingle, also did not return messages for this story.

Other state officials who regularly travel inter-island include elected officials such as State Senate Majority Leader Gary Hooser, D-7th (Kaua'i, Ni'ihau). Senate policy limits commutes to once a week, with exceptions, he said.

Hooser said the expense of regularly sending an engineer to Kaua'i seems justified given a lack of specialized labor on Kaua'i and statewide.

"I believe that's probably a relatively common occurrence," he said. "I think there's many fields like that. I would think in the medical field we have doctors that do the same thing."

"If the services and skills of that person are needed, then we have to recruit and pay what we need to pay, including travel costs," Hooser said. "If you didn't have those services what would it cost you? (That's) Delayed projects."

Hawai'i's shortage of engineers illustrates the need to emphasize science and mathematics in schools, Morioka said.

"I think this is a problem that we need to address as a state — to really commit toward science, technology, engineering and math," he said.