Wellington mayor Tory Whanau. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
- Wellington City Council is set to hold a secret meeting on Wednesday afternoon
- Voices from within the council are calling for an intervention, after a fresh vote on airport shares derailed their long-term plan
- One minister has called it a "shambles" and another says they will intervene if necessary
- The meeting will see councillors discuss the long term-plan amendment process
The systemic problems of trust between Wellington City Council's executive and its elected members mean it is "incredibly close" to needing intervention, a former president of Local Government New Zealand says.
Stuart Crosby said the problems appeared to have been building for some time.
"They do need a short period of time to see if they can remedy the problem themselves - failing that, they go through a phased process of soft intervention right through to hard intervention."
He said the next stage could be to put observers in, to "see what's really going on" - and in his view, the dysfunction was nearing a point requiring intervention.
Former Local Government New Zealand president Stuart Crosby. Photo: SUPPLIED
"You could say that's just politics, but there is a point where politics gets so severe it impacts on the functionality, and that's when a form of intervention should take place."
With a meeting to discuss the long-term plan looming, councillors, ministers and experts were in disagreement about the way forward for the council.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on Tuesday the government was watching the council carefully, and that Local Government Minister Simeon Brown would announce more soon, while Finance Minister Nicola Willis earlier said the council was a "shambles".
Councillor Diane Calvert, who was among those calling for intervention, said "shambles" applied more to mayor Tory Whanau and her leadership.
She said she felt the mayor was reluctant to receive any help from other councillors, and advice from council staff was not neutral.
The council voted last Thursday to stop the sale of its 34 percent stake in Wellington Airport, which left a giant hole in its budget.
Councillor Nicola Young said the government appointing a Crown observer would be a step in the right direction, and criticised the mayor's communication with other councillors.
She said the city was getting further into debt and she was concerned about how unaffordable it was all becoming.
Councillor Ray Chung said he would like the government to call an early election.
But Māori Ward councillor Nīkau Wi Neera said the government's reaction had been disproportionate and unfair, and he had faith in the mayor's leadership.
In a statement, Whanau told RNZ she would be meeting with councillors on Wednesday afternoon to discuss options for their long-term plan amendment and she would have "more to say" about their plan shortly.
She had also requested a meeting with Brown to discuss their next steps, she said.
Brown would not confirm exactly when he was due to meet with Whanau.
Speaking to reporters at Parliament on Wednesday, he said: "I don't disclose when I'm meeting people, but I will be meeting with her in due course, very soon."
He said they would be discussing the government's concerns, but he was still waiting on advice from the Department of Internal Affairs, which he said he had requested with urgency. However, he was not sure it would come before meeting with the mayor.
"The key thing, as I mentioned yesterday, is the concern around the impact on ratepayers in Wellington, who are already facing some of the highest rates increases in New Zealand, and the impact that the decision made to relitigate the entire long term plan might have on them."
He denied that he had jumped the gun by expressing concern before he knew whether the council met the bar for intervention.
Legal expert Dr Dean Knight, a law professor at Victoria University, told RNZ he did not think the council had reached the level of dysfunction required to justify ministerial intervention.
He said doing so could set a dangerous precedent for democracy, and put other councils around the country in doubt.
He said politics always had a few sparks - that was just the day-to-day reality of local democracy.
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