Invercargill city councillors were embarrassingly thin on the ground at a council committee meeting yesterday - so thin they didn't have enough people for a quorum.

The council's regulatory services committee meeting was scheduled to start at 4pm, but chairman Darren Ludlow opened the meeting at 4.07pm before adjourning it instantly, saying they had to wait for Cr Carolyn Dean to arrive before starting.

Cr Ian Pottinger then phoned Cr Dean.

"We need you because we haven't made quorum without you . . . we just need you to be here to start," he said.

While waiting for Cr Dean to arrive, long-time councillor Neil Boniface said he knew of only two occasions in 20 years when the same thing had happened.

Cr Dean arrived at 4.16pm and the meeting started.

After the meeting, Cr Ludlow said they needed half the committee to hold a meeting and only three of the eight committee members were present at the scheduled start time.

They were Cr Ludlow, Cr Lloyd Esler and Cr Pottinger.

Though Cr Boniface was at the meeting he wasn't a committee member so did not have voting rights, Cr Ludlow said.

Those absent from the meeting were Mayor Tim Shadbolt and councillors Graham Sycamore, Alan Dennis and Graham Lewis.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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