Councillors should ‘show respect’
Horowhenua’s ousted deputy mayor is weighing up his options after pulling the plug on a planned address at the council’s first meeting of the year.
Ross Campbell is looking at his right of redress after receiving a ‘‘hammering’’ at his last meeting as deputy mayor in December.
At that meeting, nine councillors voted to support a motion to remove Campbell as deputy mayor. He and mayor Michael Feyen were against it.
Councillor Wayne Bishop was appointed instead, but Feyen challenged the new appointment by trying to reinstate Campbell. After seeking legal advice, Feyen accepted Bishop as his new deputy.
Campbell had prepared a speech for Wednesday’s council meeting, addressing accusations made against him in the previous meeting, but decided not to share it.
Instead, he was looking at alternatives ways to address the issue outside of council meetings.
‘‘I should be looking at my legal rights. I just want to make sure that we as councillors know what the boundaries are and how we can act around each other.’’
Discussion from the December meeting was not recorded in the council minutes, which irked Campbell.
‘‘I’m not looking for any compensation. I just think we’ve got to show respect for one another.
‘‘Sometimes we can get carried away with what we are saying,’’ he said.
Bishop said the councillors had no intention of fuelling a discussion about what had happened in December.
‘‘He [Campbell] was given the opportunity to speak [in December] and he didn’t take that, but the next morning he found his tongue and talked to the media.’’
The council was there to serve the community and Bishop wanted business to carry on as usual. ‘‘We are progressing well, it’s slow, but we’ve finally got our committee structures in place.’’
In a statement, Feyen said the new committee structure included all councillors and would help the council set its direction. ‘‘It was important to get the structure right, in order to enhance our collective aspirations.’’