Editorial: Mayors, please talk it out

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton, Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule. Photo / Glenn Taylor

The relationship between the mayors of Napier and Hastings seems to have hit a new low and this is not good for the region.

Both men - Napier's Bill Dalton and Lawrence Yule of Hastings - are strong leaders, but they have completely different styles.

Differences aside, there has been one big stumbling block to the pair building a good relationship - amalgamation.

Mr Yule has been a champion of it, while Mr Dalton won't have a bar of it.

Up until now both Mr Dalton and Mr Yule have stated that they would not allow their views on the issue to affect their working relationship.

Unfortunately for all of us, it has.

And the spark to light the fuse was the launch of an initiative that could have done, and may still do, good things for our region. Hastings District Council launched its Great Things Grow Here initiative, which Mr Yule said could be used by all Hawke's Bay councils to promote the region. Mr Dalton says the initiative was done in secret and that Hastings council is using it to push amalgamation.

Either way, nothing good is coming out of this disagreement.

A vote on amalgamation is still a while away and until then both mayors, along with the mayors of Wairoa and Central Hawke's Bay and the chairman of the Hawke's Bay Regional Council, should all be working together for the region.

It is not about who is right or wrong, but rather how it can be sorted .... quickly.

Both men need to sit down and thrash this out so that they can work together constructively in the future.

If not for themselves, then certainly for the region they clearly both care about.