Carterton’s clocktower conundrum
What should have been a simple decision over the new colour of Carterton’s clocktower has turned into quite the conundrum.
Residents of the small Wairarapa district were asked to vote on three options for a new colour scheme for the clocktower, which has been undergoing earthquake strengthening.
But the process has become mired in confusion.
The main problem is over the use of an unauthorised picture of one of the options (Option 2), published in The Carterton Crier in the same issue which carried voting slips.
The photo presented the colour scheme with exposed panels and lighting – features not included in the council’s options.
A council report to be discussed by councillors on Wednesday noted the picture had influenced some voters.
‘‘Many people commented to council staff they chose Option 2 because of the lighting effect.
‘‘Some commented that they would have chosen another option had they known there was no lighting budget, or that the other options been lit.’’
There were also questions surrounding votes for the rainbow colour scheme proposed in Option 3, which attracted national media attention and was widely promoted on social media.
However, the report concluded the extra attention was unlikely to have influenced voters. could also have
Concerns over vote tampering were also largely put to bed, with the report concluding it probably had little impact on the result.
The tampering involved an attempt to rip one of the voting boxes, and three replica voting boxes being set up elsewhere in the district. Only a small number of people used those boxes, while just 10 of the 625 votes received were deemed to be suspicious.
Councillors now need to work out what to make of the vote, with a number of options on the table.
One is to accept the vote as fair and choose the most popular option, but the others are more complicated.
If Option 2 wins but councillors believe the unauthorised advertisement had an impact, they could adopt that colour scheme conditional on sourcing funding for lighting as it was presented, or declare the result null and void and seek further community feedback. They could also accept the result as it stands.
If Option 3 comes out on top, councillors could accept the result or take the issue back to the community. The council is keeping the vote count secret until it decides how to proceed.