Cadogan cuts ties with group

Central Otago mayor Tim Cadogan has ‘‘terminated’’ his relationship with a business group because he says it has it has been operating unlawfully and has disengaged itself from the wider community.

Cadogan sent a group email on Tuesday to businesses in the Alexandra and Clyde district announcing his decision to cut ties with the Alexandra Clyde and Districts Business Group (ACDBG).

‘‘In the year since I have been Mayor, I have gone to great lengths to improve what could only be generously described as a difficult relationship between the Office of the Mayor and the Vincent Community Board and the ACDBG. Indeed, the first person outside of the Elected Members group that I called the day after the election result was announced was Barry Hambleton, in large part in his role of Chair of the ACDBG, to ask that we work together on that relationship for the greater good of the area,’’ he wrote.

Vincent Community Board members Brian Fitzgerald and Russell Garbutt had joined him in his efforts, he said.

‘‘Regrettably, I now find myself in a position where I feel I have no choice but to remove myself from that relationship.’’

Business group chairman Barry Hambleton said he was not yet prepared to comment on the mayor’s concerns.

The group’s interim management committee had scheduled a meeting to discuss this issue this week, he said.

Cadogan said the unlawful behaviour was revealed during the group’s AGM on September 14, when those attending the meeting which included Cadogan, Fitzgerald and Garbutt, were told a new committee had been nominated, who that committee was and then asked to vote on that committee as a whole being appointed, he said.

Cadogan, also a lawyer, said this was in breach of several clauses of the rules of the group, including Rule 7.1 - nominations for members of the committee were not called for 28 days prior to the meeting as required and Rule 21.4 which required the secretary to give written notice of nominees for the committee prior to the meeting.

In addition, the group was in breach of its own rules in not voting at the AGM on who would be chair, secretary and treasurer, rather leaving those appointments up to the committee, he said.

‘‘As a consequence of these actions, I do not believe that the current structure of the group has legal standing and I will not give it credibility by engaging with the group as it currently stands.’’

The group had also disengaged itself from the community, he said.

The council and board presence had proven positive with many historic misunderstandings and grievances addressed and positive ways of working together moving forward found, he said.

‘‘I will continue to actively engage with leaders of commerce in the Alexandra/Clyde area and the District as a whole for the betterment of the District, but will no longer recognise any standing of the ACDBG in its current form,’’ Cadogan said.