City councillor Jenny Condie concerned about legal risks of library proposals

Thursday, 4 March 2021

Foster called for the review following a sustained period of 'rancour and partisanship' among some councillors.

Wellington City councillor Jenny Condie says she is worried the council is breaching its democratic obligations by ignoring officer advice on the future of the city’s central library building.

Councillors voted 9-6 on Thursday to scrap the idea of selling parts of the building to help fund a $179 million upgrade, meaning that option will not be released for public feedback in the council’s draft 10-year plan.

The vote came about following a proposal from councillor Fleur Fitzsimons to remove partial privatisation as one of the funding options, which she acknowledged was against officer advice.

Condie said during the meeting she was concerned the council was not following due process, and that removing the option had legal risks.

Wellington City councillor Jenny Condie is worried the council has breached its legal obligations by removing a proposal to privatise parts of the city’s central library building. (File photo)

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Councillor Fleur Fitzsimons says her recommendation was against officer advice, but carried a low legal risk. (File photo)

“This is an audited document, we do have obligations under the Local Government Act,” Condie said.

“It's very clear about what can and can’t, and what has to be in this document, and I think by removing this [option], we are potentially breaching those obligations.”

A $179 million upgrade is planned for the closed central library building in Civic Square. (File photo)

The council was opening itself up to a potential judicial review, perhaps from the Taxpayers’ Union or prospective developers who were interested in vacant office space in the building, Condie said.

Fitzsimons acknowledged the proposal was not consistent with officer advice, and that the Act required councils to consult on all principal options for how projects could be funded.

But she said the legal risks were over-stated, and councillors were not obliged to always adhere to officer advice.

Earlier in the meeting, mayor Andy Foster also tabled a late change, proposing partial privatisation be removed as the council’s recommended option, rather than removed entirely.

He said the council’s preferred option should be to fully fund the rebuild and retain full ownership, by allowing it to breach its debt cap in the first three years of the plan. That recommendation was unanimously accepted.

Foster said there had been a lot of talk about “privatisation”, and that was “not true”.

Things heated up considerably when councillor Rebecca Matthews was told to watch her tone after criticising Foster for providing a lack of information when he proposed the privatisation option two weeks ago.

“The decision that was made mentioned nothing about office space, proportion of a building [to be sold], and numbers,” Matthew said.

“You talk about credible options. Well, I would say that what you presented to us was not a credible option.”

Deputy Mayor Sarah Free, who was chairing the meeting, said the comments were getting personal and asked Matthews to “lower the tone a bit”.

Foster accused Matthews of misrepresenting staff, claiming that selling off office space had been discussed in councillor workshops. That claim was refuted by some councillors.

Foster also successfully proposed reinstating full funding for the council’s library resources budget, having recommended two weeks ago to reduce it by 40 per cent over two years.

He apologised to the Chinese community for not consulting them on an earlier proposal to remove $6.5m of funding for a planned Frank Kitts Park redevelopment, which includes a Chinese garden.

The council’s revised total spending over the next 10 years was higher than previously agreed, with borrowing to exceed the agreed 225 per cent of revenue for the first three years.

Scrapping partial privatisation option – how they voted:

For: Jill Day, Fleur Fitzsimons, Laurie Foon, Sarah Free, Rebecca Matthews, Teri O’Neill, Iona Pannett, Tamatha Paul, Nicola Young. Against: Andy Foster, Diane Calvert, Jenny Condie, Sean Rush, Malcolm Sparrow, Simon Woolf.