Waipa ‘derailed’ water company
Waipa District Council may face a judicial review over its decision to pull out of a plan to start up a shared waters management company.
The High Court review, if it goes ahead, is likely to take a closer look at the Waipa council’s 7-6 vote decision to decline the proposal with Hamilton City Council.
The council voted on the matter in December but the idea of setting up a shared waters company had been under discussion since 2012.
Waipa Mayor Jim Mylchreest said the council was seeking independent legal advice on the review process, so he would not make any further comment.
The notice of intention to seek a review came from Peter Findlay and Associates Limited.
Waipa’s choice to decline the proposal was discussed in Hamilton City Council’s Growth and Infrastructure Committee meeting last Tuesday.
‘‘How much has the whole thing cost us so far?’’ Councillor Mark Bunting said.
‘‘Right back to the beginning, it’s over a million dollars,’’ Hamilton’s executive director of special projects Blair Bowcott said.
The cost landed on the Hamilton, Waipa and Waikato district councils, with Hamilton footing around half the bill.
‘‘There has been substantial investment in external advice and staff time to first of all get to the point of understanding the various options,’’ Bowcott said.
A non-asset-owning model was eventually chosen by Hamilton and Waipa, where both councils would maintain their infrastructure but share labour and expertise, which extensive research suggested would have drastically reduced costs for both councils.
‘‘But, as I note, at the final hurdle, the final step, Waipa declined the opportunity to progress with the model,’’ Bowcott said.
‘‘It is disappointing to invest all that time and effort and then to, at the last step, have it declined.’’
Waikato District Council, which split last year from the original discussion involving the three councils, is currently devising its own separate approach, which could involve contracting the Watercare company from Auckland to help run its water systems.
Hamilton city councillor Paula Southgate asked that the chamber be reminded how much money could have been saved by the formation of a shared water company between Hamilton and Waipa.
Bowcott said it would have been between $70 million and $110m over 10 years.
Both Southgate and Bowcott were of the understanding that Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta was concerned at the decision.
Southgate requested that formal discussion be sought with central government about the water company.
‘‘Because this goes farther than water in my view,’’ Southgate said.
‘‘This is about how local government works.’’
She was concerned that councils had their chance to show central government their ability to collaborate in this situation, but eventually Waipa’s derailment of the proposal may have suggested they have a lack of ability to do that, meaning central government may be closer to wanting to step in.
After bumping into Mahuta following the decision, Southgate could tell that the minister was ‘‘not best pleased’’.