Since coming into office this year, City Councilman Tom Berg has never been afraid to voice his opinion — often as the lone vote in opposition — on any issue that comes before the Council.

Berg has shown he will not shy away from verbal confrontation, be it with city officials, department heads, members of the public and even fellow Council members.

But whether that bombastic approach hurts or helps his legislative efforts is a matter of debate.

Supporters hail him as passionate and outspoken; detractors criticize him as combative and disruptive.

Berg says it is not intentional, that he is simply looking out for the best interests of his constituents.

"If I put my hands on my lap and I don’t shout and I don’t exhibit a sense of emotion, then — it’s not to talk down or negative on my colleagues here — but I’m afraid of failure," Berg said. "For me, government doesn’t move fast enough … and that’s where I may show my emotions and frustrations and inability to be patient at times."

Others do not always see it that way.

Berg was on the defensive this month after Waipahu Neighborhood Board members accused him of repeatedly disrupting their monthly meeting to the point where someone called police to defuse the situation. Berg said he was invited to speak at the Nov. 17 meeting but then was denied the opportunity when he tried to interject a discussion on rail transit into an agenda item regarding Waipahu High School.

Berg wrote a letter of apology, saying he felt the board was muzzling him for criticizing the rail project. In his defense, at least one member of the board filed a formal complaint with the Neighborhood Commission, criticizing the Waipahu chairman and other board members for escalating the situation.

Councilman Breene Harimoto, who had clashed with Berg at a committee hearing earlier that day, has defended the board’s actions. In a letter to the Neighborhood Commission, he described Berg’s actions as "hostile" and unprofessional.

Harimoto and Neighborhood Board Chairman Rito Saniatan called on City Council Chairman Ernie Martin to review the matter and determine whether any disciplinary action was needed for Berg. Martin said last week he spoke with Berg and reviewed video of the meeting and does not feel any formal discipline is warranted.

"I look at it more as, he is so eager to want to do a good job that I think at times that eagerness and enthusiasm that he shows — that kind of passion that he shows for those subject matters that he’s seeking to advance — can rub some people the wrong way," Martin said. "I don’t think it’s anything that he does purposely. I really think that he’s just so passionate about wanting to do a good job that sometimes his antics really dilute the effectiveness that he’s trying to seek."

Berg, 47, won a seat on the Council in a special election in late December to fill the final two years of the term of Todd Apo, who resigned to take a job with Disney’s new Aulani Resort.

The vote-by-mail election drew 14 candidates and only 23 percent of voters. Berg, a former legislative aide and tea party activist, won with 2,308 votes. That was 18 percent of the 12,500 ballots returned but just 4 percent of the 54,000 ballots that were mailed to eligible voters in District 1, which includes Ewa and the Leeward Coast.

Those modest numbers should be enough to keep any elected official in line, said Neal Milner, a retired University of Hawaii political science professor and longtime political observer.

"He’s not exactly invulnerable," Milner said, adding that Berg’s political style shows a "loner" still trying to find his way amid the politics of the elected body.

"He’s still trying to stake things out," Milner said. "He’s not really a member of the power structure, so he’s, I think, flailing around a little bit trying to figure out how to do it."

Berg’s support comes mainly from Leeward residents who appreciate his work for the community, including Steve Davidson, who on Berg’s Facebook page posted, "Thanks for standing up for District 1."

Davidson, in an email to the Star-Advertiser, said even if Berg has not been successful in getting legislation through, he appreciates Berg’s work representing the district.

"He gets a lot of flak for being ‘in your face’ or for some of his proposals, which some are ridiculous and never have a chance of getting through, but I’d rather be represented by someone who may cross the line from time to time than someone who is afraid of the criticism or cares too much about saving face," Davidson said. "A good example could be the rail. He’s constantly bringing it up by tying it loosely to a topic at hand, like at the recent Waipahu (Neighborhood Board) meeting."

During his first year in office, Berg has expended most of his energy on the city’s proposed rail project, arguing that the steel-wheel-on-steel-rail project approved by voters in 2008 is too expensive and would be too noisy.

Berg was behind a recent resolution calling for a ballot measure that would have asked Oahu voters whether the City Charter should be amended to prohibit the city from building a rail system using steel-on-steel technology. His colleagues defeated the measure within hours of its introduction on Nov. 2.

Members said they were worried another public vote could cause further delays in the project or put federal funding in jeopardy.

"I’m trying to speak out for all my constituency," Berg said. "And for those that want this rail, I’m on their side. I just want to get a better product for them."

Getting a better product is at the heart of Berg’s outspokenness on the rail project. He likens it to being at a grocery checkout line, with the city government working as the cashier and taxpayers as the consumers.

"After seeing the bill, you may have decided to change your mind and determine you want to return a product or exchange one for lesser value," he said. "In my mind we the consumer, the taxpayers, we have a right to change our mind and reassess our purchases and priorities."

But Berg insists that his confrontational style over rail will end come Dec. 6, after he holds a town hall forum on the project. Berg has invited all stakeholders to the forum at the Mission Memorial Auditorium.

By then, after about a year of consistently trying to interject the topic into discussions and explore possibly better solutions, Berg said he suspects the rail project will have reached the point of no return.

"There has to be a point where solutions and other options have to come to a closure," Berg said. "I’ve just been under the pretense that we haven’t shut the door yet. It hasn’t come to a closure yet, and the people are at that checkout line right now, talking to the cashier and saying, ‘I want to make a change,’ and that’s where I think we’re at."