Mediation aids Otaki Community Board

The Ō taki Community Board at the Kāpiti Coast entered mediation just days into their three-year term after reports of division amongst its members over leadership roles.

The board’s five members had at least two mediation sessions late last year and early this year with facilitator Karen Vaughan whose Hummingbird Effect Limited offers strategic advice and conflict resolution services.

A Kā piti Coast District Council spokesperson said each member had an initial one-on-one meeting with Vaughan, followed by a four-hour session between the facilitator and all members of the board on December 8 last year, two days after its first meeting of their term. There was another two-hour session on February 1 this year.

‘‘The Ō taki Community Board, in consultation with the mayor, requested mediation in order to reach consensus on a way forward as a newly elected board that had not previously worked together,’’ the spokesperson said.

The mediation sessions had cost more than $5400 and paid for by the district council.

Community Board chairperson Cam Butler was first elected through a byelection in 2021 while deputy chair Simon Black was a new face in local government. Members Jackie Elliott and Chris Papps had experience in

The Ō taki Community Board, from left, Simon Black, Chris Papps, Cam Butler, Jackie Elliott and ward councillor Shelly Warwick, above right.

local politics: the former was a districtwide councillor in the last triennium and the latter is a former chairperson of the community board.

Ō taki Ward district councillor Shelly Warwick, a former community board member of six years, also sits on the current board.

Local newspaper Ō taki Today reported last week there had been ‘‘significant differences of opinion’’ within the community board regarding roles.

Before the board’s first meeting on December 6, Papps wrote in a column in October as the outgoing chairperson she would be nominating Butler as her successor, saying he ‘‘is well qualified and suited to the role and he will do an excellent job.’’

But further reports in November said the endorsement did not go down well with Papps’ colleagues on the new board.

‘‘That prompted a suggestion from some on the new board that she had pre-empted the decision on board chair and should exclude herself in the vote,’’

Ō taki Today report said.

Butler was eventually voted in as the chairperson in the December 6 meeting but the decision was not unanimous – only Papps and Black voted in favour. Elliott voted against and Warwick abstained.

Butler said the working environment at the community board was ‘‘excellent’’ and he enjoyed how the team got on. The mediation, he also said, was to make sure the community board would ‘‘operate efficiently’’.

Warwick said the community board was working ‘‘very well together’’ and they were ‘‘focused on working together for the community’’.

‘‘Putting steps in place to ensure we were all singing from the same song sheet was an opportunity for us to be the most effective as a board,’’ she said. ‘‘The facilitation has been invaluable in my mind, and we have started the triennium with a lot of positivity and great communication.’’

Kāpiti Coast mayor Janet Holborow said she had nothing to add.

‘‘The facilitation has been invaluable in my mind. ’’

Shelly Warwick

Ō taki Ward district councillor