Bell’s proposal could hike costs
Gore District mayor Ben Bell may back away from his proposed governance model, which council officials say could cost nearly $300,000 per year more than the previous model.
Bell, who won the Gore mayoralty at the age of 23 after campaigning about ‘getting back to basics’, said his proposed committee structure of six committees and five portfolios would be discussed in a council workshop, held behind closed doors, before a full council meeting next month.
But he wouldn’t confirm that he would be implementing his committee structure, and could not say when the meeting would be held.
‘‘We’re having a meeting to discuss it, so any figures the council have given you aren’t really relevant. The staff knew we were going to have a meeting about it,’’ he said.
‘‘I know that’s not very transparent, but that’s the way it has to be if we are all going to work together on this.’’
Council chief executive Stephen Parry said as part of the council’s previous governance model fees for the two independent members that sat on a council committee each was $7,475 last financial year.
But the estimated cost of Bell’s proposed structure could range from $140,000 to $300,000 per year, based on different scenarios. Parry said under Bell’s proposed committee structure, there would be 10 mana whenua representatives, who would each receive the minimum allowable elected member salary which for the Gore District Council is $19,136. They would have up to 54 meetings a year to attend. Independent representatives would be appointed to three other committees.
Members would command a meeting fee similar to directors, which could range between $1500 – $2500 per meeting.
Under the mayor’s proposed committee structure, there would be 26 committee meetings a year for them to attend, Parry said.
Parry said staff were not included in any discussions with Bell about his proposed structure, and he was given a ‘‘loose outline’’ verbally on November 7, when Bell proposed operating with five committees.
Parry said he had twice expressed his concerns via email on resourcing five and what later became six committees.
The previous council, under mayor Tracy Hicks, had three committees.
A second potential scenario was based on Hokonui Ru¯ nanga Taiao Cost of Services which sets out a fee of $750 per hui and would cost about $140,000 to $150,000, assuming support for independent members and corporate support stayed the same.
The council has never discussed or voted on mana whenua representation.
Parry said best practice would suggest the council would want to discuss such appointments prior to making any decisions.
This discussion would likely involve all matters related to any appointments – including the capacity of mana whenua to serve on the committees, and any extraordinary unbudgeted expenditure to be incurred, he said.
Bell has come under fire in the last week after seven of his councillors signed a requisition requesting Stewart MacDonell be removed from the deputy mayoralty, and three councillors boycotted a retreat for elected members.