The majority of Tauranga City Council's elected members voted to fight a request for a judicial review into the sale of the Tauranga marine precinct, minutes from a closed-door meeting in February show.
Mayor Mahé Drysdale, deputy mayor JenScoular, and councillors Hautapu Baker, Marten Rozeboom, Kevin Schuler and Rod Taylor also directed the council to oppose efforts from marine precinct users to prevent the council from selling the land to developer Sam Rofe.
These votes seem at odds with ongoing comments from Drysdale to RNZ that he didn’t like the sale and would like to get out of the deal.
Marine precinct user Pacific 7 was granted an interim injunction stopping the sale last year after serving the council with a judicial review.
When asked in March what role the council was playing in the hearing, Drysdale told RNZ it was not fighting the injunction.
“As Tauranga City Council, we are a party and obviously provided information that was required to that, but we weren’t actually a party to the strike out of that injunction,” he said at the time.
The minutes of the public-excluded council meeting on February 10 appear to tell a different story.
Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale. Photo / David Hall
MP for Tauranga Sam Uffindell said he asked for the minutes to be made public after reading the statement by Drysdale to RNZ that the council “were not the ones fighting the injunction”.
“This didn’t appear consistent with what I saw in court, where [council’s] legal team appeared to be actively fighting the injunction,” he said.
He said he wants accountability, transparency and value for ratepayers in Tauranga.
“Some of the public statements appear inconsistent with reality, and this is concerning. Trust and integrity of process are essential in a healthy democracy.”
However, Drysdale told RNZ that while he might not like the commercial terms of the deal, he voted in support of the motions to fight the judicial review and injunction as the majority of elected members believed that would deliver the best outcome for the people of Tauranga.
“The judicial review before the courts alleges that the commissioners made legal errors prior to and in entering into the marine precinct sale contract. Since the litigation was filed, our council has had the opportunity to receive an officer’s report and legal advice,” he said.
He said he continues to stand by his claim that he opposes the sale.
“Throughout this process, I have been open and transparent that this deal is not one I would have voted for had it come before the current council.”
Councillor Glen Crowther, Rick Curach and Steve Morris voted against both resolutions.
Crowther did not want to comment on whether the mayor’s statement in March was misleading, but he said it was clear at the meeting that voting for the resolutions was because the council wanted to push ahead with the sale.
“I understand [the resolution] means … that the council opposed Pacific 7’s application for an interim injunction in February, which if successful would continue to stop the sale from proceeding until the matter is legally resolved,” he said.
Crowther said his position on the sale has been clear since a meeting in October, when he proposed a vote amendment indicating that the sale may have breached the council’s own policies.
He said he wants the council to be transparent with the community about the issue. However, councillors have received legal advice to not make public statements while the matter is before the court, even if the comments would clarify the council’s position.
“Hence, to my knowledge, only the mayor has made public comments up to now. I am only commenting now on these particular aspects because this information has just been made public,” he said.
