Tauranga and the Western Bay's Joint Governance Committee's backdown last month over the two councils' waste minimisation programme is symptomatic of a deeper malaise, says Western Bay of Plenty Mayoral candidate Garry Webber.

The backdown is the latest is a series of joint governance failures that Garry says has been a feature of the two councils.

The combined approach to waste minimisation was a joint initiative. 'We agreed to do it jointly, it was a good idea,” says Garry.

But he says the focus of the 147-page report by Eunomia Research & Consulting focused instead on how to collect Tauranga City's rubbish collection, which is different to the Western Bay of Plenty District council's user pays approach.

User pays suits a wider variety of solutions, says Garry. From people who compost, recycle and only have a full bin every couple of months, to those who put a bin out every week.

Now the two councils have decided to go their separate ways on waste minimisation.

'We need to take a regional view of this. If you look over 50 years, the [Bay of Plenty] regional council has done a lot of work in this area.”

The steam reforming waste treatment plant being suggested a couple of years ago by Mark Boyle from the Te Puke Economic Development Group is a clear indication that minimising the Western Bay of Plenty's waste is a bigger issue than picking rubbish up from the side of the road.

'Where we should be in 50 years; that waste to energy concept has a lot of merit. Kawerau has an incredible amount of wood waste and a geothermal source,” says Garry.

There's also sewerage sludge or biosolids coming out of treatment plants in the city and across the Western Bay. The Western Bay of Plenty District Council is storing its sewerage sludge in geotech sausages in parts of the district, says Garry.

'You can't do that long-term.

'The 23-strong Joint Governance Committee is supposed to be where proposals are made to do things better. Have a look at how many people are on that committee – 23 people on that committee it's not good governance,” says Garry.

'What has joint governance achieved? Go and have a beer it will be more productive. Joint governance has achieved exactly nothing.”

During the last six years committee members from both councils have requested reports on various aspects of how the two councils could better run their businesses.

'Why couldn't we have one management structure looking after our libraries?,” asks Garry.

There are libraries at Waihi Beach, Katikati, Omokoroa, and across the city. When people borrow library books they don't care if it is from a Tauranga City or Western Bay library, and they all operate on the same Dewey system, says Garry.

'Why could we not have one management structure over waters and wastewaters? One roading contract?

'Why can't we have one common computer? Banking did it 1967, the dairy industry in 1981.”

In Canterbury, eight councils are working towards a common computer system. But when it became known last August that TCC was having computer troubles, the opportunity wasn't taken.