Bring it on, says former trust chief executive
The Community Trust of Southland will seek a ministerial review into the circumstances surrounding the departure of its former chief executive.
Trust chair Margot Hishon addressed the issue of John Prendergast’s resignation early at the trust’s annual public meeting in Arrowtown on Thursday.
She announced the trust had itself resolved to ask the relevant government minister to review the circumstances around Prendergast’s resignation.
The trust wanted the minister to report publicly on the review as considered appropriate.
She said there were legal reasons the trust board wasn’t able to comment on Prendergast’s resignation.
The board was concerned there was inaccurate information and false allegations being reported in the media, she said.
Prendergast, when contacted for comment, said he welcomed the trust board seeking a review. ‘‘Good. Bring it on.’’
Hishon has been under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks for failing to reveal why Prendergast, the trust chief executive for nearly 20 years, resigned in June.
Prendergast has said his lawyer was instructed that the trustees had resolved unanimously that they wanted him to exit the trust.
Speaking at the meeting, she said the trustees took their duties seriously and followed all processes required of them.
Hishon said it was ‘‘untrue’’ for Prendergast to say he didn’t know the reasons he resigned in June.
However, Prendergast refuted her statement, saying she had never given him any reason at all.
None of the other trustees had given him a reason either, he said.
‘‘None of them have spoken to me.’’
He added: ‘‘If Mrs Hishon is saying I am lying, I will happily line up my integrity and credibility against hers any day of the week.’’
A group of former Community Trust trustees, upset at how Prendergast was treated by the current trustees, has already asked Associate Finance Minister Amy Adams to investigate.
Adams has agreed to talk to the former trustees about their concerns after the election, if she retains her portfolio.
It is understood one of the concerns the former trustees will raise with the minister is that a current trustee, Penny Simmonds, clashed with Prendergast in 2008, when she was chair of Hockey Southland, which was seeking a $1 million grant from the trust for new hockey turfs.
Simmonds, when contacted for comment this month, said she found it ‘‘incredibly offensive’’ that Stuff was raising something that happened nearly 10 years ago ‘‘and are trying to link it to a resignation that occurred now’’.
The 10 Community Trust of Southland trustees are Hishon, deputy chair Lindsay Wright, Trish Boyle, Mata Cherrington, Ross Jackson, Stephen O’Connor, Penny Simmonds, Warren Skerrett, Richard Wason and John Wyeth.
The trust announced at the annual public meeting, attended by more than 40 people, that it had approved funding of $5.5m in 2016-17.
Its total investments are $219m with an investment return of 8.7 per cent, its annual report says.