Kapiti councillor takes own council to court

A KAPITI councillor is taking his own council to the High Court over his exclusion from the chief executive’s performance and pay review process.

K Gurunathan is seeking a judicial review, saying he was unlawfully excluded from meetings of the chief executive review committee, and denied access to documents affecting the council’s assessment of chief executive Pat Dougherty.

Last month the council announced that Dougherty had received a 2.09 per cent pay rise, taking his annual remuneration to $300,430. It followed a $44,000 rise three years ago.

In his court affidavit, Gurunathan says the entire council was on the chief executive performance and employment committee in 2010 but, after a public outcry over the $44,000 pay rise, a smaller review committee was established and every councillor had to sign a declaration of confidentiality.

This January, Gurunathan, along with two other councillors not on the committee, was asked to leave a meeting discussing the latest rise.

His affidavit says: ‘‘There is no avoiding the fact that in recent times the council has been responsible for some projects which have gone badly wrong, wasted public money and angered large sections of the community.

‘‘As a council, we cannot improve our performance or our reputation if all the relevant discussions occur in closed sessions and exclude nearly half of our elected representatives.’’

He said he had been unlawfully denied access to documents affecting the council’s assessment of Dougherty, ‘‘in particular the chief executive’s management of council activities which have resulted in widespread community concern’’.

Jackie Elliott, another of the four councillors not on the review committee, has provided an affidavit supporting Gurunathan’s legal action.

Senior legal counsel Tim Power confirmed the council had been served notice of legal proceedings. ‘‘We are working through the issues raised in the statement of claim and are hopeful the matters can be resolved without the need to proceed to a hearing,’’ he said.

Local Government New Zealand principal policy adviser Mike Reid said it was relatively unusual but not unknown for a councillor to take his own council to court.