Consultant disqualified as candidate for Mass Transit administrator post

Mayor Harry Kim renewed his transit consultant’s $9,584-a-month contract after the county Human Resources Department deemed Kim’s pick ineligible for the permanent civil service position of Mass Transit administrator.

Kim brought in former U.S. Marine Corps officer Curt Sharp on May 1 to troubleshoot an agency plagued with bus breakdowns, late arrivals and passenger and driver discontent. Former administrator Tiffany Kai stepped down to another position.

Sharp has spent months trying to clean up the baseyard and maintain and add buses to the fleet. He’s also tried to motivate personnel to work harder. But his blunt, no-nonsense style hasn’t sat well with some employees, with several telling West Hawaii Today that morale is at an all-time low.

“He’s a tough administrator,” Kim said.

A committee from the Department of Human Resources disqualified Sharp before sending three finalists to Kim. Sharp unsuccessfully appealed to the department, which ruled that he didn’t have the requisite experience in a mass transit agency.

Kim said Monday he’s disappointed his consultant didn’t make the cut, but he’s not going to step in. The HR Department is separate from the mayor’s administration, led by a director selected and overseen by the Merit Appeals Board.

“With all his experience, I am disappointed, but I’m not going to interfere with Human Resources,” Kim said.

A County Council committee grilled Sharp last month, with Hilo Councilman Aaron Chung particularly focused on Sharp’s lack of mass transit experience.

Two of the three surviving applicants are not from the island, Kim said. He’s created a committee to begin interviewing them next week and hopes to make a decision by Aug. 16.

The job posting required a “combination of education and experience substantially equivalent to … four years of professional work experience in planning and coordinating activities for a mass transit program, of which one year shall have been in an administrative or supervisory capacity,” along with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, public administration, economics or a related field.

Sharp, 72, claims 45 years experience in transportation networks and logistics, including overseeing more than 500 vehicles and 1,000 staff. But Human Resources disagreed that was “substantially equivalent” to mass transit.

“This thing is becoming more political than I anticipated,” Sharp said Monday.

The job requirements were changed July 14, just 13 days before Sharp’s first 89-day contract ended. The changes, however, did not affect the experience requirements, but clarified that a bachelor’s degree, not just major coursework, was required in specific areas.

The position for a permanent administrator was advertised at $67,728 annually, compared to a previous salary range of $67,000 to $102,000. Because it’s a civil service position, a current civil service worker could be paid more.

Kim, ironically, was the one who, in 2004, asked that the Mass Transit administrator position be changed from an exempt position to a civil service one. He did that, he said, to help maintain continuity at the agency, rather than have an appointed administrator serving at the will of the mayor.

Whoever gets the job, Kim said he’s expecting a quality administrator.

“If that person beat out Curt, that person must be top-notch,” Kim said.

Email Nancy Cook Lauer at ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com.