A row has erupted after three Rotorua Lakes councillors declared they will boycott any further Long-term Plan workshops, claiming "harassment", being shouted at by a council staff member and "ambushed" by a complaint about breaching confidentiality.
Rural Community Board chairwoman Shirley Trumper; Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick; councillor Reynold Macpherson; councillor Peter Bentlley; and councillor Raj Kumar. Photo: Andrew Warner / Rotorua Daily Post
Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick says she is "extremely disappointed" the three councillors were "opting out of their responsibilities" as elected members to participate in democratic decision-making.
Rural Community Board chairwoman Shirley Trumper, who raised the breach of confidentiality concern, says the breach is a fact and she wanted to raise it in a confidential, informal setting.
In a statement released on Saturday afternoon, Rotorua Residents and Ratepayers members and councillors Reynold Macpherson, Peter Bentley and Raj Kumar announced they were boycotting the council's Long-term Plan workshops following a workshop last Wednesday which they say "collapsed in conflict".
Long-term Plans are adopted every three years in accordance with local government legislation and cover a 10-year period. The last one adopted in Rotorua covers 2018 - 2028.
The statement claims Macpherson was "harassed" when criticising some of the council's investments, saying he "rejected an accusation without evidence that [Macpherson] had leaked confidential material from the workshops and was shouted at by an official when he questioned why the complaint was even heard and allowed to become a witch hunt".
The three RDRR councillors walked out of the meeting, the statement said.
Macpherson said the workshops were "dysfunctional".
"Presentations are made only by senior officials and often repeat the proposals we heard a year ago during induction. The senior officials always stress a self-serving myth - that the workshops are to clarify the priorities of elected members for officials to implement. Rubbish.
"Despite Covid, the borrowing and spending plans remain largely unchanged and imply another big rates rise.
"We reserve the right to challenge the Long-term Plan... whenever it sees the light of day."
Bentley said the workshop "went off the rails" and while the workshop was "advertised" to be about levels of service, it was, in his view, "all about central government services we can have little effective say on".
Speaking to Local Democracy Reporting on Monday, Bentley said Rural Community Board chairwoman Shirley Trumper had, at the end of the meeting, accused Macpherson of leaking confidential information, calling it an "ambush", "totally uncalled for" and "just a personal vendetta".
He said he believed Trumper's comments were "fully supported" by the mayor, who "could have nipped it in the bud".
"I have lost confidence in our ability to represent the interests of ratepayers at the Long-term Plan workshops."
In the statement, Kumar said Chadwick had insisted he stay while other elected members were allowed to "slip away".
"The Long-term Plan workshops are meant to be open forums that respect diversity, not to be ruled by a few angry voices trying to rebut alternative ideas with shaking heads and open disdain."
Rotorua Residents and Ratepayers has 651 members according to the statement.
Trumper wanted cards on table
Rural Community Board chairwoman Shirley Trumper. Photo: Rotorua Daily Post
Trumper yesterday said she had spoken with Chadwick and council chief executive Geoff Williams - about her intentions to raise an issue - shortly before the meeting on Thursday and both had advised her there was "a proper process" - a formal code of conduct complaint.
"My direct answer to them was after the debacle after the last code of conduct, I wanted all the cards on the table. No one knew what I was going to bring up at all, it was a surprise."
She said the concern she raised was that Macpherson had a post on social media that referred to public-excluded discussions "about the Airport CCO Ltd borrowings" in 12 November's Strategy, Policy and Finance Committee meeting, when the agenda had only stated "Economic Recovery Project Number 3".
"That is fact, it cannot be refuted," she said.
On Monday, the social media post was still live and supported Trumper's claim.
In the list of public-excluded items in the agenda of the meeting, "Airport CCO (Council-Controlled Organisation) Ltd borrowings" was not mentioned.
Trumper also disputed that Macpherson was "shouted at" by a council staff member, stating in her opinion: "He was trying to talk over her as she was talking about proper process. He did not want to listen to her."
She said she had opted to raise the issue in the Long-Term Plan workshop as it was confidential.
"They're in-house conversations. They're the only forum that allows elected members to have a less formal way of interacting and I chose that forum for that reason. If I had taken it to a meeting I would have had to have followed proper process.
"After the debacle of the last code of conduct that Councillor Macpherson went through and ... his refusal to apologise to the parties [involved], I didn't want that again."
Trumper said, in her view, the RDRR statement was a further breach of confidentiality as it divulged what occurred in a closed-door meeting.
"This should never have seen the light of day because those workshops ... are not public meetings.
"If this was a board, they would be gone."
The RDRR statement was put to the council and Chadwick for the right of reply.
On Monday, Chadwick said she did not "intend to dissect the statements or claims made" but was "extremely disappointed three of our councillors are opting out of their responsibilities as elected members to participate in legitimate, appropriate business of [the] council and democratic decision-making".
"The workshops are an important mechanism for councillors and other elected members to explore and discuss options and alternatives, and enable robust and wide-ranging discussion.
"Workshops are confidential so we can openly explore differing points of view.
"Not attending means missing the opportunity to have input and that inevitably means absentees are under-prepared to contribute to later decision-making.
"Councils don't start a Long-term Plan from zero. Following last year's elections we agreed priorities, then adopted an annual plan, taking the impact of Covid into account.
"We are now taking that direction further with the development of a 2021-31 Long-term Plan. This plan sets direction for the next 10 years so it is critical that all members of [the] council have input."
Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the News Publishers' Association and NZ On Air.