Administration

Lynn Araki-Regan Named Outstanding Club Toastmaster of the Year By: Melanie Martin

Transportation Toastmasters is proud to announce Lynn Araki-Regan as Outstanding Club Toastmaster of the Year 2019-2020!

Araki-Regan, Deputy Director for Administration, has been a member of the Transportation Toastmasters Club for about a year, and is the Vice-President of Public Relations.

Her enthusiasm for the Transportation Toastmasters Club shines through on each of her social media posts, and her energy is responsible for the large influx of members.

Our Club President, Royden Koito, could not be more pleased with the Club’s growth.

“As the VP of Public Relations, Lynn has been the driving force behind the increase in interest and membership of our club,” Koito said. not only to Transportation Toastmasters, but to the entire HDOT.

“Lynn has been a great blessing to our club. But more than that, she has been instrumental in making the Hawaii DOT a more lively place to work, not just by

reintroducing Toastmasters but in creating more venues for collegiate interaction, health and wellness, and overall morale of DOT employees.”

Lynn’s fellow Toastmasters unanimously voted for her, and all agreed that it was an easy choice.

New Toastmaster Kathy Miyahira states, “Lynn’s passion in every speech she gives is filled with energy and encouragement for us to do better.”

A seasoned Toastmaster, Maaza Mekuria, had this to say about Lynn’s commitment Lynn credits President Royden and her peers as she humbly states, “There are so many others more deserving of this honor. I am truly inspired by Royden’s leadership and so many of you whose energy and positive vibes make our Toastmasters meeting so enjoyable.”

Congratulations Lynn! We are all very proud of you!

Administration

HDOT Employees Do Their Part to Keep Our Community Safe By: Melanie Martin

HDOT has teamed up with the Hawaii Tourism Authority to ensure that both visitors and residents who travel to Hawaii are abiding by the mandatory 14-day quarantine, by making calls to their place of lodging or residences. During the last week of April, HDOT employees from the Administration Division made approximately 1100 calls to residents. “Most of the residents are appreciative and happy that we are calling them,” said Juli Chun, one of the team leaders.

At the airport, screeners issue an Order for Quarantine, and information about the 14-day self-quarantine requirements. After a temperature check and completing paperwork, passengers and residents are allowed to leave the airport. The State of Hawaii agricultural forms with passengers’ contact information are scanned into an excel spreadsheet and uploaded to a shared file.

Callers use the Grasshopper Application on their personal cell phones, and, with a few exceptions, most staff make calls while teleworking at home. Approximately 250 residents are added to the call log daily. For each resident, callers attempt to reach them at least two to three times. An HDOT Hotline is set up for residents to call, and is manned by employees from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm seven days a week. Some residents have broken quarantine, and callers refer them to the proper authorities. “This is our way of helping to keep our community safe,” said Melanie Martin, who is one of the employees manning the hotline. “I joke around that I don’t know how to sew face masks to give away to frontline workers, but I know how to talk.”

“I don’t have enough words to express my gratitude to all of the callers for stepping forward to safeguard our state during these difficult times. They have been extremely generous offering to do what they can to meet the needs of our state. It speaks volumes to their aloha spirit that they understand that the way we’ll get through this pandemic is by working together,” said Director Jade Butay.

We’d like to give a big shout out and thank all of our employees who have volunteered to help with calling residents! You play a very important role in helping to “flatten the curve” and re-open our economy! If you would like to help make calls, please contact Melanie at melanie.martin@hawaii.gov, or Juli at juli.l.chun@hawaii.gov.

Administration

Pradip Pant Appointed as National RTAP Board Member By: Statewide Transportation Planning Office

STP Planning Program Administrator Pradip Pant has been appointed as a National Rural Transit Assistance Program (RTAP) Review Board Member for a three-year term starting Spring 2020. needs of rural and tribal transit operators across the nation and supports the state RTAP programs.

The Review Board provides guidance in developing products to support State RTAP efforts and assist rural and tribal transit providers.

Under a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) cooperative agreement, the National RTAP addresses the training and technical assistance Products may include training modules, webbased applications, and other online tools, workbooks, videos, technical assistance briefs, brochures, and other material pertinent to aiding rural transportation providers.

Tad Nakayama Joins Statewide Transportation Planning By: Pradip Pant

Tad Nakayama joined STP as a section Manager responsible for FTA rural transit grant programs. Tad has a career total of 33 years of engineering and planning experience with 26 years at the DOT.

He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Hawaii and a Master of Business Administration from Chaminade University. he was fortunate to have the opportunity to manage the design and construction projects to create a new central Checkpoint (No.3), as well as, renovate the main terminal at Honolulu International Airport.

Prior to DOT, as a network planner with GTE Hawaiian Tel (now Hawaiian Telcom), Tad was involved in the development of the disaster restoration plan for the Island of Kauai due to Hurricane Iniki.

It resulted in Kauai being the first island in the State to have an all-digital and disaster hardened network. Tad is excited to work in STP again to implement his vision for STP-P and more importantly, to maximize FTA funding towards the neighbor island transit agencies so they can help the people of Hawaii get to where they need to go.

Tad cooks for his family, raises vegetables, and enjoys woodworking.