Brian Anderson The Western Front www.sunlive.co.nz

It is hard to believe that the Western Bay of Plenty District Council set out in April 2011 on a programme to review the representation structure of its organisation for 2013 and came to an embarrassing halt this month with absolutely nothing positive to show for its efforts.

They workshopped for six months and chose their method of voting in September 2011. They had their suggestion of two Maori councillors rejected by Maori in October and workshopped a new structure by June 2012. Within a day their work was overturned and replaced by an unworkshopped model which they offered to the public a month ago for consultation for the first time. The council is now in trouble. The yes/no option left absolutely no place for any submitter, individual or community board to have their alternative plans or suggestions discussed at the hearing or by the council at decision time.

Council is now unable to pretend that public opinion was considered in any of their future deliberations on representation. With only 15 submission forms in each council public library and no extras available, the council was certainly not looking for any consultation. The token gesture proposal may have been deliberate by a council that has thrown its hands up in disgust and is resigned to a Local Government Commission intervention.

Council had three criteria to sort out; who the groups or communities of interest would be, how council would work effectively with those groups, and they had to ensure a fair councillor/ratepayer ratio. There is no information on the first two points and the last ratio decision is irrelevant without information on the first two. Bluster will not cover their deficiencies. It is time for one or two of our elected representatives to read the Government Guidelines which they have publicly rejected and go back to the drawing board. There is still time. A little humility and honesty might even be a good political move.

My visit to the council meeting last Thursday was uneventful. It is too early for any real discussion on representation but political maneuvering is well under way.