Upheaval at council subsidiary
The chair of the Greater Wellington Regional Council’s commercial business quit abruptly in December, days after being told her appointment was set to end.
Samantha Sharif wrote to regional councillors on December 3, announcing she was resigning as chair of WRC Holdings with immediate effect ‘‘due to unprofessional and disrespectful behaviour, which is not in the best interests of Council nor its reputation, or its relationship with CentrePort’’.
WRC Holdings is a subsidiary of the regional council which manages its port and rail assets, including a majority stake in CentrePort, Wellington’s port company.
Its board is made up of a combination of councillors and outside appointees. Sharif was appointed to the board in 2015 and became chair in 2017.
Sharif, who did not respond to requests for comment, told regional councillors that her first term as a director had been extended only informally by council chairman Chris Laidlaw, who later wrote to her telling that her appointment was coming to an end.
In her email to colleagues, Sharif complained that there had been no decision made by the council to end her appointment, as she questioned the basis upon which her performance had been measured.
She had earlier suggested that her term be extended until the end of 2019 to ensure that WRC Holdings ‘‘retain good oversight of the [CentrePort] board changes’’.
Sharif’s email also revealed that the regional council has commissioned a report by Wellington governance consultant Graeme Nahkies, which she said recommended more independent directors on WRC Holdings’ board.
Prue Lamason, a regional councillor from the Lower Hutt ward who chaired WRC Holdings previously, is once again heading the company.
She declined to comment on the circumstances under which Sharif had quit.
‘‘Her term was up and we chose not to appoint her again, which we’re quite within our right to do,’’ Lamason said.
Lamason declined to discuss the report by Nahkies because the board and councillors had not discussed it properly, but said it was ‘‘about a whole number of things’’, not simply the relationship between the council and its commercial businesses.