Cycle of disharmony continues in Horowhenua
Horowhenua District councillors are disappointed a probe into the mayor’s controversial decision to appoint an advocate recommended changes but resulted in no action.
Councillor Piri-hira Tukupua took exception to mayor Michael Feyen’s then external advocate Christine Toms sending an email on his behalf, requesting to see the qualifications of a senior council staffer.
Amid tension and confusion among councillors over Feyen’s need for an advocate, who was not paid by the council, a review of the role was commissioned by a council committee.
Reviewer Bruce Robertson, an external governance advice consultant and former Local Government New Zealand assistant auditorgeneral, made several recommendations, which were presented to the committee in secret in late 2017, and released to Stuff in July.
Neither Feyen nor Toms would take part in the review.
Robertson called for greater clarity and unity from the council, and spoke of the need to ‘‘speak with one voice’’, but there’s little evidence of lessons being learned or new policies sought.
Committee chairman Philip Jones, who is not a councillor, said he had informal discussions with councillors about how to implement Robertson’s recommendations, but no formal action was taken.
Councillor Bernie Wanden said he was unhappy Feyen hadn’t participated in the review and frustrated the mayor never acknowledged he made a mistake by going ‘‘outside of the democratic principles of good governance’’ and appointing Toms to a role without consulting the council.
‘‘There should have been an openness and transparency about this. A lot of us [councillors] were disappointed,’’ Wanden said.
In the report, Robertson described Toms’ advocate role as ‘‘contentious and disputed’’.
The fundamental issue was the position had never been clearly defined. He recommended Feyen and council chief executive David Clapperton work together to review the support the mayor needed and that the council seek expert advice in how to ensure the council was always seen to be ‘‘speaking with one voice’’.
Toms, who is no longer the mayor’s advocate, said the review was a ‘‘beat-up’’ and incomplete.
Feyen did not want to comment when approached by Stuff and said ‘‘nothing has come before council’’ when asked about the report.
Clapperton confirmed the report was presented to the finance, audit and risk subcommittee on December 13, 2017, in a public-excluded part of the meeting.
Clapperton acknowledged Robertson’s call for unity was a work in progress, given Feyen had again upset his colleagues when he didn’t represent the council’s stance at a Local Government New Zealand conference in July.