OPEN MARKET
Senior Wellington council bosses face questions from the prime minister, the mayor and a councillor after pushing on with a Sunday market which had crowd numbers well in excess of the Government-limited 100.
The decision to run the market yesterday has been slammed by councillor Fleur Fitzsimons, who has the public health portfolio. It was ‘‘very concerning’’ it went ahead in breach of level 2 restrictions. She had asked for an explanation from council chief executive Barbara McKerrow.
‘‘The council needs to be a role model in the community and strictly comply with the alert levels. This decision is not consistent with that,’’ Fitzsimons said.
‘‘Families, schools and event organisers are making upsetting, hard decisions to comply with alert levels because they know we are all in this together. The council is no different. ‘‘
Mayor Andy Foster said the government rules were clear – there should not be crowds of 100 or more – and he would be asking senior managers to explain after they allowed it to go ahead.
‘‘It doesn’t look right,’’ he said. Council spokesman Richard MacLean originally confirmed to The Dominion Post that the market breached level 2 rules but then called back to say it didn’t because it was essentially no different to the rest of the busy waterfront, where businesses operated at level 2. It was not a breach of council protocols, he said.
Ardern on Saturday night moved Auckland to alert level 3 after a case of community transmission in which a 21-year-old man visited various locations around the city before testing positive.
At 6am yesterday the rest of New Zealand moved into alert level 2 meaning gatherings of 100 or more people are banned.
Ardern yesterday said the council had previously been in alert level 2 and should have known what to do.
‘‘I would expect them to have the same protocols and rules they have in the past,’’ she said.
‘‘Maybe it is something to check ... [that] the council has protocols in place.’’
MacLean said senior council managers made the call to run the market despite the level 2 limits. Health officials were not consulted before council made the call, he said.
Fruit and vegetable sellers were told late on Saturday they could not attend, but food trucks were allowed to operate.
Food trucks were spaced out and council staff were on hand telling people to socially distance but, with large numbers on the waterfront, it was not possible to keep numbers to 100 or fewer, MacLean said.
In March, when New Zealand was also at alert level 2, the council also opened the market up saying it was akin to a supermarket. But it was shut down from the following week.
MacLean said yesterday that decisions would need to be made about future market days.
‘‘It doesn’t look right.’’ Mayor Andy Foster on the crowds at the market
Andy Foster was all smiles when he usurped Justin Lester as Wellington’s mayor 16 months ago. Now, the trust between him and some of his councillors is so low, he hastily called for a review into the council’s governance before one of them beat him to it.
Foster’s announcement of a review on Wednesday was the culmination of a tumultuous year for the council, dogged by internal conflicts, legal challenges, testy public meetings, and questions over Foster’s leadership.
There appeared to be two final straws that led to Foster’s decision that enough was enough.
First, Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta’s comments that she was not ‘‘as yet’’ considering bringing in commissioners, and second, the fallout from Foster’s myriad late changes to his draft 10-year plan.
Foster wanted to front-foot the problems, to be in charge of his own fate and not let other councillors get in first. But that decision has in itself created ripples, with Foster appointing the reviewer himself and setting his own terms of reference.
Some councillors say the decision should have gone through a council committee, and that the council’s own ‘‘professional entity’’, Local Government New Zealand, should have taken the lead on the review.
In any case, the problems have come to a head, with a review costing up to $75,000 approved by chief executive Barbara McKerrow and the council’s legal team on Friday. Peter Winder will head up the review, and will begin his job immediately.
So, how did we get here? The first signs of trouble emerged during the coronavirus lockdown in April, when councillor Tamatha Paul accused colleague Diane Calvert of bullying her during an online council meeting.
Calvert responded by laying a formal code of conduct complaint with Foster, but the two ended up resolving the dispute themselves.
A few days later, The Dominion Post exposed a series of leaked internal emails that included a call for councillors to stop ‘‘bitching and moaning’’, questions over Foster’s leadership, and a claim councillors had failed to act responsibly in the face of the Covid-19 crisis.
Further controversy ensued a few months later, when councillor Jill Day claimed she had been subjected to insensitive comments from some of her colleagues over her proposal to introduce iwi voting rights on council committees.
Foster himself has also been at the centre of many of the disputes.
In July, he attempted to stop councillors from talking publicly about their preferred option for the closed central library building, and later blocked councillor Fleur Fitzsimons from tabling a legal opinion that stated councillors had a right to make comments.
His role in the Shelly Bay saga has also caused controversy.
The mayor is still under investigation for allegedly trying to share confidential information with councillor Jenny Condie before a crucial vote on selling and leasing council land for the $500 million development.
He then incensed some colleagues after turning up at a protest on Shelly Bay land after councillors voted in favour of the sale. But the events of the past week have brought matters to breaking point.
Although they all passed, Foster’s late amendments to his draft 10-year plan have resulted in four separate complaints to the auditor-general.
Three relate to his proposal to pull funding for a proposed Frank Kitts Park redevelopment, while the fourth relates to his recommendation to privatise parts of the central library rebuild.
Foster is not commenting on the review, and repeatedly offered cryptic answers when asked by journalists at a media conference on Wednesday to outline the problems that had led to his decision.
The irony of the matter is the ongoing disputes have not actually prevented the council from doing its core job.
It has signed off on many major decisions, none of which have been deferred or delayed.
But Foster’s inability to get on top of the ongoing squabbles, combined with the numerous attacks on his leadership abilities, has stolen almost all the limelight.