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A former Auckland community board member is calling on her colleagues to take a stand over the biggest shake-up in Auckland's governance.
Three-term Hobson Community Board member Julie Chambers is urging community boards to submit their views on this year's Royal Commission into Auckland governance directly to the commission, bypassing the Auckland City Council completely.
While other cities support community board submissions, Auckland City Council has insisted that its community boards are not permitted to make submissions to statutory bodies other than itself.
The boards disagree and Mrs Chambers is sceptical of the council's motives.
"My concern is that [the community boards'] views will be homogenised into some sort of diluted opinion that aligns with Auckland City."
Mrs Chambers, who last year stepped down from the Hobsonboard and launched an unsuccessful council bid, sent an open letter to all board members on Saturday, prompted by widespread concerns the council was downgrading community boards' roles.
It follows moves by the newly elected council to reduce board members' pay and remove some of their roles.
The Royal Commission's recommendations, which are expected at the end of the year, could lead to the biggest shake-up of local government in the region since the forced amalgamation in 1989 of 39 municipalities into four city councils, three district councils and one regional council.
Mrs Chambers wrote to board members stressing the need for the boards to appoint their own spokespeople.
"Any changes to the structure of the region's governance must take into account the need for robust localcommunity participation and input. Community boards are at the front line of that community voice."
Western Bays Community Board chairman Bruce Kilmister echoed Mrs Chambers' concerns about the boards' submissions if they went through the council.
"It becomes almost invisible among the bulk of council submissions or work and we don't believe it often would be as effective as making a submission direct."
Eastern Bays Community Board chairman Colin Davis said the board had not decided yet which route it would take, given the recent moves on community board pay and deputation.
"They may think in the bigger picture that community boards are important - that's the message that comes from the deputy mayor and the mayor - but it's not evidenced at the moment, so we may well have a different point of view."
The board had made submissions directly to other parties in the past with no repercussions from the city council, he said.
"We weren't told to stand in the corner or write out a hundred lines."
Mt Roskill Community Board chairman Richard Barter said his board had also made submissions directly to governing bodies such as Transit NZ.
Mayor John Banks said the 10 boards submitting individually could create problems, but he was not overly concerned.
"One of the problems with thatproposition is the kind of convoluted message we may send that has been the hallmark of Auckland decision-making over the last 50 years.Everyone having a point of view, and peddling that proposition to the best of their ability in direct challenge to another perspective - that is theproblem.
"I wouldn't be churlish enough to be sending directives from the Auckland City Council to individuals and community boards that they should do this or do that, except to say in a perfect world to get the best outcome, we're going to have to get the best thinking around the best proposition and parade that with a united front.
"What I want to avoid at all cost is any kind of turf-fighting across Auckland City that is going to just serve to reinforce all the bad habits of local government in Auckland over so much time."
* WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Auckland councils could be in for a big shake-up this year from a royal commission, which is expected to lead to amalgamation.
Some community boards fear they will lose their role if the commission creates a super city.
Their latest worry is Auckland City Council's decision that community boards must send their submissions through the council - not direct to the commission.
Critics see it as a form of censorship but mayor John Banks says he just wants to avoid turf fighting in public.
