Mount Maunganui Ratepayers, Residents and Retailers Association president Michael O’Neill is 'bewildered' to be disinvited from speaking at a council election event. Photo / Alex Cairns
Mount Maunganui Ratepayers, Residents and Retailers Association president Michael O’Neill is 'bewildered' to be disinvited from speaking at a council election event. Photo / Alex Cairns
A Mount Maunganui ratepayer representative has been disinvited from speaking at a council election information evening after his involvement in a survey that found strong opposition to city plans.
Mount Maunganui Ratepayers, Residents and Retailers Association president Michael O’Neill was scheduled to speak at TaurangaCity Council’s event for prospective candidates on Monday.
The event aimed to provide all the information people considering running in this year’s local body elections may need or want to know.
People advertised to speak at the event are the city commissioners, council chief executive Marty Grenfell, electoral officer Warwick Lampp, governance expert Dr Jim Mather, former Christchurch deputy mayor Andrew Turner, Whakatāne Rangitāiki Māori ward councillor Tu O-Brien, Te Rangapu Mana Whenua o Tauranga Moana chairwoman Matire Duncan, Western Bay of Plenty mayor James Denyer, Envirohub’s Mary Dillon and Priority One economic development agency chief executive Nigel Tutt.
This week, O’Neill’s name was removed from the list of speakers. He had been expected to be a voice for ratepayers about the relationship between elected members and ratepayer groups.
The Justice of the Peace has now complained to Local Government Minister Simeon Brown.
Emails sighted by the Bay of Plenty Times between O’Neill and council democracy and governance services manager Coral Hair showed concerns about the association’s role in an informal community survey.
“The candidate evening is an apolitical opportunity to share factual information with those who are interested in standing for council. Council is of the view that it is important to maintain separation between the LTP and candidate information processes.
Mount Maunganui Ratepayers, Residents and Retailers Association president Michael O'Neill. Photo / Alex Cairns
“Therefore you are no longer invited to speak on the community panel at the candidate information evening.”
O’Neill asked the council to reconsider, citing what had been a positive working relationship and stating the group had no involvement in creating the survey it relayed to its members.
Hair replied that commission chairwoman Anne Tolley gave “careful consideration” to O’Neill’s points.
“We now understand that MRRR did not instigate the survey, however, the MRRR logo and name is attached to the survey and it is not considered appropriate at this point in time to have you as a speaker for the reasons set out in the first email.”
Association ‘simply doing our job’
O’Neill told the Bay of Plenty Times he was “bewildered” and did not agree with the council’s reasoning for his removal.
“I just don’t know what the hell’s going on and why they’ve taken that position,” O’Neill said.
He had no plans to speak about the Long-term Plan or survey and said he had planned todiscuss the relationship between elected members and ratepayer groups and how future elected members could successfully interact with the group to better connect with the community.
Now, in his view, “prospective councillors will not get that perspective from ratepayers associations in the community”.
“I just don’t understand it.”
Sustainable Bay of Plenty's Glen Crowther. Photo / John Borren
O’Neill said previous councillors attended association meetings and regularly liaised with the group. Collaborative efforts included the Mount Maunganui boardwalk extension.
He rejected the council’s suggestion the association had political leanings.
“We have no financial ties to council at all,” O’Neill said.
The association was “simply doing our job” by sending the survey to members, he said.
The informal survey of nearly 1500 people was headed by Sustainable Bay of Plenty and the Pāpāmoa Residents and Ratepayers’ Association. It asked 10 questions on city plans, finances and core projects such as the civic precinct Te Manawataki o Te Papa project and proposed Tauranga Domain stadium. Results indicated strong opposition to most plans.
Local democracy questioned
Sustainable Bay of Plenty executive director Glen Crowther said, in his opinion, disinviting O’Neill to speak because of the survey was ‘‘appalling”.
In his opinion: “I’m horrified ... We just can’t understand why the council thinks this [conducting a survey] is doing something untoward. This is trying to be constructive.
“To me, there’s no logical reason to remove him.”
The Bay of Plenty Times put Crowther’s and O’Neill’s comments to the council and Tolley, and also asked for an explanation of the reasoning for disinviting O’Neill.
They were also asked what they believed the impact could be of O’Neill speaking, and how they now planned to have a ratepayers’ voice or view at the event.
Commissioner chairwoman Anne Tolley during a council meeting about future stadium plans, that was paused after disruption by an ex-councillor. Photo / Alex Cairns
A council spokeswoman said they had no comment further to the emails.
In August 2023, the council denied 10 requests from people wanting to speak at a meeting about the proposed stadium. This was because if the decision was made to progress the proposal, the matter would be subject to Long-term Plan consultation, the council stated at the time.
In March 2022, when former Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta extended the commissioners’ term, she announced it to a room of about 30 invited political, business, iwi representatives. Former Tauranga mayor Greg Brownless, who has been a vocal critic of appointing commissioners, was left sitting outside, uninvited.
Victoria University public law expert Dr Dean Knight said at the time, in his view, local democracy had taken a hit “in favour of sanitised bureaucracy and completion of corporate work programmes”.
Brown said the matter of O’Neill’s removal from the candidate event was for Tauranga’s commissioners to comment on, however, “restoring democracy in Tauranga is a priority for me as Minister of Local Government”.
Kiri Gillespie is an assistant news director and a senior journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, specialising in local politics and city issues. She was a finalist for the Voyager Media Awards Regional Journalist of the Year in 2021.
