Thanks to the watchdogs

I would like to publicly endorse the work done on behalf of Invercargill ratepayers by Nobby Clark.

Without his scrupulous attention to detail, more questionable situations would pass us by.

For Tim Shadbolt to think his high profile just attracts criticism is disingenuous.

Thank you Nobby, and others who persist in questioning the questionable.

The council response to the valid protests over the shocking and sudden closure of the Southland Museum and Art Gallery was ridiculous. Ms Hadley had stated early on that the decision could be reversed, so why not thank people like Nobby Clark and Lindsay Buckingham for taking the time and effort to come up with suggestions based on their professional expertise to allow the museum to stay open?

We were right to wonder about the rush to close after years of inaction.

We were supposed to agree that there was no conflict of interest in Dean Johnson holding the positions he has done. Not long after Clark questioned this, Johnson resigned.

Geoff Piercy points out the conflicts of interest of councillors holding paid directorships voting on the issue for future directorships. Why?

And the latest denial by our mayor that the council had intimated any interest in the museum at Le Quesnoy in France seems today to have been disproved by Sir Don McKinnon’s letter thanking the ICC for its support for the idea of this memorial.

Tim Shadbolt thought we need only remember them and that it was all a figment of Nobby Clark’s over zealous attacks on council.

Maybe our high-profile mayor and his largely tame council consider themselves above respecting the ratepayers’ rights to question them, or to acknowledge when they make inevitable mistakes.

Thanks to Clark and the others who are speaking up on our behalf.

Don’t doubt that we are in there alongside them and will not rest until we see genuine respect for those the council represents and ethical transparent decisions that can stand up to public scrutiny. Kathy Morrison