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

Western Bay of Plenty District Council has replaced their three ward, eight councillor initial representation structure with the three ward, 11 councillor representation system which they had previously decided in their secret workshop.

The public also rejected the 3/8 model in the submissions but was never asked about a 3/11 version or given any information on the process. The council now has laid itself open for complaints to the Local Government Commission. In an attempt to minimise the damage, the mayor and CEO told a meeting last week that only those who had submitted could approach the commission but this restriction is only applicable if the council had stayed with the 3/8 option. The situation has not improved since the decision was published last week.

A councillor at a Smart Growth public meeting on the future of Katikati was asked what he understood was the Katikati that the meeting should be considering: the town, the old ward or the new Northern ward. He stated that the question was too political and refused to answer the question.

At another workshop, a board member asked that Katikati, Waihi Beach and Matakana call a meeting as soon as possible to start working with our new Northern Ward partners. The request was denied as inappropriate. It was obvious that the council has no plan or any ideas on how their new ward structure might work. It has only invented a new layer of bureaucracy between council and the public with an associated expense that the council now cannot afford.

It seems the council has nowhere to go and the only question now is which axe will fall first, the commission over this representation debacle or the public when they find out how much the rates have gone up.