‘Hell of a lonely place’
‘‘It is a hell of a lonely place,’’ Sir Tim Shadbolt says of his Invercargill council as he feels outnumbered and has lost the support of his colleagues.
The comments came after he was asked about him no longer carrying out voting duties on behalf of Invercargill at the Local Government New Zealand Conference in July.
Previously Shadbolt had been Invercargill’s official delegate and there had been no public reason given as to why that had changed this year.
He had carried out the voting duties on behalf of the Invercargill council for the past 23 years, and was unhappy his colleagues had overlooked him as mayor and given the duties to someone else, he said.
Shadbolt was disappointed by the decision.
‘‘Every other city in New Zealand, it will be the mayor [voting],’’ Shadbolt said.
He opted not to fight the decision because he was now outnumbered at the council and pointed to it as another example of the ‘‘lonely’’ position he was in, he said.
At a weekly meeting on May 25, where chairmen and deputies of council committees meet, it was recommended that councillor Darren Ludlow would vote on remits at the conference on behalf of the council. It was not apparent why Ludlow was recommended ahead of the mayor from the in-committee meeting that was held.
It was also agreed that Alex Crackett would be the alternate delegate if Ludlow was absent.
At a June 8 council committee meeting, for which Shadbolt put in an apology and did not attend, the appointment of Ludlow and Crackett was confirmed.
At that meeting, deputy mayor Nobby Clark backed the decision because he felt Ludlow and Crackett would be able to keep up with any amendments or discussions throughout the voting process.
Stuff approached Ludlow yesterday to ask why Shadbolt was overlooked and he replied: ‘‘It was a unanimous decision from the council and it was not challenged.’’
Ludlow added that while Shadbolt had previously been the official delegate at the Local Government NZ conference, on occasions he did not do the actual voting, which is done via a button.
‘‘I did it for him one year.’’ Shadbolt could have challenged the decision at last week’s meeting if he had concerns but he was not in attendance, Ludlow said.
Stuff also approached Clark yesterday to clarify why he felt Ludlow and Crackett would be able to keep up with any amendments, and he replied that he believed the councillors would be better suited to the job than Shadbolt.
Shadbolt has been registered as an attendee for the conference in Blenheim alongside Ludlow, Crackett, Ian Pottinger, and chief executive Clare Hadley from the Invercargill council.
The deputy mayor said his relationship with Shadbolt was ‘‘strained’’.
Clark took over last year as deputy mayor but he said the pair now had ‘‘very, very little contact’’.
‘‘I have tried to engage with him but it has been a wall of silence.’’
Shadbolt acknowledged he did not have a lot of support from his fellow council colleagues and said he would now ‘‘let the people have their say’’ at the next election.
‘‘I have even given them some fatherly advice . . . they should put their names in and pick one out to run [against me]. Otherwise, I will win. I told them that last time.’’
An independent report was released in November last year which highlighted that Shadbolt was struggling to fulfil his role as mayor and, as a result, there was a leadership void at the council. Shadbolt rubbished the findings.
‘‘I have tried to engage with him but it has been a wall of silence.’’ Nobby Clark Deputy mayor