Attempt to get ICC meeting about recycling contract in public forum

Monday, 13 May 2019

An Invercargill city councillor has taken steps to have a meeting, which will help decide the future of Southland disAbility Enterprises recycling contract, open for the public to attend.

Cr Toni Biddle will put forward a notice of motion asking if the public can attend the meeting on June 5.

It was normal practice for the council to consider tenders in public excluded meetings.

Biddle would suggest to councillors that the financials be discussed behind closed doors and the remainder of the meeting be open to the public.

'This is the least we can do to ensure the transparency to our ratepayers,' she said.

She would put the motion at the start of the meeting  and the councillors would vote on whether to allow the public or exclude the public.

'I think the ratepayers deserve to know exactly how the decision is made,' Biddle said.

The city council, along with the Gore and Southland district councils, will each vote on who should get the region's wheelie bin recycling contract during separate meetings on June 4 and 5.

Elected members on all three councils have been silent on the issue because if they air their views publicly they may be excluded from voting at those meetings.

Southland disAbilty Enterprises, which employs 82 people with disabilities, said last week it had been told it was not the preferred bidder for the contract which they currently hold and which expires at the end of June.

WasteNet Advisory Group spokesman Gary Tong confirmed this to be the case, but said the tender was still alive and the three councils would make the final decision.

The news Southland disAbility Enterprises was not the preferred bidder has caused outrage among some in the community because if it loses the contract 82 workers with disabilities may lose their jobs.