By WAYNE THOMPSON
Auckland Mayor Christine Fletcher will this afternoon sign the first contract for the Britomart Transport Centre - a task that her rival John Banks says will be her last as mayor.
Mrs Fletcher is to sign the $96 million contract with Downer Construction at 2.30 pm.
Voting in
the local body elections closes at noon tomorrow.
"The ink won't even be dry on the contract before the mayor and her fellow travellers are thrown to the wolves - the electors of Auckland," Mr Banks said yesterday.
It was a constitutional outrage and without precedent for a council to wait until its last day in office to commit an incoming council to a $200 million project, he said.
"If it's so good, why does it have to be signed on the last day?
"Why can't it wait for a week so it can have the support of the incoming council, who are going to be held responsible for it?"
Mrs Fletcher said she was confident she would be returned as mayor but it would be imprudent to delay the signing of the contract.
Delays would incur "enormous costs" and mean missing a commitment to get trains back into Queen St by July 2003.
The public had told the council to get on with the job, and the council had obtained regional agreement, resource consents and finance for the project within its term.
"I would challenge anyone in the three-year election horizon to do better than that."
Mrs Fletcher said she rejected criticism of her campaign from Mr Banks and the other leading mayoral candidate, Matt McCarten.
Mr McCarten said she seemed to wake up to the election only a fortnight before polling day.
"It's a democracy and you have to go out and win support," he said.
"She treated it like a monarchy - a job for life. She didn't give one good reason for people to vote for her."
Mr Banks said the "petulant behaviour" of the mayor would count against her.
He said he had received hundreds of messages from people appalled at a Fletcher campaign advertisement calling him a racist.
Mrs Fletcher said she was only replying to more than two months of personal attacks on her.
Her campaign had consisted of billboards and a brochure to each household, and remained within the statutory spending limit of $70,000.
She said she doubted that Mr Banks' campaign had been run within the limit - but Mr Banks said it had been carefully managed to do so.
Feature: Local body elections 2001
www.localgovt.co.nz
Eve-of-poll tick for big contract
By WAYNE THOMPSON
Auckland Mayor Christine Fletcher will this afternoon sign the first contract for the Britomart Transport Centre - a task that her rival John Banks says will be her last as mayor.
Mrs Fletcher is to sign the $96 million contract with Downer Construction at 2.30 pm.
Voting in
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