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Dominico Zapata / Things
Tauranga Mayor Tenby Powell resigned in November.
Begging to be allowed to keep their jobs has proved a futile exercise for Tauranga city councilors.
Local government minister Nanaia Mahuta has followed through on an earlier announcement that she intended to bypass the dysfunctional council for a long time and replace them with commissioners.
Technically, councilors remain in office, but cannot do their job and will not be paid and the commissioner makes the decisions.
Mahuta wrote to the council in early December to inform the organization that he intended to appoint a commission due to “significant governance problems among the elected representatives of the council.”
As required in the Local Government Act of 2002, the council had ten days to respond.
READ MORE:
* The councilors of the city of Tauranga ask that the minister not appoint a commission
* Tauranga City Council will be replaced by commissioner
* Dysfunction in the Tauranga City Council puts elected members at risk of ministerial intervention
Councilman Jako Abrie and Mayor Tenby Powell resigned from this term and both called for a commissioner to be appointed.
Eight of the nine remaining councilors signed the letter to Mahuta that “strongly requests that a commission not be appointed.”
In the letter, councilors suggested that a Crown administrator and observer should be appointed, which would allow them to retain their employment as elected decision-makers around the council table, but would be overturned if deemed necessary.
However, Mahuta was not allowing it.
“The council’s response has not provided me with sufficient evidence on how it is addressing its problems,” Mahuta announced on Friday afternoon.
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A new era is dawning for the Tauranga City Council, with councilors to be replaced by a government-appointed commission in early 2021.
“I believe that a commission is necessary to provide the strategic leadership that the council and the city need.”
In recent years, the council has presided over a host of failed projects, budget failures, and overdue decisions.
High-profile mistakes in recent years include the $ 14.2 million purchase from the Bella Vista Homes debacle to the $ 19 million Harrington Street parking lot that had to be abandoned.
“I will send strong direction to the commission to ensure that the Tauranga community participates and is consulted on all major council decisions, as required by law,” Mahuta said.
“I hope that the elected representatives will work collectively to support the commission. This will put the council in the best position to return to fully elected representation in the 2022 local authority elections.
“I am aware that this has been a stressful time for council staff and local taxpayers seeking certainty about the future of the council. Confirmation to appoint commissioners for Tauranga will help pave the way for the next set of decisions early next year. “
The appointment of a commission will eliminate the legal requirement to hold by-elections, he said.
The commission’s mandate will begin early next year and will end in triennial elections for local authorities in October 2022.
Commissioner appointments will be announced in February.
