Editorial: Councillor should call time on spat

THE RESIDENTS around Wikitoria Road are probably more concerned about the serious flooding they suffered in June than the unseemly squabble that has developed among Whanganui district councillors charged with finding a solution to their problems.

A council discussion in December about ways of dealing with the issue has morphed into a spat between Philippa Baker-Hogan and Ray Stevens, with MrStevens proceeding with a code of conduct complaint against his colleague despite calls for him to withdraw it.

The disagreement arose when Mrs Baker-Hogan said council infrastructure manager Mark Hughes was "biased" in his views on flood mitigation options.

Mrs Baker-Hogan has every right to question the advice of staff - indeed, one might regard it as one of her duties - but the use of the word "biased" was unfortunate. She appears to have meant Mr Hughes had a closed mind on the matter when his opinion was at odds with advice from others expert in the field of hydrology.

Mr Stevens felt the slur on MrHughes was unacceptable and initiated code of conduct proceedings.

In an attempt to avoid a distracting side issue - and possibly a costly one, with a previous code of conduct hearing running up a $20,000 bill for ratepayers - Mrs Baker-Hogan has formally withdrawn her comment.

Unfortunately, Mr Stevens has refused to accept the olive branch.

His defence of council staff is worthy, but he has made his point and should now avoid escalating this quarrel and save us from calling in the New Zealand Law Society (Whanganui branch) to adjudicate. And one wonders if he is doing Mr Hughes, a well-respected and experienced officer, any favours by dragging this out further.