Connecting Citizens Who Care
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Contact Peter at wheeler@inspire.net.nz
01 11th Jan 2007
This Week: 1. Naylor helps Toll. 2. Citizen’s presents welcome. 3. Grumpy Gordon Gripes. 4. Amazing statements. 5. My God says. LGC report attached.
If you are back after your holiday break I hope you had a good rest and are re-energized for the upcoming years activity. While you were away a few things took place that may interest you: Cr. Naylor, the councillor who represents Hokowhitu but lives in Papaioea, suddenly found his green fingers and is organising a sausage sizzle. Now to get your free sausage all you have to do is: Pull a few weeds out around the Railway Station and using some donated paint and brushes give the station a quick paint job. Of course Cr. Naylor who has yet to appear at tree planting efforts or river clean ups, is desperate to make the news since he announced his intention to run for Mayor. This assistance to ‘Toll Holdings Ltd.’ and ‘NZ Track Ltd.’ is amazing, you know if you failed to cut your lawns and created a public hazard as the above companies have done the council would under its bylaws demand that you fix it. But regardless of this Cr. Naylor plans to do this maintenance for them. This is the very same councillor who voted against specific community groups receiving grants, against retaining the Linklater Block. Oh dear me, this year is a fun year already with candidates like this seeking the headlines.
Just before Christmas the citizens received two early Christmas presents, the first notification of the CEOs resignation ending his term early and secondly a little later, news that Sue Piper Chairperson of the Local Government Commission had tossed aside councils plans for altering the voting system. In the first instance the CEO blamed everybody else for his much-awaited departure. He won’t be missed. What has he left behind? A dismantled community development section, and a fractured staff. A divided council because he played one against the other. A hugely unbalanced salary system where the top including him received excessive increases while many others failed to even keep up with inflation. I feel sorry for the Tasman District Council for I know that the citizens down there are very community minded. In his five years we’ve spent around about a million and a half dollars on his wages alone, so he has done well out of our small city, he was in my view an expensive and backward step back into the nineteen eighties. Let’s hope that any future candidates for this over paid position receive a proper CV check.
Once again Cr. Gordon Cruden typically claims that Sue Piper and her team of experts made a flawed decision in deciding differently to his views. Well maybe if he had spoken differently to the commission and given sound logical reasons rather than speaking over their heads directly to the press they would have valued more of what he had to say. The Commission does not have a policy of reducing councillor numbers while it may have done so in the past they treat each case individually. In the case of Palmerston North they considered the facts as presented and reached the logical decisions they did. Which was basically the status quo. This of course is not what Cr. Gordon Cruden and possibly the CEO had been telling their friends to expect. This poor loser attitude of Gordon’s is very hard to understand because it was he who first lodged the dissenting voice that set the commission process in motion. It would seem that Gordon believes in democratic process so long as he wins. If one reads the Commission’s summary of the reasons for their decision it can be understood and will I think be accepted by all fair minded citizens. [It is attached] Now this correct and progressive decision does not mean that the Ward Committees are safe, far from it. While the Commission noted that the council agreed to retain ‘Ward Committees’ and holds them to that promise this would not stop the CEO and the tight eight from attempting to over rule the Commissions belief. With anti-ward members like Cr. Naylor, Wall, Gordon Cruden and Pope who knows what may arise. But they can’t change the committee structure of Wards until after the next election so the citizens will have the chance to elect more progressive councillors in their place. Of course a major step forward could be to require Ward Councillors to reside within their Wards or at least Work within their Wards at the time of the election.
5 January 2007
Letter to the Editor Manawatu Standard
As a union and community activist unashamedly involved in organising, agitating and educating for workers and citizens rights, I was very encouraged by the results of some hard fought local struggles towards the end of last year and now into the new year. Union members at The Progressive distribution centre had an outstanding victory after withstanding a brutal 28-day lockout by their employer. Midcentral District Health Board decided that paid car parking at Palmerston North hospital would not be progressed. Highly paid PNCC CEO, Paul Wylie, ' threw in the towel ' in what I saw as his campaign to 'run the city my way and damn the citizens’ and with a few moans is heading off back to the South Island. The Local Body Representation Commission overturned the PNCC's ' tight eight’s' push for doing away with voting by wards and reducing the number of councillors.
Then this year that wonderfully vibrant community activist, Kevin Reilly, was duly recognised in the New Years honours list, and the Manawatu Standard gave in my opinion a great selection for your person of the year in ' jack of all (community) trades, ' Lew Findlay.
For me, the theme running through all these great results is that no victory is ever won without hard persevering struggle and democratic community participation and support. Oh, and yes, the Manawatu Standard should be congratulated for your decision to put the name and photo of the writer beside each edition’s editorial. I wrote a letter a few years back asking for this journalistic transparency, even though I could generally guess each writer by his or her style anyway.
Finally, one of the big questions you might want to put to any budding candidate for this years local body election is, ' now that the election will be voted on by wards, do you support the continuation of ward committees? ' It appears to me that up to now the ' tight eight ' on council have worked hard to undermine any proper community (ward) input and accountability, so I will be interested in where they all stand on this issue. I promise to pursue them on this at every public meeting I can find. Their answer is crucial to if and how they see that they are answerable to their ward (community) on an ongoing tangible basis and not just at the ballot box every 3 years.
Yours Sincerely
Dion Martin
Statement of the year 2006
‘The highlight of the CEO’s career: The Turitea Wind Farm Report’. [Heather Tanguay]
‘I am a team player and I believe in local democracy’. [Cr. Alison Wall]
My God hopes that you are all well and that your New Year resolutions are achievable. Here are a few she took note of:
‘ I will attend Ward meetings and at least 50% of those meetings I promised to attend. Cr. Pope.
‘ I will be the National Party Candidate for PN in 2008. Cr. Dennison
‘ I will introduce a door charge at the Airport, to go with the Departure Tax and the taxi parking tax. Cr. Gordon Cruden [PNCC Representative on Airport Board]
" I promise to be nice to the Councillors and not record their odd and strange behaviour. Editor Wheeler’s Corner.
Peter J Wheeler
Wheeler@inspire.net.nz
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