Wastewater issue still bubbling

After a walkout at last month's Thames-Coromandel District Council meeting, the contentious wastewater issue has effectively been left to the incoming council.

At an extraordinary council meeting on Tuesday, Mayor Philippa Barriball withdrew a motion which, at the previous meeting, provoked the exit of four councillors and the early closure of the meeting due to lack of a quorum.

The spat happened when half the councillors argued for a standard district-wide fee to pay for wastewater projects but the other half (who eventually left the room) wanted a 50 per cent district fee with 50 per cent based on the cost of the local scheme to the particular ratepayer.

Ms Barriball tabled a new motion which split the issues of trade waste and wastewater, and gave chief executive Steve Ruru time for wider consultation with the community.

This ensured it would be the newly elected council which makes a final recommendation on the wastewater funding policy.

There was a hint of a victory for the councillors who walked out. Ms Barriball's motion, passed unanimously, stated "the preferred option for funding wastewater is a system based on proportionate allocation of costs as between those ratepayers connected to each of the 10 wastewater plants".

Councillor Bill Barclay, who led the walkout group, said he was satisfied after having some input into the mayor's new motion.

However, there were still some rumblings of discontent.

"It's the most important issue going into the future – I'm very sad we didn't resolve it," said Dal Minogue.

Dirk Sieling caused some raised voices after talking about a "tight five" and an alleged threat by some councillors to walk out again if they did not get their way. But most councillors spoke of "moving forward" and expressed regret at not being able to resolve the issue.

"I'm very happy we can put this to rest and be confident anyone here in the future will have a very challenging role establishing some sort of equity," said Ms Barriball.

- © Fairfax NZ News