PLEASE EMAIL NANAIA MAHUTA

Colleen from Greerton - Parkvale

PLEASE SHARE SUGGESTED EMAIL to affirm the appeal of former Mayor Tenby Powell to appoint Commissioners to replace the current councillors at Tauranga City Council (TCC).
Nanaia.Mahuta@parliament.govt.nz


To Nanaia Mahuta (apparently you do not use Rt. Hon for MP’s), You can use Hon.

As a resident of Tauranga I am along with others writing to affirm the appeal of former Mayor Tenby Powell to appoint Commissioner’s to replace the current councillors at Tauranga City Council (TCC). You may see this email from many residents of Tauranga. It is an accurate account of our thoughts, feelings and experiences with TCC.

A vast majority of the Tauranga community voted for change in the last local government elections. We believed that Tauranga City Council should have elected members and a Mayor that cared for the whenua and the diverse population that now live here. Many of us believe the elected members should acknowledge Tiriti o Waitangi and its principles of partnership, participation and protection.

We elected councillors like Jako Arbie, Tina Salisbury, Heidi Hughes and Mayor Tenby Powell because they did care for not only the development and infrastructure of Tauranga City but more importantly its people. The overturning of the begging ban for the homeless was an example of this. Opening the Mount base track within months of being elected another, TCC had stalled with this project in the past due to a lack of communication with local iwi and finances.

Prior elected members of TCC and its CEO often thought more of the development and financial gain for Tauranga than its people. They did not always follow due process which left the rate payer saddled with unprecedented debt; projects like the Bella Vista sub-division and the Harrington Street Car Park.

Unfortunately the last local elections also brought with it councillors who have the draconian mind sets of previous elected members and worse still attitudes that reflect the monoculture of a minority of people in Tauranga rather than the majority. Mayor Powell accurately described these councillors when he said: "Tauranga's future as a city, of strategic importance to New Zealand cannot be left to a small group of petty politicians who have a long track record of hindering, or even worse, stopping progress.” Many of us who attended public meetings would witness the blatant disrespect that these councillors showed each other, the participating audience and more recently the Government investigators appointed to report and make suggestions on the culture of TCC.

For that reason as a resident and rate-payer (one or the other or both) i/we fully support the outgoing Mayors appeal to you Nanaia Mahuta, Minister as Minister for Local Government to appoint Commissioner’s to Tauranga City Council. Anything less would only give these difficult councillors license to create more division in the community. As mentioned a good majority of us voted for change in the 2019 elections, that change will be short coming if 4 or 5 of these current councillors remain.

The people of Tauranga Moana deserve better!

Sincerely

Sign name. and address