Masterton Mayor Lyn Patterson, representing the Wairarapa Governance Working Party, said the proposal questioned the ability of Wairarapa to govern itself and contained "glaring" errors.
"It says that we lack the ability and the capacity to run our own ship.
"There will be no big decisions being made by this side of the hill, that's for sure."
Mrs Patterson said the proposed local boards would be "toothless" and confined to an undefined "monitoring" or "overseeing" role, and would be limited by their prescribed funding agreements.
"The Wairarapa can and will govern itself, just as it always has. Let's get rid of any suggestion that it's not possible and start to work together for the future of our community."
Rural representative Chris Garland said that, although a lot of the details were still unclear, there were advantages to the proposal, such as a bigger rates base.
"I really do believe that there are advantages that we can see in having a regional authority of the scale that we are talking about, with the council employees with the type of expertise that we are going to need to steer us through the really tough issues in the next few years."
Mr Garland asked for a show of hands of who had read the report, and urged people to read it in order to make an informed decision.
New Zealand First list MP Ron Mark, Carterton's former mayor, said suggesting Wairarapa should amalgamate with Wellington for economic reasons was akin to suggesting New Zealand should amalgamate with Australia or China.
"If amalgamating with Wellington should be done on the basis that Wellington people are buying property here and spending money here, and do business over here, then I guess that's a good reason for New Zealand amalgamating with Australia, because they are the second biggest buyer of our products, and the economic links are indisputable.
"And now China is our biggest, so maybe we should amalgamate with China. Maybe New Zealand should become a suburb of China."
Mr Mark also said it was a fallacy that Wairarapa needed to join the super-city to fund irrigation, as funding was already available through the Government's irrigation acceleration fund.
Bob Francis of Better Wairarapa, a group which supports the proposal, said Wairarapa already had the highest rates per person in the region and would benefit from sharing costs with Wellington. "I believe the unitary option has no merit and Wairarapa will be well treated and respected by a combined council."
Carterton Voice member Tracey O'Callaghan's comparison of the super-city to the Titanic drew laughter and applause. Ms O'Callaghan said Wairarapa councils were like a small agile fleet, while a super-city, like the Titanic, would struggle to change course.
"The new ship will be much more difficult and costly to run and it will not have the agility to change course quickly, much like the Titanic, and with potentially the same outcome."
The evening concluded with a brief question time led by the meeting's chair, Toastmasters member Anders Crofoot.
A number of local politicians were in attendance, including National MP Alastair Scott, Carterton Mayor John Booth and South Wairarapa mayor Adrienne Staples.
The Carterton Voice group is hosting a meeting entitled "Why the Super-City is a Super-Mess" this evening at the Carterton Memorial Club, beginning at 7.30pm.
