Bill Dalton

We live in a time of incredible change.

Politically New Zealand has moved right, America left and Fiji down the toilet.

On the investment front, the share market has gone from the flavour of the month to last weeks sour taste which of course is when clever investors are accumulating stocks.

Finance companies have gone from the chosen investment vehicle of many because of promised high incomes – to a sector which become populated by so many rip-off merchants that it now only exists due to government guarantees.

Our climate is changing – ask the poor cockies who are suffering with drought. Hawke’s Bay has received just 60% of its normal autumn rains and that means going into the winter without enough grass.

But one thing never changes.  And that’s New Zealanders love of knocking those with the guts to express an opinion.

As you know I have suggested that our current local body electoral system – the way we elect our councillors – is wrong.  I have suggested that there is a better way.  I have made these suggestions because a).  I believe the current system is nothing short of stupid and b).  I want to start a debate on the matter.  I want ratepayers to have their say.

And what has been the result – personal abuse.

I am told that I’m a Prima Donna because I have questioned the need for Wards.  I am accused of slagging ward councillor Maxine Boag when I’m on record as saying she does a good job in her ward.

Don’t get me wrong – the abuse is like water off a ducks back but what is disappointing, is that people, rather than giving their opinion on the wards/no wards debate, simply choose to abuse someone who is keen to see the best electoral system possible for Napier.

I say to these people – abusing me is a waste of your breath and will do nothing for Napier.

If you have a considered opinion on the matter of how your councillors are elected – have your say.  Let’s debate the merits of your views and my views.  Let’s debate the message not waste our energies slagging the messenger.

Dare I even suggest it – let’s be positive and get the best outcome for Napier.

A good mate of mine phoned the other night and during the conversation he asked me why I was so anti the Regional Sports Park.

To say I was surprised is an understatement.

I am not anti the sports park and I thought I had made that abundantly clear – but – there appears to be doubt – so I will have another go at explaining my position this morning.

If the Hastings District Council want, and feel they can afford, to build a large sports park, good on them. Such a facility will attend to the deficit in sports grounds in Hastings and of course will add to the region’s total facilities. Just as the sports grounds in Napier, like Park Island and Onekawa, funded by Napier Ratepayers, add to the pool.

My argument is, and always has been, that the proposed sports park is a Hastings venture and that Napier Ratepayers, who have already provided adequate facilities in their own city, should not be called on to fund the project.

Again I stress – I am not against the proposed sports park. I simply do not believe Napier Ratepayers have any responsibility to fund it.

Much is being made of the fact that it is a regional facility. Surely if the sports park was truly a regional facility, Napier would have been consulted on what sports they thought it should cater for.

At no time was Napier consulted about the make-up of the sports park – we were consulted only when funding was asked for.

And if the regional card is going to be played lets have a look at the most regional of all sporting facilities in Hawke’s Bay – the home of National and International Rugby and Cricket – McLean Park.

McLean Park is undergoing a 10 million dollar refurbishment to prepare for future major events including the Rugby World Cup.

Hastings made it very clear that we shouldn’t even ask for funding assistance, it wouldn’t be forthcoming.

So Napier has got on with the job and is providing this international standard facility for the region and I hope Hastings is able to get on with the job and provide their international standard facility for the region.

I am absolutely intrigued to find that supporters of Napier’s partial ward system, are now saying that the Napier City Council has failed to make it work.
 
Sorry – am I missing something here? The Napier City council is not making the system work? The Napier City Council never wanted the system in the first place. In the 2004/2007 council, only Robin Gwynn supported a ward system. Robin Gwynn was the only councillor to lose his seat.

A tiny but determined minority ended up putting enough pressure on the electoral commission to convince them, in Wellington, that wards would somehow benefit Napier. Surely if this determined minority wants to prove to the city that wards are good for Napier, it is up to them to prove it.

There is nothing at all stopping them from calling a meeting in their ward. I am sure their ward Councillors would attend as would most city wide Councillors.

