The right of city councillors to arbitrate a $250,000 environmental compensation fund to monitor and mitigate the Te Maunga Wastewater Treatment Plant's impact on the harbour is being challenged by one of its sub-committee members.

Wastewater Management Review Committee tangata whenua member Matire Duncan filed a notice of motion questioning the make-up of the committee and its decision making functions.

Matire Duncan wants the council to take another look at how it does business

But the notice was withdrawn, Tauranga City Councillor and committee chairman Murray Guy said at the start of the meeting at 9.30am.

The notice attacked the committee on two fronts; its unequal voting structure, and the reasoning behind the decision to hand over $156,710 to iwi groups for environmental research.

The fund is a condition of the city council's resource consent to discharge treated sewage from Chapel Street and Te Maunga treatment plants into the sea.

Its subcommittee is made up of four council members and four tangata whenua members, but any decision is based on the determining vote of the council chairman. The mayor is an ex-officio member of the committee and also has a vote.

'I'm not pointing the finger at any particular person,” says Matire.

'It was just the process and the way it was done, the way it was dealt with.”

Matire says the equal standing and decision making power between tangata whenua and the council envisaged in the resource consent is not reflected in the sub-committee's make-up and voting structure.

Matire suggests either five iwi members or a four/four membership with no casting vote, which reflects the nature of a partnership and any deadlocks can be worked out in the nature of a partnership.

The other issue is the $250,000 Environmental and Enhancement Fund established as part of the resource consent.

The fund has a two pronged purpose; to avoid, remedy or mitigate actual and potential effects of the wastewater scheme in its broadest sense; and to acknowledge and provide mitigation by way of environmental compensation for ongoing adverse effects, including offence to tangata whenua, associated with the scheme.

At present $156,710 of the fund is going towards paying local Maori to undertake environmental research into the effects of the wastewater treatment plant's oxidation ponds in Rangataua Bay leaking into harbour.

Matire sought legal opinion over the fund, which outlines the fund's key driver is to mitigate the effects, not research or monitor the effects, which is the focus of the proposal.

The legal opinion states the research projects are consuming funds from the $250,000 total that should be directed instead to mitigation, including environmental compensation. An application involving only mitigation, with no research, monitoring or 'measuring of effects' should be sufficient to gain approval.

Matire declared a conflict of interest and took no part in the vote approving the fund applications.

'As I said in the letter we want to highlight some issues that we have had over the last two years, with regards to managing the fund, the way things have been dealt with,” says Matire today.

Because committee members have connections with the iwi groups making the connections, the applications were evaluated by two independent assessors.

They recommended that the Manaaki Te Awanui Charitable Trust, Te Tahuna o Rangataua Project application receive $130,000 for research in Rangataua Bay, and the Ngapotiki a Tamapahore Trust/Tauranga City Council Joint Application for the Te Tahuna o Rangataua Project application receive $26,710 for research in Rangataua Bay.