HAWAII KUKALA June 2021 Vision AGA is the premier association for advancing government accountability. Mission Statement In This Issue: AGA fosters learning, certification, leadership, and collaboration for President’s Message P.2 professionals and stakeholders committed to advancing government HART Summary P.3 Announcements P.4 accountability. NCC’s Message P.9 CGFM P.10 AGA Hawaii Chapter AGA Officers and Directors P.12 P.O. Box 4474, Honolulu, HI 96812 https://www.agacgfm.org/Chapters/Hawaii/Home.aspx 1 | P a g e Aloha AGA Hawaii Members, This fiscal year has flown by and on behalf of all the officers and committee chairs of AGA Hawaii, we wanted to thank you for your continued support through the pandemic. We are optimistic that the economy will rebound as vaccinations increase. Please continue to be safe and take care of each other. On April 13, 2021, Lori Kahikina, Interim Executive Director and CEO of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART), along with Rick Keene, First Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, and Joey Manahan, Director of Government Relations and Public Involvement, spoke to the chapter on the topic of “Honolulu Rail Transit Project Update.” HART officials gave us an insightful presentation on the rail plans and how it will impact the economy and current conditions. A special thanks to Lori, Rick and Joey for taking time out of their busy schedules to speak to us. Please refer to the summary article written Troy “Juice” Zheng. Many thanks to our members who attended our Special Membership Meeting on May 26, 2021. The officers asked members to vote for approval on the changes to the Chapter’s Bylaws. There were 18 respondents, with 18 “Yes” votes and 0 “No” vote. Thank you to our members for participating to vote. Congratulations to Nancy Bartter and Adam Buote on winning the raffle prizes. AGA PDT 2021 – The PDT 2021 will be held 100% virtual again this year due to COVID-19. AGA’s Professional Development Training (PDT) brings together a broad audience of more than 2,000 federal, state and local government financial professionals, including federal, state and local government CFOs, inspectors general, accountants, auditors as well as financial professionals from the private sector. PDT offers educational sessions over three days of training. Participants can earn up to 21 hours of NASBA-approved continuing professional education (CPE) credits. Participants gain skills and knowledge toward more effective leadership, performance in a cost-constrained environment, solutions to shared challenges, and best practices. Join us to learn from top government financial management professionals and industry experts. Online early bird AGA member registration fee is $500 by June 18, 2021. Standard AGA member registration fee is $550 after June 18, 2021. Please visit https://www.agacgfm.org/PDT/PDT-Home.aspx to register. Please save the date for Thursday, September 2, 2021 for our 2021 Government Professional Accountability Webinar. We will be offering 8 CPEs credit hours and includes 2 CPEs of ethics. We have an exciting slate of speakers lined up. Please check out the general information in this newsletter. Shena Bocalbos President, AGA Hawaii Cover Photo features view of Maili Beach Park. Credits to City and County of Honolulu, Office of City Auditor. 2 | P a g e Summary of the Honolulu Rail Transit Project Update Troy “Juice” Zheng At a virtual meeting on April 13, 2021, the Hawaii Chapter welcomed officials from the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART). It had been five years since the chapter heard from Don Horner, then HART’s Chairman of the Board. Lori Kahikina, Interim Executive Director and CEO, graduated from University of Hawaii with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and has a license in Civil Engineering. She first started working for the City and County of Honolulu as Assistant Chief from June 2005 until December 2010. After gaining more experience, she was promoted to Deputy Director and then Director of Design and Construction, followed by eight years as Director of Environmental Services, before serving in her present position. At HART, Ms. Kahikina is in charge of this $10 billion, 20-mile project, which is currently in the design and construction phase with 21 stations, four park and rides, and a 43-acre rail operations center. The Honolulu Rail Transit Project spans from Kualaka’i to Kalia (in other words, Kapolei to Ala Moana Center). The most challenging portion of the project is located at Dillingham Boulevard due to crowded telephone and electric poles. Thus, a project called Mauka-Shift was created to reduce the number of utilities lines to be relocated underground, and to avoid rerouting the rail line. She was joined by Rick Keene, First Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, her second-in- command. Mr. Keene has over 30 years of financial and leadership experience. In his new role, Mr. Keene will assist Ms. Kahikina with their overall leadership of the organization, and will focus on HART’s Finance