Letter to the Editor, Thursday August 18, 2016

A fragile flower

The editorial on August 16, 2016, is most timely and should be prescribed reading for all voters everywhere.

Democracy is a very fragile flower, and needs to be nurtured at every opportunity. Despite the sterling efforts of Mayor John Carter, our council is also contributing to the lack of knowledge that properly should be in the public domain.

Council meeting agendas are usually the main source of information that is freely available to the general public.

Once upon a time, these agendas carried full information as to who or what firm was the successful tenderer for various projects, and even listed the unsuccessful tenders, it doesn't now.

There was also a scheduled agenda item which read, 'That the Council Seal be affixed to ... ' That meant the interested public were always aware of matters of import or interest.

This is as it should be. Why not now? Is it because of an over-worked administration, or has someone arbitrarily decided that the public doesn't need to know?

Examples that highlight the deficiencies of the above are, no satisfactory explanation of the excessive cost of the Mangakahia Road slip repairs, why a simple road realignment costing $300,000 was not considered (advice I have received cites $1.1 million but doesn't take into account the cost of traffic control, nearly $700,000. No explanation for cost overruns of reputedly $4 million on the cycleway).

The business of our local government needs to be conducted in a transparent manner. It is given that some business does need to be conducted in committee, but the uneasy feeling persists that 'public exclusion' is a procedure that is used a little too often.

The minutiae of the administration of large organisations can be over-awing, but when the lease of carparks at the Butler Centre was arranged, two-thirds of the then councillors were not aware of the deal despite nearly $80,000 being involved for a term of 35 years. (The Butler Centre term was seven years).

SHAUN REILLY
Kaikohe