Foster called for the review following a sustained period of "rancour and partisanship" among some councillors.
OPINION: Wellington City Council is in a shambles, no denying it. But, short of total institutional failure or widespread evidence of malfeasance -- and nothing I’ve seen comes close -- usurping the will of voters by installing a commissioner, or Crown observer as proposed in a
The mandate afforded to mayors and councillors at local elections should not be swept aside so easily over community exasperation at the conduct of politicians -- or, least of all, out of concern about ‘optics’.
The latter point – public relations, basically – arises from a fundamental misapprehension over what the organisation is.