Shadbolt grilled over failure to report back
An Invercargill city councillor has grilled Mayor Tim Shadbolt over an issue stemming from a TV item suggesting Invercargill ratepayers may become part owners of a building in France.
The building had historical significance for Kiwis as it was in Le Quesnoy, a World War I battle site where 135 New Zealanders died freeing the town from German occupation.
Shadbolt had not told the Seven Sharp programme in September that the council was spending the money on the building, but the issue got his councillors asking questions.
Cr Karen Arnold, at yesterday’s council meeting, said Shadbolt had said at the previous meeting he would report back on what had gone on with Sir Don McKinnon, the chairman of the Le Quesnoy project, who had been under the impression the council had committed funds. ‘‘I see in your report today there’s no such information, so can you please explain,’’ Arnold said.
Shadbolt talked about the renovation work on the building in Le Quesnoy and said most New Zealanders still did not know what occurred there during the war.
Arnold, however, said city councillors had seen emailed correspondence from McKinnon to Shadbolt saying he was excited the council would be considering a funding proposal at its October meeting, ‘‘and of course that didn’t come’’.
‘‘So we want to know what conversations you had had previously to have Sir Don McKinnon to think what he did.’’
Shadbolt said there had been dozens of phone calls over three years and he couldn’t remember exactly.
Cr Ian Pottinger said councillors simply wanted to know whether or not the council had somehow pledged or given the impression it would give money to the Le Quesnoy project.
‘‘If you could answer that it would go a long way to putting a lot of our minds at rest because we were all taken back by that Seven Sharp programme and wondering how they could have possibly got the impression we were considering funding this project.’’
Council chief executive Clare Hadley said there had never been a formal request to the council to fund the Le Quesnoy project.
Hadley said McKinnon had written to local authorities and suggested a dollar per ratepayer would be an appropriate amount but it had not been formally put to the Invercargill council.
Cr Toni Biddle said she was confused as to why the council was unsure whether or not it had contributed money to Le Quesnoy when it knew it had never received a report.
‘‘There is no report anywhere, we know that through the OIAs [Official Information Act] ... yet we are still hounding his worship. As this council we are all aware we have never had anything brought to the table and we have never approved such money and I think this is really time wasting.’’