Hastings District Council Mayor Wendy Schollum (left) has described the threat of legal action from councillor Steve Gibson as disappointing.
Hastings Mayor Wendy Schollum says she’s disappointed councillor Steve Gibson is threatening the council with legal action after losing a vote to stop a tangata whenua representative being appointed to a water forum.
Gibson claims there has been “unlawful consultation and decision-making” around the governance structure for a new entity being set up to deliver water services in Hawke’s Bay.
The Hastings, Napier and Central Hawke’s Bay councils agreed last year to work together on the new entity as part of the Government’s Local Water Done Well reforms.
Gibson emailed a cease-and-desist letter to Hastings Council CEO Nigel Bickle on April 11.
He claimed ratepayers had not been told the final structure of the water entity’s “board” would comprise three councillors, three iwi representatives and three appointed experts.
Gibson said the council needed to stop work on progressing the proposed water services entity governance structure or he would initiate a judicial review.
At a council meeting on April 2, Gibson failed in his bid to remove mana whenua representative Mike Paku from the Shareholder Representative Forum.
Paku was to be one of the council’s three proposed representatives, alongside Schollum and Hastings Deputy Mayor Michael Fowler.
Gibson asked for an amendment, saying Paku’s appointment should be removed as a recommendation.
It prompted strong challenges from several councillors. The amendment was voted down 13-2, with only Gibson and councillor Simon Nixon voting for it.
Schollum said Gibson’s challenge was based on an understanding of the Local Water Done Well structure that was “plainly wrong”.
She said there was some confusion in the community about the new entity and the respective roles of the shareholding councils, the Shareholder Representative Forum and the entity’s board.
Schollum said the forum, which Gibson has publicly referred to as the “board”, was a co-ordination and advisory body only.
Its principal purpose was to bring together the views of the three shareholder councils (Hastings, Napier and Central Hawke’s Bay, with their 39 councillors) and provide clear positions and advice as required.
“Governance decisions remain with elected members of the three councils, acting as shareholders while operational decisions sit with an independent board of directors,” Schollum said.
She said councillors had multiple opportunities to engage, ask questions and work through the nuance.
“At a time when our community wants well-informed councillors laser-focused on keeping costs down and making good decisions for our ratepayers and residents, this kind of action does the opposite – diverting time and ratepayer-funded resources away from that important work,” Schollum said.
“It makes it all the more disappointing to see the decision publicly misrepresented and the community misled about how the structure actually works.
Schollum said the structure was democratically agreed by the council.
“So it is concerning to see it now being challenged in a way that does not reflect what was agreed.”
Gibson said the new entity would have the power to rate the public directly.
“Yet governance is being shifted away from fully elected councillors to unelected representatives.
“That is a fundamental change and the community was not clearly told during consultation.”
Gibson said he was elected to stand up for ratepayers and to hold the council to account.
“I make no apology for that.”
He said people deserved to know who was making decisions over their money.
“Any entity with the power to rate must be governed by those accountable to the people.
“That means elected councillors. We do not need another layer of governance or consultants.”
He said the real risk was “locking ratepayers into a model of co-governance they never agreed to”.
“A judicial review is not taken lightly, but ensuring the process is lawful and transparent is essential.”
The new entity – in the structure of a council-controlled organisation (CCO) – is currently scheduled to take control of water services on July 1, 2027.
The budget to establish it is $14.2 million.
Hastings, as the administering council, will borrow the money from the Local Government Funding Agency (LGFA) as bridging funds until the water entity can borrow from the LGFA, with the debt guaranteed by the shareholder councils.
Gibson’s actions as a councillor have been under the spotlight since his election last year.
In February, an independent assessment found he breached the council’s code of conduct and engaged in low-level bullying towards a staff member at the city’s art gallery.
In January, Gibson chose not to attend a strategic planning session held on a marae because he felt uncomfortable about the process, the late notice and the nature of the agenda.
He said he didn’t “appreciate listening to extended addresses delivered in te reo without translation”, particularly when the majority of councillors were not fluent.
Henare O’Keefe said while he respected Gibson’s right to raise concerns, he didn’t believe legal threats helped.
“Our community expects us to work together, not against each other, particularly on something as important and vital as water services governance,” O’Keefe said.
Nick Ratcliffe said democratic processes had been followed “to a tee”.
“Why anyone would object is beyond me.”
Elisha Milmine said the council was seeking legal advice and it would be inappropriate to comment until that process was complete.
Yvonne Lorkin said she was unaware of any legal threat.
“Even if I had been, it wouldn’t have been a priority because over the past week, a group of councillors and I were focusing on Cyclone Vaianu.”
She said she wouldn’t comment further as “I have actual council work to do”.
Kevin Watkins had “no comment at this stage”.
Simon Nixon said he hadn’t digested the legal challenge yet, but had reservations about the proposed water services organisation since it was first mooted. He felt Three Waters should have been kept in house with Hastings District Council.
He said he had voted against it on every occasion he could.
“My concerns are mostly regarding the costs to ratepayers,” Nixon said.
Deputy Mayor Michael Fowler and councillors Alwyn Corban, Siiam Daniel, Kellie Jessup, Hana Montaperto-Hendry, Derek Nowell-Usticke, Callum Ross and Heather Te Au-Skipworth did not respond.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.