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STAR-ADVERTISER / 2015
Honolulu City Councilperson Trevor Ozawa listens to testimony in 2015.
Trevor Ozawa will likely take the gavel as chairman of the Honolulu City Council when the new Council meets for the first time Wednesday.
Ozawa, along with colleagues Kymberly Pine, Carol Fukunaga and Ann Kobayashi, introduced Resolution 18-294 this afternoon. It installs Ozawa as chairman, Pine as vice chairwoman and Fukunaga as floor leader.
Ozawa and Pine were viewed as the most likely candidates to replace Chairman Ernie Martin, whose term ends Wednesday.
It takes five votes on the nine-member Council to make a decision, including the naming of a chairperson. It’s widely believed that a fifth vote for what has been the majority faction headed Martin will be maintained by Councilwoman-elect Heidi Tsuneyoshi.
The Martin-led majority often opposed Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s agenda. A majority headed by Ozawa would be expected to do the same.
Tsuneyoshi worked for Martin and he, along with other members of the majority, publicly supported her when she won the Wahiawa-North Shore seat by decisively beating four other hopefuls that included former state Sen. President Robert Bunda.
Ozawa narrowly defeated former state Rep. Tommy Waters in November to win reelection to the East Honolulu Council seat. Waters filed a petition challenging the results but the Hawaii Supreme Court has not yet announced any decision.
Pine represents West Oahu, Fukunaga represents the area from Punchbowl to Kalihi and Kobayashi represents the section from Palolo to Punchbowl.
Ozawa has been chairing the Budget Committee while Pine has led the Zoning and Housing Committee.
Likely to remain in the minority will be Council members Ikaika Anderson, Brandon Elefante, Joey Manahan and Ron Menor.
BREAKING: @TrevorOzawa will likely succeed @erniemartin808 as HNL Council chairman on Wednesday. #cchnl https://t.co/CsOJRexRl1
— Gordon Y.K. Pang (@PangInTheHale) December 28, 2018
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