Waihi Beach resident Ross Goudie is being excluded from this Friday's Local Government Commission hearings on the Western Bay of Plenty District Council's plan to change from five wards to three.
The former councillor is upset he is being excluded from speaking at the discussions which will reduce the number of councillors from 12 to 11.
Waihi Beach resident and former councillor is upset he will not be allowed to attend the hearings on the WBOPDC restructure.
'I was an original submitter on the proposals, but was not informed the hearings would be held this Friday.
'I've since found out that the commission will only hear from council, community boards and those who object to the proposals, not those who are in support,” he says.
Local Government Commission chief executive Donald Riezebos says Friday's meetings are to hear from objectors, council and community boards that are part of the region's governance structure.
The commissioners - chairman Basil Morrison, Grant Kirby and Anne Carter - will have access to all submissions, including those in support of council's proposals.
'These are hearings of objections,” he says.
Ross fears there could be a lack of balance at the hearings because up to 70 objectors are able to put their cases forward, as opposed to only council speaking in favour of the proposal.
As well as individuals and organisations, Maketu and Waihi Beach Community Boards have objected to plans to reduce councillors from 12 to 11 and wards from five to three.
The current five wards are - Waihi Beach, Katikati, Kaimai, Te Puke and Maketu.
The proposed new wards would be: Eastern Ward (Te Puke and Maketu); Central Ward (Kaimai, Omokoroa and Te Puna) and Western Ward (Katikati, Waihi Beach and Matakana Island).
The Waihi Beach Community Board has put forward an alternate proposal to merge Kauri Point, Ongare Point and Tanners Point and their rural areas, known as the Tahawai Mesh Blocks, plus Matakana Island, to become part of Waihi Beach Ward, not Katikati.
'This would mean Waihi Beach would gain 845 more people, while Katikati would lose that number, but still have a population of 7955, equalling 3977 people per councillor,” says Waihi Beach Community Board chairman Murray Craig.
Ross says the communities of Waihi Beach, Tanners Point, Ongare Point and Kauri Point were never consulted over the proposal to incorporate them into one Waihi Beach Ward and he is concerned no one will have an opportunity to present an alternate view to the commission.
'To my knowledge there was never any record in the Waihi Beach Community Board minutes of the proposal and no one asked Waihi Beach residents what they thought or the residents of the other communities if they wanted to be lumped in with Waihi Beach.
'I believe Waihi Beach would be better served by three councillors rather than one.” says Ross.
As a former Waihi Beach councillor, Ross says he knows how tough it was to be a lone voice representing the views of the beach community at council meetings.
The hearings begin at 10am at the Western Bay of Plenty District Council chambers, at Barkes Corner, Tauranga on Friday November 23.
1 comment
Fair and open dialogue???
Posted on 20-11-2012 13:00 | By SpeakUp
Kind of cute to see a local politician complain about compromised democratic processes in local government. Open dialogue, democracy, freedom of speech, have-your-say...get real! Whenever we hear about 'submission processes' we are reminded of the proverb: "Don't wrestle with the pigs. You both get dirty and the pigs love it.” I.e. 'don't enter a submission process with pen pusher stooges, you both wallow in bureaucratic swamp and the bureaucrats love it (and get even paid for the charade).” We the people are acutely aware about the autocracy of councils and acutely aware must be the very bureaucrats who drive this autocratic scam. While Mr Ross Goudie might be an exception, councillors are fully responsible for the state of local govt fiscal positions. Do we care if another public servant shows indignation about the fact that the producing, rate-paying public had enough of the colossal blown-out-of-proportion bureaucracy? Public service is not a free banquet for delusional egomaniacs. Definition of Politicians: The type of person who gets into politics is naturally a busybody who thinks (s)he knows what's best for everyone else and is anxious to enforce her opinions using the state. On top of that, many of these sociopaths are in need of easy income and think that politics is better than WINZ. We need persons of merit and calibre, people who have been successful in private enterprise and now want to serve their fellow men and are NOT in need of a job. Fat chance with the lot of failed existences occupying council chambers. As for the ‘restructuring process'...who is so naïve to believe that the smokescreen of restructuring the bureaucratic banquet will lead to a reduction of parasitic extortion? -Citizen Montoring Council-
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