Cachola removed City Councilman Romy Cachola has been ousted as chairman of the Council Zoning Committee under a reorganization of the committee lineup.
as zoning chairman
4 Council committees get
new leaders in an abrupt
reorganization under a resolutionBy Gordon Y.K. Pang
gpang@starbulletin.comThose signing the resolution were members Duke Bainum, Darrlyn Bunda, John DeSoto, John Henry Felix, Steve Holmes and Jon Yoshimura. Ann Kobayashi, Gary Okino and Cachola did not sign.
Bainum will replace Cachola as Zoning Committee chairman.
Also under the new makeup:
>> Bunda replaces Bainum as Transportation Committee chairman.
>> Holmes replaces Bunda as Public Works and Environment Committee chairman.
>> Yoshimura takes over the Parks and Public Safety Committee from Holmes.
Felix continues as chairman of the renamed Executive Affairs Committee, Kobayashi remains chairman of the Budget Committee and Okino is still in charge of the Planning Committee.
DeSoto, the Council chairman, said the change bolsters the effectiveness of the nine-member body by placing people where they have expertise.
"We're trying to get everyone where they're knowledgeable about certain issues and backgrounds," he said.
For instance, DeSoto said, recently appointed member Bunda, the former head of the Leeward Oahu Transportation Management Organization, will take over the Transportation Committee from Bainum.
Cachola, who was on a mainland trip, disagreed. "It's very clear this resolution is directed toward me," he said.
Asked why he lost his chairmanship, Cachola said, "Sometimes by being up front I might have ruffled some feathers, but that's the job we have to do."
But he holds no animosity toward his colleagues. "The institution comes first," he said.
Cachola became zoning chairman when DeSoto took over as Council chairman in February.
The reorganization also removes Cachola from other committees with the exception of the nine-member Executive Affairs Committee, formerly the Policy Committee, and the Intergovernmental Affairs and Customer Services Committee, which he will now chair.
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