Frustrated councillors agree to cover car cost

Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt will be reimbursed up to $500 for a rental car cost with some Invercargill city councillors frustrated so much time has been spent on a ‘‘paltry’’ amount.

The issue stems from a rental car used by Shadbolt and his family in the North Island for this month’s Local Government New Zealand conference in Palmerston North.

Deputy mayor Nobby Clark found himself working with Shadbolt and his partner around travel and accommodation arrangements.

It was Clark’s belief Shadbolt should cover the rental car himself, as he did at last year’s conference, because it was also being used for personal use with his family outside the time of the conference.

However, Shadbolt publicly criticised his deputy over the matter saying Clark was being ‘‘petty and smallminded’’.

It prompted Clark to bring the matter to a full council meeting to let his colleagues decide.

Councillors spent almost half of its monthly full council meeting yesterday discussing whether it should reimburse Shadbolt up to $500 or not.

Shadbolt vacated the chairperson’s seat and left the council chamber stating he had a financial conflict.

Cr Darren Ludlow took over the chairperson role.

‘‘For the sake of $500, this is frustrating. Personally, I think the timing of it is mischievous and unhelpful and a distraction,’’ Ludlow said about the publicity around the matter.

‘‘But in order to try to progress it, I’m prepared to move the council reimburses the costs of the mayor of up to $500, subject to the provision of appropriate receipts.’’

The motion was eventually voted in favour, but not before more frustrations were aired.

‘‘Honestly the fact that this gets so much air time and media for $500 is extremely frustrating,’’ Cr Alex Crackett said.

‘‘The fact of the matter is it shouldn’t have come up in the first place.

‘‘We have a sensitive expenditure policy which this council unanimously ratified in 2018 because it was uncovered there was a lot of really random and interesting expenditure across the years.’’

Cr Ian Pottinger said Clark had raised some good points, and he was concerned if the council simply went ahead and improved the reimbursement it would not be consistent with its own sensitive expenditure policy.

Cr Lindsay Abbott pointed out that $500 was minor in the scheme of the council’s $115 million annual operational budget.

‘‘It’s a paltry sum ... I just wonder why we are even debating it. [It] represents nothing of what we spend on a daily basis.’’

Allan Arnold believed Shadbolt needed the family support available to attend the LGNZ conference.

‘‘Sir Tim is our mayor, and to be honest I doubt he would be able to travel to LGNZ unaccompanied.’’

Cr Peter Kett was unhappy that the Invercargill council had agreed to send as many as eight representatives to the conference believing it was ‘‘overkill’’.

Kett was not at the meeting when it was decided to send eight.

He also questioned why the council should pay for a non-elected mana whenua representative to attend the conference, while at the same time there were discussions about the mayor forking out $500 himself for a rental car cost.

‘‘For the sake of $500, this is frustrating.’’

Cr Darren Ludlow