Editorial: No show, no dough good idea

HAVING been, in effect, censured by five of his Wanganui District Council colleagues for poor attendance at meetings, Jack Bullock has taken to the Chronicle Facebook page to defend his absences.

He describes the meetings as "in effect rubber stamping" and points to the work he does away from the council table.

The value of these meetings and the extent of their "rubber stamping" role can be debated at length, and Councillor Bullock may well do much work out in the community.

However, if not concerned about missing meetings, he should at least be concerned about the loss of faith among his colleagues.

Last week, in what may be an unprecedented show of disapproval, the council - on a 5-4 vote - refused to accept his apology for missing a full council meeting. Apologies are invariably accepted, so this move was a pretty stern condemnation.

To be effective, councils need to be cohesive and collaborative. Our elected representatives need to work together with some semblance of teamwork, and some of them seem to be questioning whether Mr Bullock is part of the team.

Then there are the ratepayers who pay the councillors to represent them.

Jack Bullock has polled well at election time, showing a strong body of support, and those who voted for him might not be too fussed about his absence from the council chamber. But many ratepayers - who are perhaps not among his supporters - will rightly expect a better attendance than 11 out of 22 meetings and will be concerned about his sense of duty.

Councillor Bullock needs to be mindful that he represents them as well as those who gave him their vote.

When Michael Laws was regularly missing in action, it was suggested councillors' pay should be linked to attendance. It's not a bad idea.