Foster sidesteps an ‘absolute shambles’

Wellington Mayor Andy Foster has hit back at criticism over taking control of the Wellington City Council’s governance revamp, saying including all councillors in the process would have been an ‘‘absolute shambles’’.

The statement comes just days after a leaked report into the council’s governance recommended elected members work more collaboratively to achieve better outcomes for the city.

The report recommended scrapping councillor portfolios and resetting the council’s committee structure by establishing four new committees, with the council to appoint chairpersons and deputy chairpersons for each. But Foster’s handling of those appointments has drawn sharp criticism from several councillors, who say the mayor’s exclusive approach was in direct contrast to the report’s recommendations.

The report said the council should use ‘‘a facilitated process’’ to make the appointments, ‘‘so that it can deliberately use the appointments to help build an inclusive, all-of-council approach’’.

‘‘This announcement demonstrates that the mayor has ignored the recommendations in the report,’’ councillor Jill Day said.

‘‘He is making the same mistakes that have led to issue-by-issue decisionmaking.’’

Councillor Jenny Condie agreed, saying the appointments of the chairperson and deputy chairperson positions were far from collaborative. She said she was told by Foster on Sunday which roles she had been offered, but was not told what roles other councillors had been offered.

‘‘The whole point of the report is it says we’re supposed to try and work together,’’ Condie said.

‘‘It specifically says the mayor wasn’t supposed to hand these things [roles] out like candy.

‘‘It feels like the whole point of the report has been missed, and that’s really disappointing.’’

Councillors Rebecca Matthews and Fleur Fitzsimons also expressed disappointment that not all councillors were involved in the decisions.

However, councillors Simon Woolf and Diane Calvert said they were happy with the approach, which involved

councillors providing feedback for Foster to then make the final call.

Foster said it was agreed by councillors on Thursday that they would provide feedback on their preferred candidates, before having further conversations with him at the weekend.

When asked why he did not ask all councillors to make the decision together, as the report recommended, Foster said: ‘‘I knew full well if you try and have that conversation, I think it probably wouldn’t work very well. It would have been a shambles.’’

Foster admitted he did not inform all councillors of who had been given other roles, even when asked.

He said that was ‘‘because of the way I expected some people would treat that information’’.

The proposed appointments mean Green Party member Iona Pannett will chair the policy, planning and environment committee, while Calvert, who currently holds the economic development portfolio, will head the finance and performance committee.

First-term councillor Sean Rush will chair the infrastructure committee, and former deputy mayor Day will lead the social, cultural and community services committee.

The report said the new structure would provide ‘‘real incentives’’ for councillors to work effectively and ensure leadership opportunities were shared among councillors.

The proposed committees will be discussed by councillors at a meeting on April 28.

The draft review, called for by Foster in February following months of what he described as ‘‘rancour and partisanship’’, highlighted problems including poor governance, allegations of bullying, political ‘‘point-making’’, and a lack of leadership.

It also found Foster had failed to be an effective ‘‘chief advocate’’ for the city, partly because of the daily grind of administrative council tasks.

‘‘It feels like the whole point of the report has been missed, and that’s really disappointing.’’ Jenny Condie

Wellington City councillor