Whangārei ratepayers against the $136 million Oruku Landing conference and events centre left a public meeting at Forum North last night angry about not feeling heard.
Whangārei-based television personality and entertainer Luke Bird stood up in the seated meeting and heckled WDC chief executive Rob Forlong, catalysing the call for those present to speak Photo: LDR/ Northern Advocate
"I am really gutted that my mana as a ratepayer has been disrespected," ratepayer Emma Blood said of the Whangārei District Council (WDC) public meeting about the Oruku centre.
"We haven't had the opportunity to listen to other ratepayers, to hear their questions and to be treated like adults," she said after the meeting.
The Forum North 'have your say' meeting was held as part of WDC public consultation after the council revisited its proposal to pay for about half of the new ratepayer-funded centre in Whangārei's Town Basin. More than 45,000 ratepayers across Northland will be paying for the centre via either WDC and/or Northland Regional Council (NRC) rates.
The meeting format saw an Oruku Landing conference and events centre presentation in Forum North's exhibition hall. This was followed by attendees moving to small feedback stations along the adjacent concourse where individual comments were given to councillors and staff.
Many meeting attendees expected the event to instead include traditional public meeting opportunities for audience members to speak in front of others present while all were still together in the hall.
Maunu's Mike Davis said providing feedback in the way required meant ratepayers' comments being filtered through individual councillors and staff.
"The whole thing was a farce. This should be a public discussion," Davis said.
Small group sessions were held instead of the public giving feedback in front of everyone who attended the meeting Photo: LDR/ Northern Advocate
Blood and Davis were among 150 residents and ratepayers at the meeting, many desperate to voice their concerns about the centre during the public meeting whilst still among others in the room.
This did not happen, in spite of loud vocal effort from Whangārei-based television personality and entertainer Luke Bird who stood up in the seated meeting and heckled WDC chief executive Rob Forlong, catalysing the call for those present to speak.
"I think you should give respect to the ratepayers who have voted you in by people being able to ask questions in front of everybody," Bird called out across the hall.
Others in the audience backed Bird's call but it was rejected by WDC chief executive Rob Forlong.
Forlong told the audience last night's event was not being run as a public meeting, instead an opportunity for people to provide post-presentation feedback as organised.
He asked Bird to stop and repeated instructions to the crowd that their questions, comments and feedback be given individually to WDC councillors after the main meeting presentation in the hall.
WDC revealed this week the cost of the centre and surrounds had escalated by $13 million. WDC ratepayers' already lumbered with paying $57 million towards what was a $123 million centre, this week heard they would potentially now be paying $70 million for what had become a $136 million centre.
The council is making its decision on whether to go ahead with the centre on 26 November - including committing ratepayers to underwrite project cost overruns and the centre's $5 million further annual operating cost - without a formal submissions hearing, as is the norm in major Long Term Plan budget changes.
Directors from Northland Development Corporation (NDC), the private developer behind the $250 million Oruku Landing development that will benefit from the WDC ratepayers' potentially $70 million for the centre - and $6 million from Northland Regional Council (NRC) ratepayers across Tai Tokerau - said last night's meeting went well.
NDC's Barry Trass and Ben Tomason said they were happy with its format.
"Do we want to listen to people yelling out all meeting and disrupting things," Tomason said.
Trass said the format had given people the chance to have their say, in the same way people would in a submissions hearing.
"The meeting is no different to a normal (council submissions) hearing," Trass said.
WDC rates are set to go up by 7 percent next year if the centre proceeds. Northland Regional Council (NRC) rates will go up by 1.4 percent as well from 2023 to pay for its $6 million towards the centre.
The Forum North meeting followed a Ruakākā public meeting on Monday night with about 50 people in at-times vocal meeting. Another meeting will be held at Hikurangi on Thursday.
Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the News Publishers' Association and NZ On Air.