How much taxpayers will pay for the proposed Tūparikino Active Community Hub threatened to overshadow a New Plymouth mayoral debate that ended with two leading candidates two weeks before the close of the election.
Voters began to arrive for the Taranaki Daily News mayor’s debate 90 minutes before it started on Friday with a packed house in the Civic Center’s debating chamber, well before it kicked off, forcing many people to watch the livestream from the foyer in one of the two council meeting rooms.
The debate proved even more popular online, as hundreds of . attuned stuff livestream option when Mayor Neil Holdom and first nominee and Councilor Dinnie Moeahu came out on top in an exit poll.
The debate, usually the end time the candidates officially “wrestle”, has mostly been a contained affair, though Councilor Murray Chong has been at odds with sitting councilors and the incumbent mayor over claims that taxpayers have increased their contribution by more than 100%. $40 million toward the community center.
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Chong, who stated at one point in the debate that he was being too honest for his own good, accused the current candidate councilors of not being transparent about the charges because they didn’t want it to become an election issue.
He claimed they also failed to repeat what they were told at a workshop with project manager Steve Bramley in March, where the council had to shell out two-thirds of the hub’s total cost if they hoped to secure funding from central government.
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Murray Chong’s many charts and tables of municipal costs and expenses were not always accurate.
With the total cost of the hub projected to increase due to rising construction prices, Chong said taxpayers would have to pay $90 million for a $120 million project.
Bramley, who was contacted after the debate to verify the claim, said Chong had misinterpreted what was said during the workshop.
He said it was likely that the project team needed 75% of the money before asking for government funding, and the entire Taranaki fundraising group, sports codes and donors would come up with that, not just the municipality.
“There are two different things that Murray has mixed up,” he said.
While acknowledging that costs would likely increase, the project’s design team worked on five or six concepts to present to the board in October before the preferred options were presented to the board along with costs in November or December.
Chong received warm applause during the debate that followed his claims, although that support did not translate into exit poll votes.
Though it had no scientific basis and less than half of those in the debate room completed the poll, Chong got five out of 68 votes, Holdom landed 30, while Moeahu, who had a large family support group, topped the list. with 32 .
The second time candidate Greg Mackay got one vote with Councilor Sam Bennett and Murray “Muzz” McDowell, right to feel a little cheated for not registering a single vote.
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Dinnie Moeahu grabbed the public’s attention with his strong rhetoric and passion.
Moeahu and Holdom were undoubtedly two of the more well-supported candidates during the two-hour debate.
Holdom had all the answers at his fingertips, while Moeahu spoke like a leader in waiting, promoting inclusivity and citing his deep connections with iwi as beneficial to the district.
The other combination of the event was the obvious clash between Bennett and Chong with claim and counterclaim over things like walkways and project costs.
Chong also angered some sections of the crowd after calling Councilor Anneka Carlson a “girl,” though he qualified it by saying she knew what he meant.
To specific questions from Taranaki Daily News editor Matt Rilkoff, Moeahu said he opposed any move to foreclose on the perpetual investment fund, which he hoped could be used in part to help those struggling in the community.
“As someone who goes into the community all the time, I feel the pain points of these sectors of the community,” he said.
“How can we relieve that pressure and enable them to do better,” he asked.
By taking $50 million out of the PIF.
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Holdom admitted to receiving a text from his wife, who was in the audience, advising them to sit up.
When asked if he was building a sustainable lifestyle for the wealthy, Holdom was quick to his feet and clear with his answer.
“I think the investments we’re making are about storing value for future generations,” he said.
“The fact that we have to catch up with our infrastructure shows that we as an organization have failed to deliver in the past.”
He went on to say that too many municipalities had “put things on track” and it was time they improved the quality and longevity of the district’s infrastructure.
Chong took his question, which was about his eligibility to be a suitable advocate for the district, given his divisiveness, to blame the way the media had treated him.
“I would say that the media is half of this problem,” he said. “All the allegations got a spin in the media and people believed it.”
The allegedly skewed reporting against him did not include the “21,000 hours” he volunteered to spend in the community before becoming a councilor.
For the third time in a week, Greg Mackay took a copy of the long-term spending plan, which he had requested from the council, to shred before demanding that more be spent on infrastructure projects.
When asked if he knew some of those projects were actually already in the plan, he said yes, although he hadn’t fully gone into it yet.
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Sam Bennett wrestled with Chong over figures, but struggled to connect with the audience.
Bennett, who struggled to connect with the public given his insistence on reading most of his answers, which often overlooked the question, emphasized his desire to bring back “community governance” with a strong focus on inclusiveness across the district.
“If elected, I will be a mayor bringing us back to grassroots democracy,” he said.
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Murray McDowell, aka Muzz, had cleared council grounds before the debate.
As he was when given the opportunity to speak, McDowell proved popular for his sense of humor, his passion for the region, and his dedication to the campaign, also picking up gin and beer bottles from outside the Civic Center for debate.
His humility also included a ‘shout out’ to Holdom’s wife and his admiration for her work, although he admitted never having met her.