New Council shuffle boots Menor and reinstates Martin as chairman

Councilman Ernie Martin is expected to reassume his title as chairman of the Honolulu City Council, booting current Chairman Ron Menor, under a resolution introduced Friday by four members.

Menor had ousted Martin as chairman in January 2017.

Under the new lineup spelled out in Resolution 18-65, Kymberly Pine will be vice chairwoman, unseating Ikaika Anderson, and Carol Fukunaga will be floor leader. The resolution was signed by Martin, Pine, Ann Kobayashi and Trevor Ozawa.

A special Council meeting has been scheduled for March 19 to discuss the reorganization. It’s unclear what, if any, changes there will be in key committee leadership assignments.

The new lineup is not expected to be good news for Mayor Kirk Caldwell. Martin has been among the mayor’s staunchest critics.

“Our constituents deserve a strong council that will make hard decisions that the mayor may not like or agree with,” Martin said in a written statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

He criticized Caldwell’s budget package, released March 2, which calls for bond money to pay for Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation operations as a “bad precedence I cannot support.”