Shadbolt to fight governance changes

Invercargill mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt has fired up at a suggested council governance overhaul and hammered home his desire to start chairing meetings again.

A report prepared by council chief executive Clare Hadley will be considered at a meeting on Monday which outlines the prospect of scrapping its traditional four subcommittees and condensing it down for two.

Hadley has prepared the report following a request from some councillors who want a more streamlined process for its decisionmaking.

The changes included reducing the gap between full council meetings from six weeks to four weeks.

Shadbolt was not in favour of the proposed changes put forward Hadley ‘‘and by her supporters on Council’’.

Shadbolt had appointed councillors to the four committees and put committee chairpersons in place at the start of the term, which was ratified by the rest of council.

In the report to tabled on Monday, it says council can alter the appointments made by a mayor, by discharging or reconstituting a committee or chair.

‘‘I am the mayor and I shall fight to retain my casting vote on issues of division,’’ Shadbolt said in a statement, when asked about the proposed changes.

‘‘This is what the public expect and know of me. I will continue to challenge decisions I believe are not in the community’s best interests, even though it may mean I am in the minority and fall out of favour with the majority or ‘cool kids’ at the council table.

‘‘If councillors truly want to streamline process and that is their actual motivation for change, I would reject the CE’s recommendation of monthly [full council] meetings and suggest fortnightly as the most efficient way forward.’’

Cr Nobby Clark will put forward an alternative governance proposal at the meeting which was inline with Shadbolt’s call for fortnightly full council meetings, and scrapping the four sub-committees.

However, Clark also suggested deputy mayor Toni Biddle should continue to chair meetings which

Shadbolt fired up at.

In a re-jigged format Biddle has taken on chairing Invercargill City Council meetings through the Covid-19 situation.

The reason the adjustment was made was that Shadbolt was in the over 70s age bracket which meant he was advised not to attend meetings in person.

Clark suggested both the mayor and deputy mayor sit at the top of the table and work together at meetings in the future.

When asked why Clark felt the deputy mayor should continue to chair meetings rather than the mayor, he said: ‘‘During Covid-19, when we’ve been isolated away from the building, Toni has chaired the meetings by the way of Zoom and she has done exceptionally well.’’

However, Shadbolt confirmed he would be returning to that role.

‘‘It is a fair assessment that Cr Biddle has chaired the Council in Committee meetings well through Zoom during the lockdown as she has a better handle on technology.

‘‘However, whatever her ultimate ambitions, her skill set also has its limits and it is only by chairing a meeting through times of fracture and tension that a Chair is actually tested, not pleasantries and finding agenda pages.’’

It was Biddle’s understanding that Shadbolt supported the recommended changes, in regard to two sub-committees and was surprised his stance had changed.

‘‘The discussion that led to these recommendations came from a united council wanting to progress action effectively and efficiently.

‘‘I am surprised with his Worship’s significant change of position on this and I wonder what caused this to happen.

‘‘In response to Cr Clark’s suggestion of one chair and one committee, I believe this is an unrealistic option due to the workload on one elected member.,’’ Biddle said.

The committees that were currently in place are infrastructure, regulatory, community services, and finance and policy.

At the moment Clark is chair of finance, Ian Pottinger holds the infrastructure role, Alan Arnold is regulatory chair, and Lindsay Abbott community services.

Councillors traditionally sit on two of those four committees and those committees make recommendations to full council to vote on.

Pottinger was behind the call for the changes to the council’s meeting and governance structure, feeling a new model would speed up its decision-making processes.

Throughout the coronavirus lockdown, council made a temporary change where all councillors met almost weekly via video conferencing.

‘‘It became quite evident that when everyone was dealing with everything rather than subcommittees, it seemed a more efficient way to govern with all councillors on every committee rather than the traditional way,’’ Pottinger said.

Under Hadley’s proposal, there would be a monthly cycle for meetings where the two subcommittees would meet in the first two weeks of the month, a workshop potentially pencilled in for the third week, and a full council meeting on the fourth week.

‘‘I am the mayor and I shall fight to retain my casting vote on issues of division.’’ Invercargill mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt