Mayoral move a political ‘stitch-up’
Councillors walked out as Lower Hutt’s Mayor staged a behind-closed-doors demotion of an outspoken critic.
Mayor Ray Wallace’s move has been slammed as a politically motivated ‘‘stitchup’’ by one councillor while another accused him of running a ‘‘kangaroo court’’.
The bizarre incident was set against the backdrop of the sudden closure of the Naenae learner pool area because of it being structurally-unsound, then a petition to get Hutt City Council to fix it in a reasonable timeframe.
Councillor Campbell Barry had earlier publicly called on the council to make repairs a priority. He alleged the mayor, in a public-excluded session, had told councillors Barry ‘‘made me look bad’’ in his public comments and he ‘‘no longer has confidence in Cr Barry as deputy chairman of the finance committee’’.
At a December 11 meeting, Wallace called for an agenda item to be added for a ‘‘strategic structure review’’. When all staff and public had left, it turned out it was a motion to remove Barry from his deputy chairmanship of a committee.
According to Barry – who stepped down from being deputy chair in protest – councillors were not supplied with evidence to support the mayor’s claims that Barry brought ‘‘ill-repute’’ on them. ‘‘Many asked for it but did not get any.’’
Councillor Lisa Bridson read out the offending Facebook post and said there was nothing wrong with it, labelling the council a ‘‘kangaroo court’’, and leaving in protest. ‘‘I found the whole thing embarrassing. I don’t think that is the right way to address problems,’’ she later told Stuff.
Councillor Tui Lewis questioned why Wallace had not gone through a proper code of conduct complaint. ‘‘The mayor sprung this on all of us at the last minute, without providing any valid information ... The whole thing was a stitch-up and looked politically motivated.’’ Councillor Michael Lulich also left and later told Stuff it was because the meeting had become ‘‘heated and emotive and nothing constructive was going to be achieved’’.
He told others to leave because issues around Barry’s deputy chairmanship and Naenae Pool were best held in a January session.
Yesterday, Barry said he would not apologise for speaking out. ‘‘The public expects their elected councillors to represent and advocate in the best interests of the community. That’s exactly what I have been doing and will continue to do, to make sure the issues at Naenae Pool are fixed as soon as possible.
‘‘I’m disappointed with what occurred at the council meeting on December 11. It’s a sad day when people elected to represent the community face repercussions for doing just that.’’
Wallace confirmed resolutions were passed to remove Barry from being deputy chairman of the finance committee, as well as replacing the deputy chair of another committee.
‘‘As it was a public-excluded meeting, it would be inappropriate for me to go in to any further detail at this time,’’ he said.