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

If council had done its homework correctly and updated its systems in collaboration with the people, its new representation strategy would have been signed off and passed by without anyone noticing.

Because council made a mess of the whole process, there were 100 submissions challenging the initial proposal. When council went ahead and decided on its three ward/ 11 councillor structure there were 15 appeals and 82 objections against the council decision to the Local Government Commission. The commission will now investigate, review the whole operation of the council and hopefully initiate changes towards a more democratic council structure. How the commission will set about changing council is up to them. They are studying the appeals and objections at the moment and it should only be a matter of a few weeks before we will see evidence of their proposed intervention. They will want guidance from all of the communities in the district. This could be the best opportunity we have had for years for having a say in how council is run.

More than a hundred people were involved in the latest appeals. Some appeals and objections were from trusts and petitions, each one representing many people. Maketu and Waihi Beach appeared to generate the most objections. These of course were the minority areas who felt most threatened by the amalgamations proposed.

Most that said no to the proposal believing that existing 5/12 status quo was an option. They knew nothing of the council's previous 5/11 decision and, when it was passed, they saw the decision as undemocratic. There was confusion over the role of community boards. Some believed that the boards were too expensive in their current form and should go, while others believed that the boards should be delegated more authority.

The northern and central wards' opinions were not discussed in the summary but from the original submissions, appeals and objections it seems that the three ward system had nothing at all to do with communicating with the wards as separate entities. The planned new wards would have no administrative or planning functions, leaving the whole exercise as nothing but shifting the deck chairs on the Titanic. Omokoroa/Kaimai has no centre and no single community of interest. The idea that Waihi Beach, Katikati and Matakana could be treated as a single ward is a rejection of the commission's advice and, within the current council structure, is beyond any analysis.

The review process will be treated with urgency. A new council system has to be in place by March next year.