Apologise and resign

As we all know by now, the Cambridge pool has been put on hold for two years. Common sense won on the day.

Jim Mylchreest was hired to do the fundraising. He stated at a council meeting on December 6, 2011, that he was 90 to 95 per cent confident he could raise 75 per cent of the $4,181,000. Fortunately he failed. He only raised about half, including the work in kind to demolish the pool valued at $600,000.

All this has cost us $70,500 for a fundraiser’s fee plus the earlier cost of a $334,000 fundraiser’s fee. This is now some $404,500 plus $1,826,000 design cost, making a grand total of $2,230,500 cost to ratepayers – about $100 per property.

You can blame the mayor, Cr Scaramuzza and Cr Finn for this huge financial loss. This would have to be the final nail in their coffins. The honourable thing for them is to make a public apology and then resign. I note Mylchreest was on the pool fundraising committee and also being paid as a professional fundraiser. If he was passionate about the pool, he would do the job for nothing, like the others. MALCOLM HUME Ohaupo including the land on which the housing is built, so John Easto is inflating the value greatly.

The figure of $28,000,000, which I quoted in a previous letter, was mentioned informally as what the council may accept for all the pensioner housing. Annual rental incoming is $1,740,000. Administration costs are $1,383,000 and $151,000 of that is allocated for lawn mowing and gardens. This leaves $1,232,000, which should be sufficient to cover maintenance and depreciation.

The two ladies who attended a ratepayers association meeting never mentioned the sums quoted by Mr Easto.

In November this year, tenants will be faced with a 20-21 per cent increase in rent, while others will be faced with a 34-35 per cent increase, which will enlarge the existing surplus considerably. IAN GRANT Hamilton attention to principle. That was act one.

In all fairness we must conclude that the honorable member is suffering from the stresses of parliamentary responsibility. The symptoms being ever so convenient forgetfulness, evasiveness and, his own word, obfuscation. That is act two.

Act three, the grand finale, is when the curtains go back. There will be no encore from the audience. The axe will fall on the ACT party. The guy who acts as the executioner will carry on as always: ego-driven and unprincipled. PETER ELLIOT Hamilton up: stop this illegal cutting, you are causing erosion. Save our bush, birds, kiwis, insects, bees and, of course, stream. I J REGNIER Hamilton