The city will move forward with steel wheels on steel rail for its $3.7 billion mass-transit system regardless of what the City Council does at its meeting on Wednesday.

The inability of the council to reach a decision on rail technology this week, coupled with rules the council approved in 2006 for selecting the technology, give Mayor Mufi Hannemann the ability to proceed with steel immediately.

The council Wednesday was expected to cast a final vote selecting steel wheels, rubber tires or magnetic levitation for the 20-mile project linking East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center. However, council members could not agree on a technology after more than seven hours of discussion and debate.

A lack of consensus concerning the project was on full display Wednesday night during a dysfunctional debate marked by confusion, procedural maneuvering, deadlocked votes and repeated reviews of council rules. On several occasions, council members seemed confused and would not vote until seeing how other members cast their votes.

"This exercise in parliamentary gymnastics which has created chaos and confusion ... was the most dysfunctional council session I have ever seen," Hannemann said at a news conference yesterday. "They failed to make a decision. Our decision is steel on steel.

"Legally, I can do it. There's nothing that can prevent me from what I'm doing."

The council is expected to revisit the technology issue at its next meeting Wednesday. However, Hannemann said he would veto any bill that doesn't select steel technology. And it seems unlikely the council could muster the six votes required to override such a veto.

On Wednesday, council members Romy Cachola, Charles Djou, Donovan Dela Cruz and Ann Kobayashi voted against the steel option. Todd Apo, Nestor Garcia, Gary Okino and Rod Tam voted in favor of steel. A ninth council member, Barbara Marshall, was absent because of a family emergency.

The deadlock shows that the council, which previously endorsed the project, is becoming more divided on the transit issue.

Rail proponents yesterday said the council's failure to select a technology isn't a problem.

"Those of us on the inside don't consider it a setback, but you have to understand perception can be a powerful force," Garcia said. "Those who witnessed (Wednesday) night are going to wonder whether or not we're going to continue as we should. The perception (Wednesday) night was not the best."

MAJOR HURDLES REMAIN

The current rail effort marks the fourth time in three decades the city has tried to develop a new mass-transit system for O'ahu. Previous efforts — including two rail projects and one bus rapid-transit system — failed because of cost concerns or changes in political priorities.

Groundbreaking on the new mass-transit system could occur next year, with the first segment starting service between East Kapolei and Waipahu in 2012.

The rail project still faces several major hurdles. Later this year, the council is expected to set rules governing development near future rail-transit stations and develop a framework for creating a transit authority. The council also has yet to approve budgeting $251 million in fiscal 2009, which starts July 1, for transit-related plan, design and construction costs.

"It'll be a struggle at every step of the way and we've still got some major decisions to make," Okino said.

The technology debate is driven in part by concerns that steel wheels could cause noise problems for neighbors of the elevated commuter rail. The noise could hurt some property values. Other properties near transit stations could increase in value.

Dela Cruz denied that the council was dysfunctional.

"That's the process of the City Council. That's democracy," he said. "If there were quiet discussions in a back room and all of a sudden a decision up front, I would be more concerned."

If council members cannot agree on a technology, steel technology would eventually take effect by default based on a previous bill passed in 2006 by the council. That bill stated that the decision of a city-appointed expert panel would stand if the council didn't opt for another technology.

The expert panel in February recommended steel-wheeled trains as the most reliable and cost-effective technology.

Djou yesterday said Hannemann's decision to move ahead regardless of any council action could be risky should the project be challenged on legal grounds.

"One would hope that if you're going to go forward with a multibillion project that's going to change the landscape of our community, you would have some semblance of a plan and consensus," he said. "That semblance was nowhere to be found (at the Wednesday council meeting). It was a joke."

Apo disagreed. "It may be a little more shaky, but (Hannemann's strategy) is solid," he said.

Apo did not see the council's inability to select a technology affecting the project's future.

"This is not an issue of whether to do this project or not," he said. "This is an issue of what technology to use."

Kobayashi said she felt the council was unnecessarily rushed to make a technology decision. "All of a sudden they're telling us to hurry up," she said, "but who hurries when you're making a $5 billion decision?"

CONTRACTS DEFENDED

Hannemann said there is a chance that the University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu campus will have an adjacent rail station. Under current plans, students will have to walk about a quarter-mile to get to the future campus from the nearest rail station.

He also defended transit-related contracts to public relations consultants Lychee Productions and Elisa Yadao. Lychee Productions has received transit contracts valued at $766,000; Yadao at $505,000.

"Lychee Productions and Elisa Yadao happen to be good at what they do," Hannemann said. "Just because they're friends of mine, just because they supported me, should not exclude them from being involved. The money that's involved is such a manini part of" the money spent on the project so far.