Plea for secrecy fails

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 232, 23 February 1988, Page 3

Plea for secrecy fails

The Bulletin was last week officially asked to keep names of people whose jobs were at stake out of the newspaper. But in the end the indiscretion of one or two Ohakune Borough Councillors made the request a farce. Bulletin publisher John Woods, the only reporter covering the first public meeting of the Waimarino District Council steering committee on Wednesday night, was addressed at the start of the meeting by chairman Garrick Workman, Mayor of Raetihi. In front of four senior administration staff, nine councillors on the committee and about 10 candidates who were attending as members of the public, Mr Workman said there were a number of matters of a tender nature on the agenda. People would be mentioned by name and unless the Press was willing to cooperate it may b e necessary to go into committee, he said. County chairman Con Heinold said he agreed. The committee wanted to keep personalities out of it. Unless the Press was asked for its indulgence, it could curb discussion. Cr Tom Punch, a Raetihi Borough councillor, said an assurance should be sought from the Press. Mr Workman then put the request for cooperation and discretion to Mr Woods. He agreed to use discretion and to refer back to Mr Workman prior to publication of reports.

Again at the end of the three-hour meeting Mr Workman asked Mr Woods publicly for his cooperation. During the meeting there were several debates on employment matters such as the appointment of an engineer and a town planning consultant together with lively discussion on office accommodation. On Thursday night at the monthly Ohakune Borough Council meeting Mayor Bill Taylor verbally reported the outcome of some matters from the night before. While Mr Taylor did not name people, other councillors identified county engineer Don Sattler as the person whose position had been hotly debated. That led to a report in Friday's Wanganui Chronicle naming Mr Sattler and reporting claims of dissension between Ohakune and Raetihi factions on the committee. On Saturday The Chronicle reported Mr Workman as refuting deep-rooted division on the committee. In an interview with the Bulletin he said it was the indiscretion of some Ohakune councillors that made a joke of the attempt to keep personalities out of the public arena. He agreed with the Bulletin there was now no point in keeping Mr Sattler's name or the names of other staff and consultants out of the press. However, he said he had privately apologised to Mr Sattler who was very upset about the matter.