Your view: Secret meetings, should we worry?

Tauranga City Council chambers. Photo/file

Reader Mike Baker and former Tauranga councillor wrote in to the Bay of Plenty Times to express his concern following a story that revealed there had been 86 Tauranga City Council meetings held in private, excluding the public and media.

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''Re the 86 secret council meetings held so far this term equating to on average one public excluded meeting every week.

''Goodness gracious - 86 secret meetings. What can they possibly discuss at that number of meetings which they believe the press and the public should not know about?
Shouldn't we all be concerned?

''The Bay of Plenty Times article also advised that only two councillors opposed the holding of secret meetings and seven supported them - but worse still one sat on the fence and almost unbelievably that was Mayor Stuart Crosby. Why would that be?

''From experience, council meetings that exclude the public and the press are generally requested by either the Mayor or the chief executive but of course the councillors could oppose this and demand press and public included meetings so the blame for so many secret meetings lays with the entire council of 2013.

''Roll on 2016 as maybe then we will get a council that displays greater openness and transparency.''

Mike Baker, Bethlehem