Inside Honolulu: Dec. 9
Welcome to Inside Honolulu! The Honolulu City Council has recessed until 2011, but there’s still work to be done. There’s also a council vacancy to be filled, with 20 days until the special election. Civil Beat is reporting from the inside.
5 p.m. Neighborhood Commission Reprimands Koolau Loa Board for Ignoring Public
The Koolau Loa Neighborhood Board has been rebuked for preventing and ignoring public testimony before it approved the controversial Envision Laie proposal last year.
The Neighborhood Commission’s [pdf] was handed down Tuesday, more than 16 months after the meeting in question.
The commission said it would issue a letter of reprimand to the board for violations of state law and the Neighborhood Plan. The board can still hold another meeting to take public testimony on 聽the Envision Laie plan, and can vote again to approve it after considering the testimony.
12:03 p.m. More Concerns Surface About Rod Tam’s Money Management
City Council member Rod Tam said his goodbyes at his final full council meeting yesterday, but the controversy he leaves behind isn’t going away. The next week will consider a complaint about Tam by its executive director.
The complaint alleges that Tam and Ohana-O-Rod Tam:
- Improperly used campaign funds
- Failed to maintain legible receipts for verification
- False reporting of expenditure
- Two unreported contributions
The commission plans to take up these matters for discussion at its Wednesday morning meeting.
11:32 a.m. City Working on Formal Response to Outside Rail Review
We likely won’t see it until January 2011, but Transportation Director Wayne Yoshioka said his department’s Rail Transit Division is working on a report after an of the city’s rail plan called the city’s numbers into question.
“The entire rapid transit division is looking at the report in a more detailed way right now,” Yoshioka said. “It’s not as much a response, but a summary of the things they found.”
Yoshioka said his staff will give the mayor an opportunity to review any findings before making them public. Civil Beat is working on its own evaluation of financial analyses by the city and the outside review team.
Everything On Table to Counter “Substantial” Shortfall, Budget Director Says
Mayor Peter Carlisle says the city is facing a budget shortfall of about $100 million, but he still hasn’t found the person to lead the Budget and Fiscal Services Department. In the meantime, Acting Budget Director Mike Hansen 鈥斅爓ho has 20 years of experience in the department 鈥斅爄s charged with finding ways to close the spending gap.
“It’s still a substantial number, I can say that for sure,” Hansen told Civil Beat of the shortfall. “From my perspective, we’re putting everything on the table … Obviously payroll cost is one of the larger costs. Premium pays, things like overtime and those kinds of things.”
Carlisle has said he won’t consider renewing furloughs as a cost-saving measure.
City Council Looks to New Year, New Members
The Honolulu City Council recessed Wednesday until January 3. When the Council reconvenes, five new members will be sworn in. (The fifth will be elected Dec. 29 in the District 1 special election.) With new leaders will come a new leadership dynamic at City Hall. City Council Vice Chair Ikaika Anderson will be replaced by incoming Vice Chair Breene Harimoto, for example, but Anderson will stay on as chair of the Zoning Committee.
| Returning to the Council | Incoming Council Members | Departing Council Members |
|---|---|---|
| Ikaika Anderson | Stanley Chang | Todd Apo (resigned Nov. 8) |
| Romy Cachola | Breene Harimoto | Lee Donohue |
| Nestor Garcia | Ernie Martin | Reed Matsuura |
| Ann Kobayashi | Tulsi Tamayo | Gary Okino |
| District 1 winner | Rod Tam |
| Committee | Chair | Vice Chair |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | Ernie Martin | Tulsi Tamayo |
| Exec. Matters & Legal Affairs | Romy Cachola | Breene Harimoto |
| Parks & Human Services | District 1 winner | Ikaika Anderson |
| Planning | Ann Kobayashi | District 1 winner |
| Public Works & Sustainability | Stanley Chang | Ann Kobayashi |
| Safety, Econ. Development & Govt. Affairs | Tulsi Tamayo | Stanley Chang |
| Transportation & Transit Planning | Breene Harimoto | Ernie Martin |
| Zoning | Ikaika Anderson | Romy Cachola |
| Committee of the Whole | Nestor Garcia | Breene Harimoto |
Catch up on previous editions of Inside Honolulu
December 8: Three more director nominees cruise through early stages of appointment; City Council approves “overt” video surveillance across Oahu; Outgoing City Council members Lee Donohue, Reed Matsuura, Gary Okino and Rod Tam say goodbye.
December 7: Kobayashi finds hope in new state leadership; Managing Director Doug Chin describes “quiet” week; Mayor Peter Carlisle remembers Pearl Harbor attack.
December 3: Mayor Peter Carlisle calls outside rail review “shoddy;” City mulls combining EMS, Fire Department; Outside rail review claims city’s projections are overly optimistic.
