Mayor backs his staff, but questions power balance

Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard has expressed full confidence in council chief executive David Rankin and staff over the fiascos involving Vulcan Lane, Khartoum Place and Queen St.

But at the same time he hinted that officers were wielding too much power.

Mr Hubbard has faced growing calls to "show his teeth" instead of being the fall guy for embarrassing backdowns.

Leading businessman James Wallace has been among those questioning Mr Hubbard, bluntly telling him he was "extraordinarily ill-advised by barbaric philistines in terms of council staff and advisers". Mr Wallace said if the Queen St "disaster is perpetrated it will be a blot on your mayoralty which has otherwise been growing in general approval".

The Herald has received numerous letters from Aucklanders about the need for Mr Hubbard to rein in council officers and return power to the people.

Said Rae Storey, of Remuera: "It seems last year we had a series of very public demonstrations of the bureaucracy as autocrat and juggernaut ... it would be a great shame if no reform happened as a result of this."

Mr Hubbard, who has spent the best part of three weeks on holiday in the South Island during the furore over the trees in Queen St, said he was "absolutely, categorically" satisfied with the performance of Mr Rankin and council officers and had confidence in them.

Furthermore, he believed ratepayers generally had confidence in the council and council staff over the central city upgrades after responding to their concerns.

But Mr Hubbard did question whether the balance of power between officers and councillors was "out of balance" - a polite way for the mayor, who does not believe in publicly criticising council staff, to express his concerns. He said there were separate sets of circumstances for each of the three controversies and it was not possible to take a blanket approach to all three.