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Backing Barclay

Tracy Watkins writes (June 24) about ‘‘Where it went wrong’’.

It went wrong when Glenys Dickson presumably liked working for Bill English then found she did not like working for Todd Barclay.

The responsibility for the Barclay catastrophe lies entirely with Glenys Dickson.

When she found she did not feel loyal to Todd Barclay she should have resigned immediately rather than drawing another day’s pay under those circumstances.

She could quite well have asked Bill English for extra severance money.

She has done insufferable damage to the National Party.We need Todd Barclay.

We could comb all New Zealand and not find a young, able and competent candidate to compare with him. Come back, Todd Barclay. Jack Murrell Manapouri Abridged - Editor

Council directorships

During the lead-up to the last local body election, there was significant public disapproval of councillors also having directorships in the council-owned companies.

It seems that most objection was based on the conflict of interest between being a councillor and also being a director of a council-owned company.

The other line of objection seems to have come from disclosure of how much these directorships pay and whether there could be a hidden desire by those participating councillors to maintain their extra level of personal income.

The mayor, as an example, gets an additional $23,700 annual payment for the airport directorship.

Some councillors have more than one of these directorships.

Some who seemed to be vehemently opposed to such directorships (like Cr Karen Arnold), have subsequently accepted a paid directorship.

I would like Mayor Shadbolt to comment on whether council is considering a change of policy on this matter and how they will solicit the views of ratepayers.

My view would be that any change should impact in time for the next elections.

Nobby Clark

Invercargill Ratepayers Advocacy Group spokesman

Invercargill mayor Tim Shadbolt responds:

The airport is one of the council’s strategic assets, along with Electricity Invercargill and it is entirely appropriate that we have political representation on the Board.

Forestry, on the other hand, is solely for commercial purposes and no political representative is necessary.

The council’s Holding Company has three political appointees and has since its inception in the early 1990s and has been incredibly successful growing capital wealth ($87 million) and will contribute approximately $6 million per annum to the relief of rates from the next financial year.

Directors on any company carry a personal risk but because they also represent the public good, directors fees are discounted to reflect this.

All directorship fees are voted on and published.

Councillor Arnold changed her policies on council directorships because of the results from the October 2016 election that put council in an awkward position. Two serving directors - Neil Boniface and Graham Sycamore - were not re-elected to council, while a third, Alan Dennis, did not stand for re-election.

Under current council policy three councillors were required for the Holdco board and at least one to Electricity Invercargill Ltd.

Cr Karen Arnold, who obtained her Institute of Directors Certificate in Company Direction in 2015, understood the potential for a shortfall in councillors showing an interest and put herself forward as a candidate.

As for all director appointments she went through a rigorous selection process which included an interview and probity checks.

Then, at the first opportunity in February, she was the councillor who urged the council to review its appointment policy, a move supported by all and one that could potentially end her directorship in the future.

A report on that review is yet to come before council.

All policies are open to review but the current situation works well and I am not in favour of changing it.

Cr Karen Arnold was also approached for comment on the letter. She responded by referring to the mayor’s reply.