Hearing group representation debuted

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 10, Issue 482, 20 April 1993, Page 5

Hearing group representation debuted

When the membership of the Hearings Committee was debated at last week's Ruapehu District Council Meeting the question of area representation was raised. The resolution before the Council was that: 'the Hearings Committee for any one hearing (should) consist of three members' drawn from a list of names which included the following individuals: Mayor Garrick Workman

and councillors Graeme Cosford, Joe Murphy, Bob Vine, June Baker, Tony Hawkins and Stuart Shaw. When the absence of representation from the Waimarino Ward was noted (Mayor Workman explained that his function was to represent the RDC as a whole and not as an area representative) chief executive Cliff Houston said that this had occurred because no

one from the Waimarino Ward had expfessed any interest in serving on the committee. Councillor Bob Peck, in seeking to amend the resolution by adding the words "including one local member," said that without local knowledge it would be very difficult to make any worthwhile contribution to a Hearings Committee recommendation. "I would be useless

trying to make a useful contribution to any discussion about Taumarunui," he said and cited the recent Ohakune Squash Courts liquor licence debate before a Hearings Committee on which there were no representatives from the area most concerned. Councillor Graeme Cosford (who served on that committee) confirmed that when invitations were sent out to

councillors to serve on the Hearings Committee there had been no interest from Waimarino members but that he personally had not felt disadvantaged by not being a 'local' member after several visits to the site and discussions with those directly concerned.

Councillor Weston Kirton, however supported the proposed amendment to 'include one local member' saying there "was obviously a gap in the committee as far as the Waimarino is concerned." The amendment was defeated on a show of hands (6 for 6 against with the mayor exercising a casting vote) but

the wording of the resolution was changed to: 'The Hearings Committee for any one hearing (should) normally consist of three members'. Councillors were reminded that the Hearings Committee was only a quasi-judicial body with solely an advisory function and was unable to make any political decisions.