Councillors join investment board
Two Christchurch city councillors are joining the board of the council’s investment company as the search for other independent directors and a new chairperson continues.
Meanwhile, a group opposed to the sale of publicly-owned assets has criticised councillors after they decided late last year to investigate partial asset sales.
Christchurch City Holdings Ltd (CCHL) oversees eight large companies that the council has a majority stake in, including Christchurch Airport, Lyttelton Port and lines company Orion.
Councillors Sam MacDonald and Sara Templeton will represent the council on the CCHL board this term. Templeton, who holds the climate change portfolio at council, was first appointed to the CCHL board in 2019. MacDonald joins the board for the first time. He is chair of the council’s finance committee, a chartered accountant and a chartered member of the Institute of Directors.
CCHL is also recruiting a new chairperson and up to four independent directors. Former chairperson Jeremy Smith quit in August and CCHL director Alex Skinner has since been interim chair. A report with appointment recommendations is expected to be presented to councillors in March.
The recommendations will be made by an appointments’ committee consisting of former CCHL director and Foodstuffs chief executive Mary Devine (chair), Mark Cahill, and Henrietta Carroll. Council boss Dawn Baxendale is an adviser to the committee.
An acting chief executive, Paul Silk, remains in place at CCHL after the September departure of chief executive Tim Boyd, who was only in the role for six months. Shortly after Boyd quit, it emerged he was wanted in Arizona on unresolved drink-driving charges and was previously ordered to pay millions of damages in civil lawsuits in the US involving allegations of fraud and unpaid money.
Meanwhile, city councillors were publicly criticised this week by lobby group Keep Our Assets for their decision to develop detailed business cases for the costs and benefits of partially selling off CCHL assets.
That decision came after an independent review recommended the council decrease its ownership in assets and use the proceeds to repay debt, in turn reducing rates.
In a presentation on behalf of Keep Our Assets, former mayoralty contender John Minto said no councillors argued for asset sales during last year’s election.
He claimed the report’s publication just after the election was undemocratic and a ‘‘sneaky, deceptive ambush’’ to try to panic the city into selling assets when it did not need to.
Minto said he was deeply disappointed some councillors voted to spend an extra $150 million on the new stadium, but then wanted to sell assets because debt was too high.