Just When You Thought It Couldnt Get Worse
I’ve realized that I have probably been lulled into a false sense of security in recent years over the way local government is administered in Kapiti. I assumed we had a steady hand on the tiller in our current Mayor. However, the opposition to our recycling centre closing has opened up a whole other, bigger, can of worms. The Mayor does not have his hand on the tiller at all. The Chief Executive, a salaried, non-elected staff member with no electoral accountability, is running the show. As anyone who has done Political Science 101 knows, ”he who controls the agenda controls the process”. Nothing goes on the council agenda without the approval of the Chief Executive.
Community representation is no longer possible. A pre-prepared staff report must accompany any notice of motion put before the council. If the staff don’t like it, there is no motion on the agenda. It is all through the Long Term Plan if you care to have a look. Each activity has a staff recommendation attached to it and the action is decided on the basis of this report. What do the staff recommend? Basically they say that the action is recommended because they say so. Evidence based decision making has also gone out the door along with the democratic process.
Representation is denied. Community Boards who attempt to put a motion on the council agenda are told by the Chief Executive that it cannot go ahead because there is no pre-prepared staff report and/or the item is not relevant for the community board to discuss. Just what the process is for obtaining a pre-prepared report from the staff is unclear. There does not appear to be any framework for doing so.
One community board whose notice of motion was rejected sought redress from the Ombudsman only to have the request itself rejected. Why? Because the first thing the Ombudsman did was send the request to the Chief Executive. It’s created a barrage of mixed metaphors; the tail is wagging the dog, the fox is in charge of the henhouse and the ship is headed for the rocks. Democracy as we know it in Kapiti is dead. This is serious stuff. As one colleague, a former high ranking diplomat has commented “Its most disconcerting”
Disconcerting indeed. Question is, what can we do about it?
Poll: Is it ok to regift something that you have been given?
🎁 Holiday Gift Chat!
Do you ever regift?
What’s your take on asking for a receipt if a gift doesn’t fit?
-
79.2% Yes! It's better to regift what I don't need
-
20.8% No. It's the thought and effort that matters
Driven On The Akatarawa Rd Lately?
If so, its good to know you are still alive and reading this.
We have a function to go to over Christmas up that way and having heard a few hairy stories about the road, I went up there on Thursday to check it out. The road's ok, narrow and winding, but not much worse than a Wellington hill suburb. What was pretty scary was the behavior of other drivers. Three vehicles heading the other way at speed would have crashed into me if I hadn't been pulled off the road. I had pulled in to check the address when a truck came flying past, taking up all of the narrow road at speed. There is no way the driver would have been able to stop had they come around the corner immediately in front of me. The other two drivers came hurtling past as I had turned in to turn around and come back down the hill. They were also driving at speed and taking up most of the road. Coming back down I passed another car coming up and estimate that the safe speed to pass another car was about 30-35 kms.p.h. So, now we're thinking, do we go to the function or not.? Feels a bit like we're taking our life in our hands going up there. Drivers appear to be overconfident, and they are courting serious injury.
Loading…
