The meeting format saw an Oruku Landing development presentation in Forum North's Exhibition Hall. This was followed by attendees moving to small feedback stations in the adjacent concourse where individual comments were given to councillors and staff.
Many meeting attendees expected the event to instead include traditional public meeting opportunities for audience members to speak in front of others present while all were still together in the hall and everybody to hear the answers to questions.
Directors from Northland Development Corporation (NDC), the private developer behind the $250 million Oruku Landing development, which will benefit from the WDC ratepayers' potentially $70 million for the centre – and $6 million from Northland Regional Council (NRC) ratepayers across Tai Tokerau - said last night's meeting went well.
NDC's Barry Trass and Ben Tomason said they were happy with its format.
"Do we want to listen to people yelling out all meeting and disrupting things," Tomason said.
Trass said the format had given people the chance to have their say, in the same way people would in a submissions hearing.
"The meeting is no different to a normal (council submissions) hearing," Trass said.
Maunu's Mike Davis said providing feedback in the way required meant ratepayers' comments being filtered through individual councillors and staff.
"The whole thing was a farce. This should be a public discussion," Davis said.
Blood and Davis were among 150 residents and ratepayers at the meeting, many desperate to voice their concerns about the centre during the public meeting whilst still among others in the room.
This did not happen, in spite of loud vocal effort from Whangārei-based television personality and entertainer Luke Bird who stood up in the seated meeting and heckled WDC chief executive Rob Forlong, catalysing the call for those present to speak.
"I think you should give respect to the ratepayers who have voted you in by people being able to ask questions in front of everybody" Bird called out across the hall.
Others in the audience backed Bird's call but it was rejected by Rob Forlong.
Forlong told the audience the event was not being run as a public meeting, instead an opportunity for people to provide post-presentation feedback as organised.
He asked Bird to stop and repeated instructions to the crowd that their questions, comments and feedback be given individually to WDC councillors after the main meeting presentation in the hall.
WDC ratepayers' faced with paying $57 million towards what was a $123 million centre, this week heard they would potentially now be paying $70 million for what had become a $136 million centre.
The council is making its decision on whether to go ahead with the centre on November 26 - including committing ratepayers to underwrite project cost overruns and the centre's $5 million further annual operating cost – without a formal submissions hearing, as is the norm in major Long Term Plan budget changes.
Whangārei rates are set to go up by seven per cent next year if the centre proceeds. NRC rates will go up by 1.4 per cent as well from 2023 to pay for its $6 million towards the centre.
The Forum North meeting followed a Ruakākā public meeting on Monday night with about 50 people in at-times vocal meeting. Another meeting will be held at Hikurangi on Thursday night.
The submission form at www.wdc.govt.nz/Whats-new/Have-your-say/Oruku-Landing-2021/Oruku-online-form includes the option for submitters to say whether they want the conference centre project cancelled or not.
