HONOLULU (KHON2) -- The Thirty Meter Telescope is back as a hot topic, after Hawaii County’s new mayor said he could now support the project if it's done right. Get Hawaii's latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You In videos posted to social media in recent days, Hawaii County Mayor Kimo Alameda expresses support for TMT, something that caught many on both sides of the issue by surprise as Alameda had previously opposed the project back when construction was set to begin in 2019. “I had family on the front lines, and I was up there, too, as a protector,” Alameda told KHON2. “I'm still a protector, so I'm still trying to figure out, as the mayor, how can we and is there a place where we can find the common ground?” As mayor, he gets a seat on the Maunakea Stewardship and Oversight Authority. He went to his first meeting in this role last month. Hawaii seeks end to strife over astronomy on sacred mountain “Nobody has mentioned the elephant in the room, which is TMT, and that's the first thing I noticed,” he said. “I think there's not really the best timing for what is to be brought up again, but might as well. My thinking is, if it's the elephant in the room, then we might as well talk about it.” “The mayor has a right to his own opinions but the issue of the TMT lease has not yet come before the authority, so there are no actions or decisions coming up at this time or in the near future," said Noe Noe Wong-Wilson, another MKSOA board member, who was one of the kupuna kiai arrested at the Maunakea demonstrations years ago. KHON2 reached out to TMT for comment and any updates from its side. As recently as last month, the National Science Foundation was still weighing what project to give $1.6 billion dollars to TMT, or a competing telescope known as GMT which would be located in Chile. "This is the best mountain, best science, this would put the United States on the map,” Alameda said. “It could go somewhere else, Chile, but then the Chileans would benefit, and not the residents of Hawaii. So if there is a universal benefit, I want that to be for our people." If TMT is done here, it has to be done right, the mayor says. "That's what I've been terming all along as the ‘new TMT’ because there might be a new version. So what I want the public to know, and the people of Hawaii Island to know, is that this might be our opportunity to really come together as an island people.” "I am uncertain what new version of TMT the mayor is referring to,” Wong-Wilson said. Alameda mayor says he didn't intend to jump start the conversation until what he calls a draft of a taped message got posted by others to social media. The mayor then posted a second on his own account after that. Find more Hawaii, Oahu, Maui and Kauai news here "I was creating a video to share with the National Science Foundation to make sure that they're aware that, hey, you know, we want continual funding, not just funding for the astronomy community, but funding for science and that there might be a win-win for everybody. And as the mayor of the county, I'm willing to put myself out there and start the discussion.”