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Patty Teruya, a former city employee who quit her job rather than dispute a Honolulu Ethics Commission complaint alleging more than 2,600 ethics violations, resigned Tuesday night as chairwoman of the Nanakuli-Maili Neighborhood Board.
Teruya remains a member of the board, and it wasn’t immediately clear who will succeed her, said Tom Heinrich, executive secretary of the Neighborhood Commission Office, which administers the city’s 33 neighborhood boards. He said the board decides who serves as chairperson and could put the issue on next month’s agenda for a vote.
Bryan Mick, Neighborhood Commission spokesman, said Teruya could have been removed as chairwoman after the release of the ethics complaint if someone on the board had raised a concern or if a resident had made a complaint about her. No one did, Mick said Tuesday.
Mick said the commission also reviewed the ethics complaint against Teruya and saw no cause for removing her as chairwoman. The allegations were outside the scope of her official duties as a board member, he said.
Teruya resigned from her job as the city’s special events coordinator on
Dec. 19 after being accused of 2,677 ethics violations, including misusing city property to promote a campaign for public office and conducting hours of personal business on city time.
Teruya couldn’t be reached for comment.
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