Steve Baron
WHEN a small group of wealthy businessmen start casting aspersions and innuendo about the wastewater treatment plant in a full page advertisement in the local newspaper, the hairs go up on the back of my neck.
Perhaps it's that conspiracy theorist tucked away in my brain coming to the surface ... who knows? But I start to wonder if there is some ulterior motive.
Why would they do this when they are the least likely to be financially affected if their rates bill increased by a few bucks next year?
Is this just big business trying to manipulate us?
Do they (or their close friends) have political ambitions or a political agenda? Is this simply a political platform to boost their election chances by attempting to confuse the community over this issue.
Perhaps these businessmen, pillars of our society (one of whom has just received a much-deserved titular honour for a lifetime of service to business and the community) are altruistic, concerned citizens convinced the Whanganui District Council has no idea what it is doing.
What concerns me even more is when this group start naming district councillors who voted for the upgraded wastewater treatment plant, but conveniently leave out the name of one councillor who also voted for it.
One of their good mates? I find that a bit misleading.
I was at the council meeting where this group presented their submission to the annual plan.
They made a number of assumptions and spurious statements about the plant but looked rather sheepish when mayor Annette Main pointed out the facts, taking the wind out of their sail and undermining their paper-tiger arguments.
That did not go down well with them - but it has not stopped their innuendo and its divisive attempt to confuse the public and make our council, along with several highly qualified sewerage engineers, look incompetent.
It is easy for us to sit around and espouse our wisdom and the unmitigated stupidity of everyone else - especially when our beliefs do not have far-reaching, real world ramifications.
Even more so when we do not have all the facts, as these three gentlemen did not have when presenting their submission to council.
It is easy to point the finger, but how would I have voted if I were a councillor faced with a monumental decision after a failed wastewater treatment plant?
I do not know the answer because I have not listened to, nor read, every piece of information about the issue, nor completed site visits as our councillors would have done.
I would like to think our councillors have taken the best professional advice. If it were possible to find a cheaper option that would not require increasing rates, I am sure they would have found it.
It is easy to be critical of experts because they do not always get it right. But surely, after all that has been exposed, dissected and discussed on this matter, it is hard to believe all these councillors and experts could have got it wrong - as the previous councillors did all those years ago.
As for those councillors who voted in favour, however reluctantly, yet now want to flip-flop and politicise the issue, it is time to build a bridge - get over it and move on.
A collective decision was made and they were a part of that process.
Politicising the issue does nothing but confuse the public, potentially lead to expensive inquiries and is bad governance. It makes council look incompetent, weak and divided.
Let us get on to more important issues - strategic planning, building our economy and creating a city we are all even more proud of than we are now.
¦Steve Baron is a Whanganui-based political commentator, author and founder of Better Democracy NZ, and holds degrees in economics and political science.
He is standing for Whanganui District Council in October.