Honolulu Council members Augie Tulba and Heidi Tsuneyoshi want Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board member Joe Uno to serve another term. This comes as the full Council is expected to vote next week on his replacement, Anthony Aalto.

Uno’s term on the board ended June 30. He is known as an outspoken board member who has advocated for the rail project to end one stop short of the Middle Street station due to the $3.5 billion shortfall for the project designed to reach Ala Moana Center.

Tulba and Tsuneyoshi emphasized the need for Uno’s professional background on the board.

“Keep him in his capacity to continue the dialogue that he has been able to bring forward due to his extensive history and knowledge in the construction and engineering background industry,” Tsuneyoshi said.

The resolution, which appoints Aalto to the HART board, also changes the qualifications currently required for HART board members, such as having leadership experience in topics like mass transit, engineering, law and business.

Aalto is a documentary filmmaker and an investigative journalist who made the 2013 documentary on the rail project, “Railroading Paradise.”

Uno runs his own construction cost consulting firm and is one of the few certified cost professionals on the island.

However, during the transportation committee meeting two weeks ago, Aalto’s nomination passed unanimously. Tulba also voted in favor of the nomination at the time although questioning Aalto’s qualifications.

Because the resolution is already up for a full vote before the Council, Tsuneyoshi and Tulba will have to introduce a floor amendment during next week’s Council meeting instead of introducing separate measures.

Council head Tommy Waters has been an advocate for Aalto’s nomination.

“Given the string of construction defects and growing HART budget shortfall, it seems obvious that a new direction and an outside perspective is required,” he said in a statement.

“Aalto showed a deep depth of knowledge about the rail project and also made it very clear that he would use his watchdog, investigative journalist expertise to advocate for the taxpayers.”

Tsuneyoshi’s comments about Uno pushed back against Waters’ statement.

“If we’re looking for somebody who is there to ask the hard questions and to keep it real, and to relay the voice of the people that says we want answers … Mr. Joe Uno has been doing that,” she said.

Waters did not support Uno’s reappointment to the board due to comments made in a meeting prior to the expiration of Uno’s term.

“We discussed the duties of board members as required by the City Charter. Unfortunately, he acknowledged that he had not read that portion of the Charter and that he was unwilling to fulfill a number of duties legally required of this policymaking board,” Waters said.

“This is an incredibly serious project and our residents are relying upon us to have serious people at the helm, who understand their responsibilities and are committed to upholding them.”

Uno rejected Waters’ statement about their meeting.

“He mischaracterized that conversation,” he said.

During Tulba and Tsuneyoshi’s announcement, Uno expressed his commitment to the rail project.

“What’s really driving me is the fact that we don’t have a way to pay for the rest of the way. … I’d love a mass transit thing to go all the way to Manoa, because that’s really where it should have gone. But we can’t afford it,” he said.

“We’re at a really important crossroads now with this project, and I think that having an independent eye and an independent mind to look and help the HART board find solutions to this problem is going to be very important to us.”