Councillors 'at risk of being sacked'

Fergus Power at loggerheads with councillors. Photo / File

Actions by Wairoa District councillors last month put them at risk of being sacked by the Local Government Minister and replaced by commissioner.

That was the assessment of a top local government lawyer, sent in an email to Wairoa Mayor Craig Little yesterday and read to councillors during a long and, at times, heated meeting.

On the agenda of the talks, which lasted more than seven hours, was a report from the council's chief executive, Fergus Power, in which he accused four of the council's six councillors of undertaking "various unlawful and improper acts" which had forced the council to spend up to $40,000 on legal advice.

Mr Power turned to law firm Simpson Grierson for advice last month after the four councillors - Benita Cairns, Chris Joblin, Hine Flood and Mike Bird - used an extra ordinary council meeting to vote to suspend council funding on a number of projects, initiatives and staff appointments.

The funding halt was opposed by Mr Little, deputy mayor Denise Eaglesome-Karekare and councillor Min Johansen. It was partially reversed at a subsequent meeting later in the month.

Simpson Grierson's advice was that the actions by the four councillors had "unintended consequences" for which they could be held personally liable.

Those consequences included overstepping the role of the chief executive and opening the council up to a personal grievance from its newly-appointed Maori relationships manager by attempting to cut funding for his role.

But at yesterday's meeting, attended by three of the four councillors, they refuted Mr Power's comments in the report and demanded an apology from him.

The fourth councillor, Chris Joblin was absent because he is overseas.

Ms Cairns, who clashed repeatedly with Mr Little during the course of yesterday's meeting, said the accusations in Mr Power's report were false.

"The report has brought us into disrepute, which brings into question the ability of the CE [chief executive] to act in the proper manner as our adviser," she said.

But Mr Power did not back down, instead hitting back at Ms Cairns.

"To raise questions about my role and performance as chief executive in a public forum like this with the media present is a breach of your obligations as a good employer," he said.

Mr Little read an email from Simpson Grierson partner Jonathan Salter, a leading local government law specialist, sent yesterday in response to a request from Mr Little.

The council risked "jeopardising local democracy in Wairoa" if it had not taken action to reverse last month's decision, Mr Salter said in his email.

"Without taking early steps to regularise matters there was a genuine risk of ministerial intervention which could ultimately result in the removal of elected members and their replacement by appointed commissioners," the email said.

In his report for yesterday's meeting, Mr Power had recommended the council set aside $40,000 to pay the expected total cost of Simpson Grierson's advice and expenses related to the matter, plus allocate $30,000 for training of councillors and the council's Maori standing committee "in relation to their understanding of their governance function and the proper processes to be adhered to in relation to" the Local Government Act.

But the council instead voted to pay an initial $19,262 invoice from the firm, covering its early work, and deferred the other issues to a future council meeting.

Paul Kelly, a member of the council's Maori standing committee who attended the meeting, told the meeting he could see arguments on both sides of the debate but was embarrassed by the public spat it had caused.

"Stop this fighting now and talk to each other," Mr Kelly told the council.

"Sort it out because this is no good for anybody."