Horowhenua District council meeting put off

Late apologies have lead to the postponement of Horowhenua District Council’s first full meeting of the year.

Chief executive David Clapperton said two late apologies yesterday morning meant there wouldn’t be a quorum at the meeting. He said six councillors were unable to attend the meeting, scheduled for the afternoon.

The reasons for being unable to attend varied from illness to work commitments, Clapperton said. He described having to postpone a full council meeting as ‘‘very unusual’’.

Mayor Michael Feyen said this was only the second time he could recall a meeting not being able to proceed due to lack of quorum, calling it a ‘‘real bummer’’.

He had filed a late motion to push for changes allowing mayors to pick their own deputies without a council vote. In 2016, Feyen named councillor Ross Campbell as his deputy without consulting other councillors, leading to Campbell being voted out within a month.

The last council meeting to be cancelled due to lack of quorum was in July 2017, at the same time it was revealed in a leaked draft audit report Clapperton had been intercepting council emails, including some sent to elected members.

Feyen said there had also been walkouts during his time as mayor.

A new date for the meeting will be decided as soon as possible.

It will be either late this month or early March.