Hawke's Bay Regional Council chairman Rex Graham says he is happy to let Central Hawke's Bay councillor Debbie Hewitt continue to discuss and vote on Ruataniwha dam decisions after a declaration granted by the Auditor General expired last month.
In June this year, the Auditor General's office granted Mrs Hewitt a declaration under the Local Authorities (Members' Interests) Act 1968 to enable her to participate in discussing and voting on decisions about whether the conditions of the council's $80 million investment in the dam had been met.
Mrs Hewitt had sought the Auditor General's opinion after concerns were raised that she had a pecuniary interest in matters relating to the dam, after property she owned was found to sit within one of the dam's irrigation zones (N).
At the time the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) found that Mrs Hewitt did have a pecuniary interest but granted a declaration from the rule that prohibited councillors discussing and voting on a matter in which they had such an interest, as doing so would not be in the interests of Central Hawke's Bay residents.
In the decision, the Auditor General considered the matter to be "finely balanced" as the land owned by Mrs Hewitt's family trust which was suitable for irrigation was small, and she was the elected councillor representing the majority of land owners within the scheme's boundaries.