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Allan Birchfield was thrown out of a council committee meeting this week.
Birchfield denies accusations of grandstanding and insists on his right to attend council meetings.
He has filed a complaint with the ombudsman regarding his ongoing exclusion from council activities.
Embattled West Coast regional councillor Allan Birchfield is rejecting an allegation of “grandstanding” after he was thrown out of a council committee meeting this week.
The accusation came from council corporate services chairman Frank Dooley.
Birchfield – the former West Coast Regional Council (WCRC) chairman – was censured by the council last year and excluded from major committees for allegedly leaking employment information.
But he has made a point of trying to attend meetings he is banned from, claiming a right to be there as an elected councillor.
West Coast regional councillor Allan Birchfield has filed a complaint with the ombudsman about his continued exclusion from council business. Photo / LDR
Birchfield fronted up to Tuesday’s corporate services meeting, which was set to scrutinise and recommend the adoption of the council’s 2023-24 annual report.
Shortly after the meeting opened, Dooley excluded the public and ordered the livestream video to be turned off, saying councillors were going into a workshop session with the council’s external auditor.
“I believe that was an abuse of process,” Birchfield said on Thursday.
“The published agenda said it was an ordinary meeting – no mention of a workshop. Frank closed it, shut out the public and threatened to call the police to get rid of me.”
“There was a shouting match – he was yelling at me to get out; I told him to shut up and he was telling the chief executive to call the police to throw me out – it was a stand-off.”
Dooley later defended the need to exclude the public from the discussion with the auditor and criticised Birchfield’s behaviour.
“He is grandstanding – Allan knows why he’s censured – it’s all very unfortunate,” Dooley told LDR.
Dooley confirmed he had asked Birchfield to leave the meeting.
“Once we were in public-excluded, I reminded Mr Birchfield he was not a member of the committee and had no right to take part in it.”
Birchfield says he strongly denies grandstanding.
“That’s the pot calling the kettle black. I’m turning up because I need to be at these meetings to do the job I was elected to do for the ratepayers.
“He had to be privy to the council’s accounts and the auditor’s views since he would have to vote on them when the annual report came up for adoption next week by the full council,” he said.
“I should be able to hear what our auditor thinks and have a say.”
He said he had been asked to attend Tuesday’s meeting by fellow councillor Brett Cummings and left only because Cummings agreed he should do so.
Cummings has previously told LDR he felt the council’s 18-month censure of Birchfield had gone on for long enough.
Birchfield said he had filed a complaint with the ombudsman about his continued exclusion from council business.
He told LDR he had also commissioned an independent analysis of the council’s accounts so he could view them.
“I’m not in this for the publicity, it’s pretty stressful to keep trying.
“I’m just trying to do my best for the people who elected me and I believe they have a right to know what I think about where their money’s going,” Birchfield said.
