Member with harbour links sought
THE fourth addition to the Waitaki District Council’s harbour area committee should have links to Oamaru Harbour as well as a commercial background, Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher says.
The committee confirmed three new members on Tuesday for the purpose of drafting the council’s $200,000 master plan for the harbour.
Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust chairman Graeme Clark (heritage), North Otago Yacht and Powerboat Club commodore Kevin Murdoch (maritime users) and Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony science and environmental manager Philippa Agnew (environment) were all confirmed as stakeholder representatives on the committee and took part in the discussion.
And while council assets group manager and deputy chief executive Neil Jorgensen recommended writing to the Otago Chamber of Commerce to solicit a nomination for the fourth stakeholder representative — because it would have been ‘‘simpler’’ than inviting an individual — Mr Kircher suc cessfully argued for the fourth nomination to be someone with links to both the harbour and the commercial sector.
‘‘It doesn’t have to be someone who’s overtly commercial, but understands that side of things,’’ Mr Kircher said after the meeting.
‘‘But [someone who] also has an appreciation for the harbour.
‘‘It just gives us another element to measure people against.’’
However, Mr Kircher said yesterday he had spoken to the chairman of the local branch of the chamber of commerce and after reading a media report that the chamber would be approached, the group had identified someone as a candi date who did fit the new criteria.
‘‘At the end of the day . . . it’s one person amongst quite a few. And as much as a lot of people would be really passionate about it, it’s not the beallandendall.’’
At the meeting, Mr Kircher said there had already been ‘‘quite an offline discussion’’ and while individuals with a commercial interest in the harbour had been suggested, the possibility of those individuals having a pecuniary interest was a cause for concern.
Those people could still be involved in the ‘‘investment logic mapping’’ process when up to 20 stakeholders would be represented in workshops, he said.
Cr Melanie Tavendale said she struggled with the proposed ‘‘commercially focused’’ addition to the committee if, down the track, conflicts of interest became difficult to manage.
And while the recently formed interest group Friends of Oamaru Harbour had been ‘‘a little more critical’’ of the process to date, getting those types of voices around the table could benefit the process.
Further, as Mr Kircher steered committee members away from naming specific individuals as candidates for the fourth spot on the committee, Cr Tavendale said if people were being discussed they should be named in public as it would make the process ‘‘much more obvious’’.