and Real Estate Acquisition initiatives. Mr. Keene is also serving on the Board of Directors of the Kalihi-Palama Health Center and Navian Hawaii. Mr. Keene began his career at in the Virginia office of Ernst and Young, and rose to the position of senior audit manager. He moved to Atlanta, Georgia to become the Director of Financial Planning at Bank South Corporation, followed by a leadership position at Prudential Bank. In 2001, Mr. Keene made his big move to the beautiful islands of Hawaii as CFO of Bank of Hawaii. From 2007 to 2014, he was the Chief Financial Officer for The Queen’s Health Systems. Mr. Keene spent the last three years as Executive Advisor to the Mayor Kirk Caldwell, serving as a liaison between the City and HART. Also present was Joey Manahan, Director of Government Relations and Public Involvement. Mr. Manahan was born in Makati, Philippines, in 1971. He moved to the California when he was 10 years old, graduating from Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose. He went on to study at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, graduating with honors with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications. Mr. Manahan held several leadership positions during his 14 years of elected service, first serving as a member of the Hawaii State House of Representatives from 2006 to 2012. As a State Representative, Mr. Manahan played a major role in the start off two projects for his district, that is, the Modernization of Farrington High School and the Kuhio Park Terrace Modernization Project. While serving as a member of the Honolulu City Council from 2012 to 2021, he was the Oahu representative and President of the Hawai‘i State Association of Counties (HSAC) which supports county programs and services, and represents the State of Hawaii’s county governments before the State Legislature, administrative agencies, and U.S. Congress. 3 | P a g e AGA National Dates & Deadlines Note Splash! We truly appreciate all the AGA articles submitted by our members. If you have an interesting story or news you want to share, please contact our Newsletter Committee. To view current and past chapter newsletter issues, please visit https://www.agacgfm.org/chapters/Hawaii/Ou r- Chapter/Chapter-Newsletter.aspx AGA National also welcomes articles from members as well as academics, students and others who want to share their research and writings in government financial management. The Journal of Government Financial Management (hereafter “the Journal”) is the flagship quarterly publication of AGA and one of the top four journals in the government financial management profession. While this article focuses on issues specific to the Journal, many points discussed herein are applicable to other areas of writing in our profession, including policies, procedures, guidelines, audit findings and documentation, budget justifications, proposals, and Students – FREE Electronic many other reports and documents. For more Membership! information, please visit https://www.agacgfm.org/AGA/MyAGA/chapters/chapte AGA is offering free membership to college r%20resources/documents/How-To-Write-for-AGA-s- students. Please visit the AGA National website Journal_2.pdf for more details: https://www.agacgfm.org/Membership/Connect/Stude nts.aspx Job Announcements Looking for a career in the Federal government? Check out: https://www.usajobs.gov/ Looking for government jobs in Hawaii? Check out: https://portal.ehawaii.gov/residents/jobs- and-unemployment/ @AGAHawaiiChapter @AGAHawaii @AGAHawaii 4 | P a g e Webinars — CPE Simplified Looking for convenient and affordable training? Our webinars make earning CPE hours easy. All of our webinars, unless denoted with a members-only icon, are open to anyone. They feature experts speaking on emergent issues to keep you in the loop on hot topics in auditing, ethics, governmental accounting, internal controls, performance and more. Group registration options are available to those who would like to attend together in one location. Otherwise, individuals may register and attend from their own devices. For more information, please visit https://www.agacgfm.org/webinars.aspx AGA is offering live, virtual CGFM courses. Go to https://www.agacgfm.org for more information. CGFM Live, Virtual Courses Governmental Environment o June 10-11, 2021, 10:30 AM-2:15PM ET each day o $325 per person o 8 CPEs o Deadline to register or cancel: June 3, 2021 Governmental Financial Management and Control o June 16-18, 2021, 10:30 AM - 3:30 PM ET each day o $525 per person o 16 CPEs o Deadline to register or cancel: June 9, 2021 Governmental Accounting, Financial Reporting and Budgeting o June 22-25, 2021, 10:30 AM - 3:30 PM ET each day o $725 per person o 21 CPEs o Deadline to register or cancel: June 15, 2021 5 | P a g e 2021 Government Professional Accountability Webinar General Information Date: September 2, 2021 Platform: Virtual CPE Credit Hours: 8 (fulfills 8 Yellow Book hours and includes 2 hours of Ethics) Speakers/Topics: Sarah Allen: Lost in Translation – Interpreting the Accountant David R.