A protest against rates rises is causing a stink in Stratford after a disgruntled ratepayer dumped the rotting corpse of a goat at the council’s front door.
The action distressed staff and has cost the council thousands of dollars to clean up.
Mayor Neil Volzke said protests against increasing council bills were not unheard of in Stratford and “no more rate rises” graffiti had become relatively commonplace in the central Taranaki district.
But in recent weeks, a serial - but as yet unidentified - offender appeared to have upped the ante.
“The same person left a dead animal on our doorstep. Not only was it disgusting and very offensive and very upsetting for our staff and the people who had to deal with it, but there was a lot of expense involved in cleaning up that kind of stuff.
“There was water blasting required, chemical treatment and we had to replace some carpet as well.”
Neil Volzke - whose council was proposing a rates increase of about 9 per cent - was at a loss to explain why someone would do such a thing.
“What a nut that’s all I can say. I mean it’s crazy that people should do this.
“I mean people feel aggrieved with rates rises and nobody likes putting rates up and no one likes getting an increased rates bill, but when you are doing things like that it’s right over the top.”
It was also counterintuitive.
“The craziness of this is that it costs us thousands to clean up this vandalism and that’s what contributes to rates rises. It’s completely nuts that somebody should go and do that.”
Mayor Neil Volzke Photo / RNZ-Robin Martin
Security had not been ramped up in Stratford, but that was a step that the New Plymouth District Council had already taken.
Mayor Neil Holdom said the council faced little choice.
“We have seen some really horrendous behaviour from a very small number of individuals and at times we’ve had to hire security staff to protect - and it’s not just the councillors - it’s also the staff that work in the building.
“I think a lot of the aggression is directed at politicians, but it’s borne by the amazing people that work at our front desk.”
He said the worst behaviour had involved cars being weaponised.
“We’ve had a vehicle basically attacked, shunted, and we’ve had this other incident where someone drove their vehicle right up to the front doors and had an industrial air-horn which they blasted.”
It was a parking warden’s vehicle that was attacked - with the council staffer still inside.
Shane Parker had gone to council to complain about a parking ticket.
When no one could speak to him immediately, he smashed a window before going outside and ramming the warden’s vehicle with his own.
The 28-year-old was convicted of wilful damage and assault with intent to injure.
Holdom said polite debate seemed to be a thing of the past.
“We’ve got a situation in our society where a lot of people are under financial pressure and it seems that constructive debate and the open ability for people to have debates without getting kind of emotional or aggressive seems to be fading back and instead people are choosing sides.”
Police said they were investigating the Stratford incidents.
Local Government New Zealand said it wanted to hear from councils who were concerned about the safety and security of elected members.
