Honolulu City Council 2023 Inauguration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dec. 29, 2022

HONOLULU CITY COUNCIL 2023 INAUGURATION

HONOLULU, HAWAI‘I ̶ Four new and returning Honolulu City Councilmembers will take their oaths of office at noon January 3, 2023, in Council Chambers at Honolulu Hale.

Councilmember Tommy Waters was re-elected to serve Council District IV, while incoming Councilmember-elect Matt Weyer (District II); Councilmember-elect Tyler Dos Santos-Tam (District VI) and Councilmember-elect Val Okimoto (District VIII), will take their oaths of office, to be administered by Hawai‘i Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald. Waters will lead the inauguration and chair the Council’s first official meeting of 2023.

First-term Councilmembers Dos Santos-Tam and Okimoto were officially sworn in prior to the special full Council meeting Nov. 29. The two will join first-term Councilmember-elect Weyer in taking the oath of office.

“We are excited to welcome three new members to join us in service the public at the Honolulu City Council,” Waters said. “Together, I am confident we will make progress toward alleviating the housing crisis, addressing homelessness in our communities, and protecting our ʻāina and our wai for future generations. We must work together as a Council to improve the lives of our local residents and ensure the health and safety of our communities.”

Returning Councilmembers Andria Tupola (District I); Vice Chair Esther Kiaʻāina (District III); Councilmember Calvin Say (District V), Councilmember Radiant Cordero (District VII) and Councilmember Augie Tulba (District IX), are continuing their terms, having taken their oaths of office on Jan. 2, 2021.

This will be the Council’s first official meeting of 2023 and as such, it will act on proposed Council rules and Committee Assignments. The agenda is posted here.

The ceremony will be opened with an oli, or chant, by Kumu Hula and Hawaiian cultural practitioner Mehanaokala Hind, while the Message of Aloha will be delivered by Tyler Iokepa Gomes, most recently the deputy to the chair of the Department of Hawaiian Homelands. Traditional Hawaiian music and hula will be performed by the Royal Hawaiian Band.

Seating within the Chamber is primarily reserved for the Council’s invited guests. Should any seats remain, seating for the public will begin at around 11:50 a.m.

Public parking will be limited and may be available in metered stalls in the City’s Municipal Parking lot at the Civic Center, (enter via Alapa‘i Street or S. Beretania Street), while reserved parking for invited guests will be clearly marked along Punchbowl and S. King Streets and Mission Lane.

The public may watch the inauguration ceremony online via the Honolulu City Council website at https://www.honolulucitycouncil.org/meetings or on ‘Ōlelo Community Media, Channel 54.

Media members covering the inauguration in-person are asked to wear or display their credentials.