Mayor candidate told by council boss

Local government

The hopeful Christchurch mayor warned against contacting staff at a municipal building. David Williams reports

A week is a long time in politics.

Hopeful Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger said last week: “I am fully aware of what constitutes a conflict of interest and I have acted in accordance with the council’s rules at all times.”

The alderman was defend sending a text message to Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel last November about his son’s proposal for a movie studio — something he described as asking for clarification.

Dalziel said she felt it was a conflict, but Mauger replied in an emailed statement: “There has been no conflict of interest on my part during my term as councilor, and there will not be.”

This morning, the City Council released to Newsroom a letter sent to Mauger by CEO Dawn Baxendale in May, asking him not to communicate directly with the staff of the City-owned Living Earth compost factory.

(While the municipal election nominations didn’t open until July, Mauger announced last September that he was running for mayor.)

Baxendale said that since Mauger was a board-appointed director of Transwaste Canterbury – a public-private partnership with Waste Management NZ, the company that operates Living Earth – he had “a conflict of interest in matters that could benefit or harm the company.” “.

On May 18, according to Baxendale’s letter, Mauger had contacted Living Earth staff “about the use of water misters and cannons” — presumably as a way to deal with the odor — and referred to the site. “possible closure”.

His contact raised additional concerns among staff, Baxendale wrote, “in what is already a challenging time.”

The stench coming from the facility, in the eastern suburb of Bromley, has been an ongoing problem. In January last year, the municipality was banned by the regional council, Ecan, for the discharge of “offensive and unpleasant odors”.

The council decided to move the smelly factory, and in May, when Mauger contacted staff, the councilors were… consider closing Living Earth before another location was found, meaning thousands of tons of organic waste would be dumped in the Kate Valley landfill, operated by Waste Management.

Baxendale wrote to Mauger: “The code of conduct requires you to act in a manner that upholds the reputation of the council and I am concerned that your action does not meet the standards of conduct expected of a councillor.

“In the future, if you need more information about Living Earth that you need to know in order to take on your role, you should only use official channels.

“My employees are aware of your conflict of interest and will provide appropriate information in those circumstances.

“If I receive further reports of inappropriate communication with Living Earth staff, I will handle this matter in accordance with the procedures in the Code of Conduct and will be required to raise it with the mayor.”

2022-05-19 Ltr to Cllr Mauger Re Living Earth by means of David Williams on Scribd

Newsroom asked for comment from Mauger and his public relations team today, but Erin Jamieson, co-founder of PR firm Convergence, said the mayoral aspiring is in back-to-back meetings. “We won’t be able to meet your trade-closing deadline today.”

Mauger’s main rival for the mayoral chains is David Meates, the former chief executive of the district health council. When asked if Baxendale’s letter looked good, Meates said, “Once again it just emphasizes how important it is to deal with conflict.”

Is it Meates’ view that conflicts were not well managed in this case?

“It’s really important for everyone in the board role that they manage their conflicts of interest as it can put both themselves and the staff involved at risk.

“That goes to the heart of trust within an organization.”

The municipality is not only struggling with public discontentbut a staff survey that revealed: deep turmoil inside. Many of the 11 mayoral candidates have campaigned to regain public trust.

Mauger’s term as councilor is controversial.

He was fined for digging an unauthorized trench Try to solve flood problems in the red zone of the city. Then he started developing a quarry in Templeton without permission.

The former businessman, who ran a family business for 45 years, has proposed some interesting solutions to municipal problems.

Most recently, Mauger and fellow councilor Aaron Keown, who is once again in the Harewood neighborhood, announced a plan to create a hospital parking lot on the tree-lined edge of Hagley Park, on Riccarton Ave.

In April, he suggested that the odor of a fire-damaged wastewater plant could be eliminated by dousing the drip filters with a mixture of bleach and water from his fire truck tanker. Fellow councilor Melanie Coker, who has a PhD in biochemistry, rejected the idea because it would potentially yield more dangerous chemicals.

While Mauger and Meates have agreed on a number of things, such as the need for a new stadium and a pledge not to sell the city’s assets, they clashed over topics such as bike lanes and balancing the council records.

Mauger has pledged to improve core services, reduce debt and keep rates affordable — while Meates questioned how lower rates and debt reductions are feasible without cutting services.

Mauger’s mayoral campaign was unusual in that he supported 13 candidates for city council and contributed financially to four of their campaigns.

A trio of councilors—Mauger, James Gough and Sam MacDonald—invited Baxendale to dinner in August to discuss “mutual expectations”. The chief executive said such discussions should not be held over dinner and her leadership team should be involved.

Tuesday evening the voting result in Christchurch was reached 31.55 percent – higher than at the same point in the last three municipal elections.

That is more than Auckland (23 percent), Wellington (19.21 percent) and Dunedin (27.84 percent). Voting in the municipal elections closes at 12 noon on Saturday.