To have a situation where a vocal minority inflicts a system on the majority who are against it – and then for that vocal minority to suggest it is someone elses job to make their system work beggars belief.

For similar reasons I believe the proposed system for local body governance in Auckland is fraught with difficulty.

The Lord Mayor of Auckland and his 20 Councillors will be governing – in a local body sense – 1.4 million people. That is one third of New Zealand’s population.
 
The 20 Councillors will, no doubt, be elected on a party vote basis. So a Mayor and a simple majority of say, 11 Councillors, could be running a city made up of one third of New Zealand’s population.

For my dough that’s  getting up  the pointy end of the democratic process.

Surely such a system opens up all sorts of doors we simply don’t want to go through. Just imagine the resources the Government of the day could pour into the Auckland City Council to try and court favour with one third of our population.

Do you ever feel we change things for changes sake?

During the 2007 Local Body election campaign, I thought that the unsuccessful candidate, Caroline Lampp, was one of the better performers. I didn’t necessarily agree with her politics, but I thought she presented well. However the comments attributed to her in the Hawkes Bay Today on Friday the 3rd April would now suggest to me, that she is at best naïve and frankly – well – I don’t want to go into the alternatives.

The Hawkes Bay Today quotes her as saying “When councillors are elected at large, they do not necessarily have any understanding of their local community and more importantly, have little knowledge of those communities they don’t live in”

How does this recent import to Napier dare to question my understanding of my local community?

My local community is Napier and I have lived here for well over half a century.

If we are going to take the petty view that you need to live in a street to represent that street, how come my good friend Maxine Boag – a staunch supporter of wards – lives on Napier’s hill, represents The Nelson Park ward – and represents them well.

Simply put – Caroline Lampp is talking garbage. I expected better of her.

When councillors are sworn in, they swear to represent the interests of the city. That is the whole city and all its constituents. I took that oath in total sincerity.

My family has been in this town since 1867, Members of my family have served countless organizations across the whole spectrum of community endeavours. There would be very few sporting codes, community or artistic organizations in the city that have not benefited from Dalton family support.

And Ms Lampp – dares to question my understanding of my community.

What next!

I have lived, been educated and worked in the fair city of Napier for

55 of my 57 years. I think I have as good a knowledge of the broader community of Napier as anyone in the city. And I don’t need to live next door to my friends in Maraenui or Marewa or Pirimai or Westshore or Taradale to understand their problems.

So the suggestion that councillors elected on a city wide basis do not represent a “community of interest” is simply bollocks.

What Napier needs is the best team possible to represent the interests of all its citizens.

To suggest anything else is just nonsense.

Rodney Hide’s Royal Commission has decided that all the councils in the Auckland region should amalgamate and hopefully save the ratepayers a fortune.

And now its being suggested that other regions should follow suit – especially Wellington – but many are including Hawke’s Bay in the mix.

Well lets look at the facts.  Napier, over many years has been administered in a sensible conservative manner.  I take no credit for that, most of the good work was done well before my time.  But the fact remains that the Napier City Council is likely to have a gross debt position by the end of this council term of just $41m.

At the same time the Hastings District Council is likely to have a debt level of – not $41m – but $95m. No wonder Hastings ratepayers support amalgamation.

Napier City Council $41m of debt – Hastings District Council 2.3 times that amount.

Why would Napier’s ratepayers want to absorb that level of debt?  In fact it is bloody ridiculous to suggest that there is any fairness or equality in such a proposal.

If Rodney’s clever boys try and enforce an amalgamation between Napier and Hastings, I for one will be recommending that Napier borrows $50m and has a big spend up on facilities to ensure that Napier’s ratepayers do not end up simply paying off Hastings’s debt with no increase in facilities or services.

Let me make my position clear.  I do not advocate excessive spending by the Napier City Council or excessive borrowing by any local body.

But if a marriage of the Hastings District and Napier City Councils was forced on us then I would be derelict in my duty as a Napier City Councillor if I didn’t recommend a massive debt funded spend on facilities for Napier.

And of course the old cash cow, the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, would have to be included before any amalgamation proposal got my support.