The Honolulu City Council voted to shake up its leadership team in a tense meeting that some say is good for council operations, but others are convinced is “political retaliation.”
On Tuesday the nine-member council voted unanimously to appoint Councilmembers Andria Tupola and Esther Kiaʻāina as its new vice-chair and floor leader, ousting Councilmembers Matt Weyer and Radiant Cordero from those positions.
Weyer, along with Councilmembers Tyler Dos Santos-Tam and Augie Tulba, voted with reservations.
The resolution to reorganize the council was introduced by Councilmembers Scott Nishimoto and Val Okimoto.
Discussion on the proposed leadership change was rife with speculation and concern from the public, but Weyer said it doesn’t change his work and priorities.
“The change has really no effect on the work that I’m doing. I’m going to continue to be committed to our community and working to uplift and respond to their needs, and open to collaborating with any council member,” he said, adding, “My priorities are going to continue to be housing our residents, keeping all of our families safe and creating a more resilient future for our island community.”
The vice chair's primary responsibility is to take over if the chair is unavailable, but otherwise they’re mostly “administrative,” Weyer said.
But the circumstances around the proposed reorganization did lead to concerns from the public, including several who said it was a response to recent undertakings at the council.
Earlier this month, the council was nearly split in its vote to increase sewer fees on Oʻahu. It voted 5-4 to pass a six-year scheduled fee increase that would've been less severe than what the City and County of Honolulu administration originally proposed.
Weyer, Cordero, Tulba, Okimoto and Dos Santos-Tam voted to pass the fee plan, while Tupola, Kiaʻāina, Nishimoto and Council Chair Tommy Waters opposed it following concerns that it still didn't do enough to mitigate fee increases.
Waters had introduced a floor proposal to move $19 million from the city's general fund to the sewer fund in an attempt to reduce sewer fees even more, but the council rejected it by voting on the six-year plan.
The sewer fee plan was among the most highly debated issues at the council recently.
The council reorganization promotes the council members who rejected the sewer fee plan, and some testifiers worried the leadership change was led by Waters as a response to how the council voted on the sewer fee plan.
“This resolution is political revenge against members of this council who did not vote with him on the sewer fee bill. … Council members came up with the competing resolutions to the problem, debated them and voted their conscience. Council Chair Waters lost that vote,” said Dale Vanderbrink, a member of the Ala Moana-Kakaʻako Neighborhood Board.
“Members of this council should not fear political gamesmanship for doing what they’re elected to do, which is vote their conscience,” he added.
The council members didn't address the motivation directly, so it's unclear how much of a role the sewer fee plan vote actually played.
Cordero said she wasn't aware of the exact reason why there was an interest in a change in the council's leadership team. But she said it's not unusual to reorganize the council this way, and that Kiaʻāina and Tupola were both in council leadership positions before.
She and Weyer both voted in favor of the leadership change. Cordero, like, Weyer, hopes that the council can continue to collaborate going forward.
“I've been very inclusive as well as able to work well with the different members as I see fit, and I hope to continue to do the same,” she said.
While the council and its members are nonpartisan, the public also directed their concerns to Tupola and her history as a Republican in the state's House of Representatives and while running for governor.
Some testifiers were concerned specifically that promoting Tupola would encourage anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and ideals in the council. Weyer, who she would be replacing, is openly gay.
Another testifier accused Tupola of unethically promoting her political campaigns.
At the meeting, Tupola, while holding back tears, said, ” I will continue to support diverse voices that make up our communities, including the LGBTQIA+ community. I remain committed to collaborating with this council because that's the only way we move forward.”
Kiaʻāina came to Tupola's defense, saying suggestions that the leadership change targets the LGBTQ+ community is “offensive.”
Another testifier noted that the council shake-up brings Native Hawaiians into leadership roles.
Tulba, during the meeting, said the public deserves to know if the leadership proposal is based on the sewer fee vote.
But he also said that the council appeared ready for a change in leadership, and that it could be necessary for the function of the council.
“The reality in Hawaiʻi politics is that leaders often need to consolidate power just to move things forward, and by the look of this resolution, the majority has already lined up behind this change. If I vote no, we're stuck in a leadership team that's already fractured, and at the end of the day, it's not going to move nothing forward,” Tulba said.
Just over half of about 600 testifiers submitted written testimony supporting the resolution, which needs just one full council hearing to pass.
