Having read the Letters page (The Weekend Sun, June 30 edition), and also the replies from Tauranga City Council, I am discombobulated.

The replies were from TCC, which to me is a non-person or perhaps it’s from artificial intelligence that we hear about? Whatever happened to the previous “old-fashioned” courtesy where the person replying to the question actually used their name and accordingly took responsibility for the information provided? That way we could see that it was a real person and one that we could, if wished, correspond with.

Sadly, I view this as another step in which our local democracy is being steadily eroded.

With the imposition of unelected Commissioners, the communication and accountability for council affairs has reduced significantly and now this non-person is replying to Letters questions.  Whatever next?

David Hallett, Mount Maunganui.

The editor replies: Hello David. You raise an interesting point. We have approached council about this, which has told The Sun it will try its best to attribute future responses to a staffer.