Good grief. How did North Shore ratepayers finish up with such a grouchy bugger as their mayor.
In today’s report on attendance at local body meetings, the Herald on Sunday says its requests for meeting attendance records received different responses at the five major councils around Auckland.
Manukau City and Waitakere City supplied full details promptly. Auckland City met our request a day later than agreed.
The Auckland Regional Council agreed to provide the figures but later said they couldn’t because staff were away sick. And North Shore City directed the Herald on Sunday to minutes on its website.
For good measure, Mayor Andrew Williams said the request –
was “a load of nonsense”. “We have got so much to do without stupid little reporters like you wasting … time like this.
“What a load of crap. You just really disappoint me,”
Williams said. “Do you think we’ve got the time to muck around with pathetic little queries like this?”
He said there was “full and open disclosure” of all council minutes and agendas.
The director of AUT’s local government centre, Peter McKinlay, said, “The public is entitled to know that their representatives are on the job.”
The creation of a Super City before the next local body elections – the Government’s intention – means Williams won’t be mayor for much longer, of course.
But it will deprive North Shore ratepayers of the opportunity to vote him out in an avalanche of disapproval.
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Alf Grumble 