Editorial: So why leave councillors out of loop on key issues?

Mayor Stuart Crosby, left, and deputy mayor Kelvin Clout will have to go without after the decision to appoint an executive officer was quashed by the council.

Tauranga City councillors asserted their political strength twice this week by dumping two decisions they were not consulted on. Both decisions were potentially politically damaging, so it raises questions about why they were left out of the loop in the first place.

Councillors delivered a blow to Mayor Stuart Crosby for bypassing them and creating an executive officer's job commanding a salary of up to $130,000.

The council decided by a big majority to stop the employment process for a job that would have provided "high-level advisory support services" to the mayor and deputy mayor.

It was the second time this week that councillors rebelled against decisions in which they were left out of the decision-making process.

On Wednesday, they flexed their muscles and dumped a staff decision that would have allowed parking wardens to issue $150 fines for cars with dangerously bald tyres, opting instead for friendly notices.

Mr Crosby, clearly trying to find a positive, said he was encouraged by the willingness of councillors to offer more support to his role as mayor and it was indicative of a new culture among this new council to work as a team.

There was an acknowledgment that the current level of one fulltime and one part-time administration positions to support the mayor, deputy mayor, chief executive and councillors would need to be reviewed by the chief executive.

Councillors have offered to help the mayor with political duties that he did not have the time to undertake, which sounds very much like a placating gesture to me.

The decision to stop the new position was no doubt driven by the councillors' concerns about the community reaction to such a move. The council has been at pains to say it needs to cut services to tackle the city's debt problem.

Most recently, plans to change the opening times of Mount Hot Pools, Memorial Pool and Baywave have inflamed public opinion.

Residents were quick to point out that creating a costly new position within the council was at odds with the cost-cutting mantra, despite the mayor's insistence that recent changes to the Local Government Act gave mayors a "greater leadership mandate, including more accountability and responsibility".

Central government does appear to be placing more demands on councils but there was no way this proposal was ever going to sit well with the public or the council, which has shown a tendency toward populist decision-making.

This populist slant is not necessarily a good thing.

Councillors need to be able to make unpopular decisions if they feel it is for the good of the community in the long run but, in this case, they appear to have made the right call.

The council already has highly paid managers and a chief executive whose job it is to provide guidance and insight into policy.

You have to ask, then, why these staff are not able to provide the assistance Mr Crosby requires.

Surely, with the deputy mayor focusing on the day-today running of the city to allow Mr Crosby to focus on big picture projects and councillors offering to shoulder more political duties, the mayor, with the support of existing staff, can meet the increasing demands of central government.