The registrar at the state Bureau of Conveyances acknowledged yesterday that the bureau is so dysfunctional and riven by factionalism that he claimed it has been impossible for him to make improvements.

Carl Watanabe, the bureau's registrar, told a state House and Senate investigatory committee that his leadership has been challenged at every turn by disgruntled workers who either file union grievances or simply refuse to help while the bureau falls months and, in some instances, years behind in recording land documents.

Watanabe also blamed bureau workers backed by the Hawai'i Government Employees Association for three ongoing investigations. Along with the committee, the state attorney general's office and the state Ethics Commission have been looking into bureau practices.

"If we don't share the urgency of what we're supposed to do, then we're just spinning our wheels," Watanabe said of the lack of teamwork at the bureau.

Watanabe, testifying under subpoena, said he is ultimately responsible for the bureau's management. But he described his workers as obstacles and conceded he often gives up rather than pursue personnel or policy changes.

In one effort to ease personality conflicts, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, which oversees the bureau, relegated Watanabe to a special project to reduce a backlog in recordings in the bureau's land court branch and ordered him not to talk to certain bureau workers or the public.

Watanabe, who resumed his duties as registrar in July, acknowledged that administrative rules that detail fee structures for access to bureau documents by title insurance companies and others have not been updated since 1999. He said he could not locate subscription contracts for document access or explain inconsistencies in the amounts title companies and others are charged to view documents via computer.

Watanabe acknowledged there are no written policies at the bureau for fee waivers or for handling cash or checks. He also said there was no written contract or diagnostic test done on donated computer software from Title Guaranty of Hawai'i that gave title companies and others faster access to documents recorded at the bureau each day.

Watanabe explained that he agreed to allow the software — and not charge any additional cost for document access — because the bureau had fallen three months behind in indexing the documents for the title industry and the public. Title Guaranty and other title companies have their own or shared indexing systems so they can process the documents without waiting for the bureau to index.

Watanabe also said he was not aware that bureau workers call a Title Guaranty executive — a former bureau registrar — weekly for advice about documents, including some from other title companies. He said protocol would be for the workers to consult their branch chief and then him with questions about documents. He said it was not proper for workers to share documents from rival title companies with Title Guaranty.

State Rep. Joseph Souki, D-8th (Wailuku, Waihe'e, Waiehu), the committee's co-chair, advised Watanabe at the end of the meeting that the bureau is his responsibility and that he could not blame bureau workers for its shortcomings. He also urged some of the bureau workers who were in the audience at the meeting to work together.

"As long as you're the registrar, it's always your kuleana," Souki told Watanabe.

Informed afterward about Watanabe's comments, Randy Perreira, the HGEA's deputy executive director, said many of the grievances stemmed from Watanabe's violation of the union's contract with the state. He said Watanabe's poor leadership has led to many of the personnel problems.

"I think a leadership change would do the department good," Perreira said.

But state Senate Minority Leader Fred Hemmings, R-25th (Kailua, Waimanalo, Hawai'i Kai), said the committee's focus on bureau management is a "coverup of the incompetency of the HGEA."

"The hearings are a very well-orchestrated show to divert attention from HGEA-induced problems and the senators' lynching of (former DLNR director) Peter Young," Hemmings said, adding that previous state audits have already documented bureau weaknesses and recommended solutions. Young was not confirmed by the Senate last session for a second term in part because of problems at the bureau.

State Sen. Jill Tokuda, D-24th (Kailua, Kane'ohe), the committee's co-chair, said after the meeting that the committee would take up both bureau management and union issues when it drafts its recommendations. She also said the committee may recommend the appointment of a special master, such as the courts sometimes do, so the recommendations are followed.

"We can't have administrators giving up on a bad situation," Tokuda said.

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.