A now-public rift between Hastings mayor Sandra Hazlehurst and one of her highest-profile councillors Damon Harvey appears to be widening by the day.
It’s become tit-for-tat in the media, after Harvey was removed as chair of the council’s Performance and Monitoring Committee, which Hazlehurst has confirmed is in part because of his public comments.
Harvey says Hazlehurst has “mistakenly connected” his comments to an ongoing court case involving the Hastings District Council.
The mayor, meanwhile, says she’s not mistaken at all.
The saga involves the Chief Ombudsman, the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA), and even a supposedly “secret” document.
Harvey was replaced as chair in late October. In explaining the decision, the council initially told Hawke’s Bay Today “it was important for resilience and succession planning” of committee leadership roles.
But the decision also followed public comments by Harvey about a document used by Hastings District Council in handling complaints.
Stuff reported in September Hastings District Council had a document for dealing with complaints that contained the terms “shutting up shop”, “ignoring” and “await litigation”.
Harvey confirmed the existence of the document in quotes provided to Stuff and is understood to have made comments to similar effect on his personal Facebook page.
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier reviewed the episode and published his findings this week.
In them, Boshier says there is a document, but in draft form. It contains “colloquial” language but “the Ombudsman is unlikely to accept that this is evidence that the council is operating a hidden, illegitimate complaints process”.
It’s understood a Local Government Information and Meetings Act request was lodged by Jason and Vicky Roebuck to see the document, as part of legal action under way.
Boshier says in his findings HDC was right to withhold the document “to maintain legal professional privilege”.
Hazlehurst confirmed in comments published before Boshier’s findings were made public that “the fact councillor Harvey commented to media and through social media on a case before the courts, against advice, was a consideration” in him being stripped of his role with the Performance and Monitoring Committee.
“I need to have committee chairs that myself and councillors can have trust and confidence in,” Hazlehurst said.
Hawke’s Bay Today invited Hazlehurst to revisit those comments this week. She stood by them, despite Harvey’s claims she’s “mistaken”.
“The below still stands,” an HDC spokeswoman said, in reference to a previously supplied statement.
“Sandra’s response is in relation to Cr Harvey talking to Stuff and posting the article on his social media that was about the Roebuck case.”
It’s a charge Harvey denies.
“I have never commented publicly on the Roebuck dispute,” Harvey told Hawke’s Bay Today.
“I commented on a document that was unrelated to the Roebuck dispute.
“I raised my concerns about it to council on September 20, questioning an underlying intent to the words that both council and the Ombudsman have confirmed as a colloquial expression.
“I am certain any independent reader of the document might have concerns about the underlying intent.
“It seems the mayor has mistakenly connected my comments about the document with the Roebuck dispute.
“It is disappointing that simply by confirming publicly that this document existed, and asking fair questions about its contents, that there is an inference that this was viewed as a breach of trust.”
Hamish Bidwell joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2022 and works out of the Hastings newsroom.