Wainui's reaction to Mayor's comments
Wednesday, 7 May, 2008
By Marianne Gillingham

Wainui residents fear comments made by Mayor Meng Foon at a community consultation meeting in the city show the council has a pre-determined view on the Wainui reticulation project and that its consultation process is meaningless.

Mr Foon had publicly stated at least twice that he believes that reticulation is inevitable, said Mike Pharaoh, a spokesman for the Wainui ratepayers group.

Comments such as this and the Mayor's view that Wainui ratepayers were their own worst enemies, were prompting fears that the consultation process was just a sham, and that the council would proceed regardless of the submission process.

There had already been hints at an earlier meeting that this sort of pre-conception could leave the council open to legal challenge.

Another ratepayer was told by the Mayor there was no choice for Wainui. It had to happen -- the council was ready for it and work would start happening later in the year or next year.

The ratepayer said Mr Foon had confirmed he would have to sell his house if he could not afford to pay the $26,000, plus GST, being quoted.

Ratepayers say these sort of comments seem to infer that the council has already decided reticulation is the only option.

"There are communities around the world with well over a million dwellings using on-site wastewater solutions in an environmentally- effective way," said Mr Pharaoh.

The council is also accused of misleading ratepayers over a variety of issues, including the use of referenda.

People at the city consultation meeting on Monday were told the Local Government Act did not include provision for the use of referenda.

Yet the auditor general's good practice guide for local government included it as an example of thorough consultation, a woman living at southern Wainui said.

This guide said local authorities were required to consider the views of those affected by any proposal, especially when the issue was significant.

The guide said it was up to the council how it chose to do this, giving the example of how Wanganui had been using an annual non-binding referendum since 2005 to gauge community opinion on significant issues.

"Contrary to Mr Foon's statement, the people who would spend our money without robust investigation of the ratepayers' affordability to pay, the social impact to the residents and the economic impact of tens of millions of dollars extracted from the Gisborne community -- they are our worst enemy," said Mr Pharaoh.

"Let us hope that they are few in number. A formal proposal process is in place. The community is currently engaged in the submission process. Now is not the time for any councillors to make it up as they go along.

"While an enormous bushfire rages in front of Mr Foon in the form of the massive $95 million for the city wastewater treatment plant, he has matches firmly in hand preparing to light another fuse.

"It will be an economic and social disaster if Wainui reticulation proceeds as proposed."

The only glimmer of hope in the Mayor's reported comments was that "the council would rely on the facts in staff reports".

This was encouraging because many recent statements had been based on personal feelings rather than facts, said Mr Pharaoh.

"I just hope that they are prepared to deal with all the facts, not just the 'cherry-picked' ones that will suit a preconceived agenda.

"Let us hope there are still some wise decision-makers left among the councillors after submissions are read and heard in relation to the proposed centralised reticulation of Wainui."

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