Council leaders still trying

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 28, 3 December 1985, Page 1

Council leaders still trying

Attempts by the three local councils to reach agreement on a new Waimarino district council by the 1 December deadline set by the Local Government Commission continue to stumble. At a recent Waimarino County Council meeting Cr John Martin's notice of motion to rescind the previously agreed formula of five representatives from the county and four each from Raetihi and Ohakune boroughs was unanimously passed. Ohakune and Raetihi Borough meetings since then have taken note of the county decision but have decided to try to go ahead with the various proposals for amalgamation anyway. Last night, after the Bulletin went to press, Ohakune Borough representatives on the amalgamation steering committee met and invited their opposite numbers from Raetihi Borough and the county to attend. Before the meeting Ohakune Mayor Bill Taylor said his council intended to move

ahead to formalise the last of their proposals for amalgamation and send them to the commission. These were transition arrangements — whether amalgamation was to follow local body elections or to take place at the same time, finance — the establishment of a joint banking and accounting system, and staffing. These proposals were not to include the share of administration costs which each council would pay and which Mr Taylor maintained was not part of the preliminary negotiations. He said he was disappointed that procedures which had appeared to have been agreed to had been thrown into doubt. "At first Ohakune was the most reluctant about amalgamation, but having gone into it we were wholehearted about it. "We will put in the proposals we have agreed to and we believe Raetihi will join with us and then we will see what happens. •Continued page 2

Council leaders still trying

•Continued from page 1 "This amalgamation is taking up a lot of time, when we all thought it was settled, that could well be used on morecrucialissues," he said. Raetihi Borough Mayor Garrick Workman said that given the commission deadline, it was not now possible that amalgamation could be in place by 1986 local body elections. "It also leaves us wide open for a proposal from an outside area, such as Wanganui County, which the commission would be bound to consider. "An outside body could

ask for a poll and we could be outvoted," he said. Mr Workman said that the official policy of the Raetihi Borough Council was to continue to negotiate for the local Waimarino district council, but now that the issue had been thrown open by the county's rejection of the agreed representation, he was going to look at other options. "If there is a Wanganui proposal I am going to look at it to see if we are better served, or it might be a centrally-based plateau region. "I am not saying we should go to them, but we

should take a good look at any proposals," he said. Mr Workman said Raetihi steering committee representatives would meet when necessary to try to talk through the problems, but the stumbling block was the county insistence that Raetihi pay for its representation in a 5-4-4 arrangement. "Unless we accept that we have three representatives in a 7-4-3 arrangement we will be paying more for administration than in the past," he said. Mr Workman said that a Waimarino district council as planned would be small and would make no great savings anyway. "If the 7-4-3 arrangement was decided on we might well be better off in a wider authority," he said. Waimarino County Chairman Bruce Berry said county representatives were

going to last night's meeting to discuss financial arrangements in relation to administration costs as they always wished to do so. "This is our second attempt — we tried at the last meeting, but the boroughs would not discuss it with us," he said. Mr Berry said he believed that it was essential that all the issues were laid out clearly before amalgamation and not left until afterwards. "We must know exactly where we stand before we begin," he said. Mr Berry believes that a Waimarino district council

is unlikely to be ready by the 1986 local body elections, but sees no reason why it cannot take place between elections. He does not think there is much chance that an outside authority will attempt to incorporate all or part of the Waimarino into their amalgamation proposals at present, though he admits the possibility is always there.