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Pee Kay
No Minister
Tuesday’s announcement by Local Government Minister Simon Watts that legislation will be passed that strips unelected appointees of their power to vote on your council committee, as expected, all the usual suspects leapt to the cell phone to call their favourite journalist.
Hastings’ mayor was no exception.
Mayor Schollum is no stranger to finding herself at the centre of public and political criticism – recently being the recipient of community and political backlash regarding her leadership centred around two major controversies.
A recent Herald report detailed the growing fallout within the council. An independent assessment found Councillor Steve Gibson guilty of low-level bullying against a staff member, but the friction didn’t stop there. Gibson has publicly slammed Mayor Schollum’s governance, calling it a “my way or the highway” approach.
Gibson widened the rift when he refused to attend strategic planning sessions at a marae.
Mayor Schollum’s handling of these internal disputes and the glaring communication gaps surrounding them has drawn heavy criticism from both the community and political peers.
Surely ratepayers deserve a transparent, cohesive leadership, not escalating council dysfunction.
But Mayor Schollum, this week, put herself right back in the firing line over Local Government Minister Simon Watts’ proposed legislation.
Mayor Schollum claimed, “The new law will see councils lose expert advice on big financial decisions.”
Schollum further claimed, “It made very little sense to strip the independent experts of their voting rights, because councillors needed to see their stance.”
“It’s actually a really important weighting that we give experts in their field on committees like risk and assurance,” she said.
I suggest Mayor Schollum is being disingenuous at the least and devious at worst.
I think she is using ‘expert financial advice’ as a smokescreen for her real agenda to further increase Māori influence into council decision making.
She is totally incorrect by claiming, “The new law will see councils lose expert advice on big financial decisions.”
Expert advisors, whatever the subject, do not need to be able to cast a vote. Like anyone else they attend committee meetings and give advice, they can then be questioned extensively by councillors and from there the council officers make a recommendation which the committee can choose to agree with or not.
By all means bring in anyone to make a submission on any topic: public submissions have always been the hallmark of the council process and of democracy.
The reason why all councils have a plethora of highly paid financial and engineering staff is to provide recommendations for councillors to vote on.
Mayor Schollum’s inference or conviction that having accountants, engineers, etc, on any committee with voting rights is actually an insult to the ratepayers.
As I said: it is a smokescreen.
Law change will see councils lose expert advice, Hastings Mayor Wendy Schollum says – NZ Herald
This article was originally published by No Minister.
