Vote of no confidence against Buller mayor after waste-to-energy debacle

Thursday, 11 April 2019

A group of West Coast councillors say they no longer have any confidence in their mayor after appeared to support a proposed waste-to-energy plant without telling anyone else.

The Buller District councillors voted on Thursday to show they had 'no confidence' in mayor Garry Howard after it was earlier revealed he signed an apparent agreement to give a proposed waste-to-energy plant in Westport the go-ahead without telling the public or councillors. 

The agreement, which signed during a visit to China in May 2018, was between Renew Energy Ltd and Chinese company China Tianying Inc. The document was made public only after emails between Howard and Renew Energy directors were released to media under an Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act request.

Renew Energy had been working on opening a waste-to-energy plant in Westport with the help of a $300 million investment from China Tianying. It has since announced it will not pursue a resource consent application in the Buller district. 

**READ MORE:

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* Auckland councillors send letter of no confidence to Mayor Phil Goff

* Waste-to-energy plant plans dumped after Buller mayor 'overstepped mark'

* Proposed West Coast waste to energy plant finds $300m investor in China

* Government grant stalled over links to businessman under Serious Fraud Office probe

* Westport's mayor off to England to investigate waste to energy plant** 

The emails revealed Howard was heavily involved in negotiations and lobbying for the plant to be constructed in Buller. 

He issued an apology for not keeping councillors informed of his dealings with Renew Energy's directors. He said he regretted signing the document but had made it clear to Renew and China Tianying that the plant was subject to approval under the resource consent process. 

Some councillors had called for his resignation but Howard said he would not step down. He had previously announced he would not be running for the mayoralty in the 2019 local election. 

Four councillors signed a request for a vote of no confidence: Jamie Cleine, deputy mayor Graeme Neylon, Rosalie Sampson and Shayne Barry. Cleine and Neylon have both announced their intention to run for mayor this year.

The vote, held at the Westport clocktower chambers on Thursday night was supported by all councillors except Phil Rutherford. He said Howard's actions were 'symptomatic of his enthusiasm' to bring jobs to Buller. He said councillors should accept his apology and move on. 

Cr Neylon said the vote was purely symbolic as councillors had no power to oust a mayor who was voted in by the public. 

It was the first vote of no confidence in his 27 years on the Buller District Council. 

Howard had exceeded his power and authority, so the councillors had no choice but to show their opposition otherwise they would be complicit, he said. 

Cr Robyn Nahr said the council had been forced to seek legal advice on whether the document was binding. She believed Howard was trying to attract new business to the district, but had overstepped his role as mayor.

'You intentionally misled us … by signing that contract while over in China. You had no authorisation to do so.,' she told him at Thursday's meeting.

Cr Dave Hawes said the deal would have bankrupted the council if it was approved. It included a price for water that would have meant the waste-to-energy company would have been paying only 8 per cent of what Westport residents paid for water.  

'I can hardly stand here without shaking in anger,' he said. 'You should have done the honorable thing and resigned.'

After the meeting, Howard said the vote was disappointing, but he had been expecting it. 

'It's my most lowest point in my working career. I accept some of the points raised at the meeting, but not all,' he said.

Howard is not the first mayor to receive a vote of no confidence. Horowhenua mayor Michael Feyen copped a no confidence vote from seven of the district's eight councillors in 2017. 

In 2018, nine Auckland councillors wrote a letter of no confidence to mayor Phil Goff, criticising him for what they called a lack of transparency and creating a distrustful environment.