Masterton district councillors robbed their new mayor of the audit committee chairperson role at the first meeting of the council yesterday.
Mayor Garry Daniell proposed councillors for individual committee portfolios after receiving the mayoral chains from outgoing mayor Bob Francis.
Mr Daniell had anticipated he would chair the audit committee as Mr
Francis had done in his term but was rolled by council who favoured rookie councillor and chartered accountant Lyn Patterson.
Councillor Brent Goodwin put forward Mrs Patterson, saying the council had agreed at the last audit committee meeting to beef up the committee and add new skills.
"Lyn clearly has the skills and I would like to invigorate that committee with her chairing it."
Mr Goodwin also suggested Mr Daniell had a vested interest in Castlepoint and said he should not be on the Castlepoint Seawall Committee with councillor Judith Callaghan.
Mr Daniell said he was "considerably uncomfortable with accusations of vested interest" and there was no truth in the suggestion.
Councillor Jane Terpstra was unanimously voted as deputy mayor despite claims last month from councillor Jeff Workman that he had received an email from fellow councillor Jonathan Hooker, asking for his support for the deputy's job.
Mr Daniell retained his chairmanship of the policy and finance committee with councillor Chris Peterson re-elected as resource management chairman.
Councillors' salary was hotly contested around the table with several proposals put to the floor before a decision was made.
Councillor Edwin Perry said he didn't agree that his role as Maori liaison task chairman was reflected in the proposed salary.
"I have spoken to Wes (ten Hove) about this and it's not about the money, it's the principle. I got a certain number of votes and I feel it demeans the mana of the position."
Councillors voted for a mayoral salary of $65,294, the deputy mayor and the chairpersons of the resource management and hearings committee would receive $25,000 and the remaining seven councillors are to get $19,000.
