Councillors call for CCHL board members to quit

A handful of Christchurch city councillors are calling for the resignation of board members governing the council’s investment company.

They say they have no confidence in the board of Christchurch City Holdings Ltd (CCHL) to carry out the council’s new investment direction.

Council staff have also raised concerns about the make-up of the board.

But CCHL board chairperson Abby Foote has fought back, saying the skills around the board table are “absolutely fit for purpose, and Christchurch is fortunate to have them”.

Last year, CCHL asked the council to let it take over control of the $5.8 billion worth of assets it oversees on behalf of the council, including Lyttelton Port and Christchurch Airport.

The move would have paved the way for asset sales, but the council voted 8-7 not to go down that track. Instead, it instructed CCHL to adopt an enhanced status quo approach, with an additional push to lift performance.

However, deputy mayor Pauline Cotter said she believed the board was tailored towards selling assets, and she wanted a review done to see if it was fit to carry out the council’s preferred approach.

Councillors Jake McLellan and Melanie Coker went a step further, calling for board members to resign, though they would not say which ones. They say they have no confidence in the board.

Coker said board members should think about whether they honestly believed they had the right skills to implement the new approach. If that did not result in any changes, then the council “may later decide to request some resignations”.

“They seem to have an inability to completely move on and embrace the enhanced status quo option.”

Council staff questioned the board’s skill set during a public excluded briefing last month, presented by interim chief executive Mary Richardson, chief financial officer Bede Carran and past CCHL chairperson Bruce Irvine, who was bought in as an adviser.

Under the council’s policy, directors may be removed from office at any time by notice in writing by the council. The council can give notice if it believes a director no longer has the confidence of the board or has breached ethical standards.

It is not clear how many other councillors support the stance of McLellan, Coker and Cotter.

All 16 councillors and mayor Phil Mauger were asked if they had confidence in the CCHL board. Just eight replied, and three (Kelly Barber, James Gough and Sam MacDonald) did not want to comment. MacDonald is one of two council appointments on the CCHL board. The other, Sara Templeton, said she was confident the board has been following the direction set for it by the council.

Mauger did not answer the question, but said it was important that the council and the board had a mutual understanding and clarity on how it best achieved the change in direction.

Councillor Tyrone Fields said he hoped the governance skills possessed by the board could be applied to a range of scenarios, and if they could not be, then perhaps the mix was not right.

Foote said the board accepted the council’s decision and was committed to doing the best work it could. She did not believe any changes to the board were required. However, she did confirm that the board would be starting the process to recruit a permanent chief executive. Paul Silk has served in an acting capacity since 2022.