Cosford moots cut from 51 to 5 on council and boards

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 15, Issue 689, 3 June 1997, Page 1

Cosford moots cut from 51 to 5 on council and boards

Five full-time paid councillors serv ing the whole Ruapehu district, working much like roving field officers, could be more effective and much cheaper than the council' s present system of representation. That was the point of view put forward during a discussion on the 'review of basis of election and constitution of communi-

ties' at the Ruapehu District Council' s May meeting last Friday, by Cr Graeme Cosford. He quickly added that he made the suggestion as a starting point for discussion and that he did not necessarily support going that far with any reform. Currently there are 5 1 positions on the council, community boards and ward committees, filledby 37 people.

Cr Bob Peck supported the status quo, saying if community boards were costly or not, they were important. "Representation at community board level is the closest you are going to get to the people," he said. "If you withdraw from community boards you are doing the same thing that the government wants to do with roads in making one SOE." Mr Peck said education for the public on the proper function of boards may be necessary if boards were not doing their job. "For example, Pipiriki 's request for a council-funded community board — the

general comments show they don't really understand what a community board is," he said. "Can the Ruapehu District Council help Pipiriki with the establishment of some other suitable body?" he asked. Mid-range views were expressed by other councillors including John Compton and Bob Vine who supported the amalgama-

tion of Waiouru and W aimarino boards (Mr Vine suggested the new ward'be called Waiwai, or Wai Squared - Editor) Mr Vine said that, early in the district' s eight-year history, there was a lot of work for boards to do but now there was very little. Cr Ellen Gould supported Cr Cosford in part, saying elections put off many excellent people and that the

election process was not user-friendly . She said the number of lobby groups being set up was an indication that the boards were not doing the job. Cr Joe Murphy countered, saying there were a lot of countries that had "a lot less friendly ways of doing things". Councillors decided to wait for community boards to consider the review and then base their decision on their input. Acting chief executive Chris Ryan explained that while boards must be consulted, ultimately their future was the council' s decision.