I do not know whether to shake my head, send a stern letter or just go with the flow. Yes – I am talking about Waipā District Council.
Firstly, let me be fair and clear. Councils are here to stay and technically have a very worthwhile role to play. However, the antics of recent weeks beggars belief. Remember that, in a previous article, I mentioned that Waipā had already taken the King’s coin from the aftermath of the Three Waters debacle. And possibly spent it.
Peter Carr
So firstly financial problems. There are several issues, the major one for me being that Waipā is rapidly approaching its sensible debt level. Link that too with the ‘return’ of water moving accountability and the responding ‘back burner’ move for Cambridge Library, the new Te Awamutu-based museum and the cleanup of Cambridge’s beloved lake. Take this news with a couple of Mea Culpa statements from both the mayor and the Finance manager.
Recent revelations of allegedly secret meetings were followed by a disaster by the organisation’s communications team linked with the secretive overlay by the roading section. Broad blue bridge-indicative arrows plonked haphazardly onto three comparative maps do not make either common sense or clarity. Especially for those who feel that their homes may be threatened.
Philip Coles
And no wonder that the crowd at the supposedly clarification meeting became grumpy. Clearly poor manners and lack of respect for the mayor were far from necessary nor desirable.
And I read that Cr Philip Coles may be barred from any future part of bridging matters due (allegedly) to impartiality. This is the same councillor who, shamefacedly, during the last triennial election, was forced to mumble and stumble his way through an apology for making statements about St Peters School which were not his to make.
So, we need to ask ourselves a clear question. Two in fact. The first being is the council being well governed? And, secondly, is it being well managed? The former is for the mayor to answer in a manner that does not attract the possibility of replacement of the elected team by a commissioner. Remember Tauranga?
Waipa mayor Susan O’Regan fronts up to the crowd at the public drop-in session in the Bridges Church. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
The second is just as serious. With a chief executive in the dying months of a lifetime of honest employment just what succession plans are in place? With mixed views by many regarding the council’s planning department and a clear whoopsie in communications, one must ask the question as to whether the whole being is fit for purpose. To quote Finance manager Ken Morris – ‘timely communication and engagement are vital now, more than ever’.
Clearly at both board table and in a myriad walled-in offices his treatise is not being adhered to. If this muddle of perceived ineptitude is apparent to ratepayers (and homeowners) small wonder that they were upset at the recent aborted meeting.
And just to put the third bridge matter into perspective – what is being talked about is a second bridge – with the current high facility being demoted to a walkway and cycleway.
Victoria ‘High Level’ Bridge
