City Council gets new members today

The nine-member Honolulu City Council will have four new members after a swearing-in ceremony today.

The inauguration is due to be held in the Council chambers at Honolulu Hale.

The four were elected last year to four-year terms.

They are lawyer Stanley Chang, former Board of Education member Breene Harimoto, city administrator Ernie Martin and former state Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Tamayo.

Tom Berg, who won a special election last week for former Council Chairman Todd Apo’s seat, is due to be sworn in on Jan. 18.

Berg is due to serve out the last two years of Apo’s term. Apo resigned in November to take a job with Disney Parks and Resorts.

Remembrance is set for Judge King

A remembrance ceremony for U.S. Judge Sam King will be held at 3 p.m. today in the courtroom of U.S. District Chief Judge Susan Oki Mollway.

The courtroom is on the fourth floor of the Federal Building and United States Courthouse. It is open to the public, but those entering the Federal Building must have a photo ID.

Waimea work will require water shut-offs

Water outages are scheduled in Waimea, Kauai, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow and Wednesday to allow the Water Department to connect newly installed lines to the area’s existing water system.

Tomorrow, residents who live along the following roads will be affected by the shut-off: Alawai Road, from the Waimea Road junction to the Menehune Road junction; and all of Waimea Valley from the junction of Alawai and Menehune roads.

On Wednesday, residents on Menehune Road from Kii to Gay roads, including all of Menehune Place, will be affected.

A detailed map of all the affected streets can be viewed at www.kauaiwater.org.

The department said residents in the area should store enough water to meet their needs during the outage.

Police’s lack of gate keys spurs meeting

Members of gated communities on the Big Island are voicing concerns about a year-old police policy that bars the department from holding keys or security codes to front entrances.

Kohala Councilman Pete Hoffman held a meeting Tuesday with Michael Klekner, president of the Villages of Mauna Lani homeowners association, and police Assistant Chief Henry Tavares in an attempt to resolve the problem.

According to West Hawaii Today, the policy, which applies to some 200 gated neighborhoods, was enacted because locks and codes were changed without notification to the department.

Tavares says someone from a community must open the gates to allow police access — unless it is an emergency, in which case police will climb a fence or break it down.

The county Fire Department has a different system.