“I was surprised at how one-sided it was,” Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher told the ODT after a surprise U-turn by the Waitaki District Council, which has voted to withdraw from a proposed joint water services company with three neighbouring Otago councils, opting instead to manage its water services independently — at least for the next two years.
The decision, made at a council meeting in Oamaru yesterday, overturns the council’s previous unanimous support for establishing a shared council-controlled organisation (CCO) with the Clutha, Central Otago and Gore District Councils under the “Southern Water Done Well” initiative.
Only Mr Kircher and Cr Jim Hopkins, Waitaki’s longest-serving councillor, voted in favour of pursuing the joint CCO model. . .
The mayors of the other three councils aren’t happy but if the weight of submissions against the proposed CCO are anything to go by the majority of ratepayers will be supportive.
A series of statements from Waitaki councillors at the meeting pointed to the opposition to the Southern Water Done Well concept, making it difficult listening for the mayors of the other councils involved, who sat grim-faced as one councillor after another shot down the idea of a joint CCO.
Cr Tim Blackler’s summary did not pull any punches.
“Southern Water Done Well was the last cab off the rank, no-one wants a ride on it and if we believe the consultation to be some sort of litmus test for community feelings, which I do, then the feedback was clear … There was a resounding call to keep it local …” . .
Three waters is an urban issue.
In the country we’re either on rural water schemes or have our own supplies; and septic tanks take care of the waste.
In towns and citied it’s not just a matter of delivering clean water for household and business use, there’s storm water and sewerage to deal with too.
The coalition government ditched Labour’s expensive multi-layered multiple waters plan with Local Water Done Well.
It is encouraging councils to work together but bigger isn’t always better.
There would be strength in a CCO covering the four councils but there would also be costs.
A CCO would come with its own layers of governance and management for four councils spread over a large geographical area.
The WDC has voted to keep it local. It now has to prove to ratepayers, and the government, that it will do it well.
The issue reinforces my contention that councils’ infrastructure ought to be audited in the same way their finances are.
Had that been done, councils the length of the country wouldn’t have neglected their three waters and would not now be facing the large sums needed to fix broken systems and keep them fixed.
Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.
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