Chairman Allan Birchfield commented at the time the quarries were more trouble than they were worth, and further sales were on the cards. In his report to Friday’s council meeting, operation manager Randal Beal spelled out the downside of quarry ownership. “Council has fixed costs associated with quarries that include annual fees, compliance, management and audit costs regardless of the volume of production from the individual quarries.” Issues raised by Audit NZ over tonnages and royalties each year were time-consuming to resolve and often required the peer review of an independent party, Beal said. The quarries offered a service for communities in need of flood protection, but were failing to pay their way and general ratepayers were funding the deficit.
Beleaguered West Coast Regional Council chairman Allan Birchfield has rejected claims that he bullied council staff and tried to interfere with resource consent decisions.
Four out of seven councillors are backing a move to oust Allan Birchfield as chairman.
Photo: LDR / Lois Williams
It has also been revealed a 30 percent rate rise could be looming for West Coast regional ratepayers this year.
Four of the council s seven members are backing a move to oust councillor Birchfield as chairman, at an extraordinary meeting called for Monday, 31 May.
A letter obtained by the
Greymouth Star shows that chief executive Vin Smith, who is on unexplained leave, had concerns about Birchfield s communications with staff on compliance issues.
“I called the meeting [to replace the chairman] because I am concerned at the way things have been operating,” he said. Challenger would not comment on whether his concerns about the chairman were also linked to the unexplained absence of the council s new chief executive, Vin Smith. Smith has been on what Birchfield has described as “personal leave” since last week, with no return-to-work date given. “Allan has his way of doing things and we believe he is not doing things in a democratic manner. He does things unilaterally,” Challenger said. Birchfield rejected that allegation. “I have always followed due process, and Stuart knows that – he has seen the legal advice we have had.”
Allan Birchfield.
Photo: LDR / Lois Williams
Deputy chairman Stuart Challenger confirmed to Local Democracy Reporting today that he had called an extraordinary meeting of the council to remove councillor Birchfield as chair.
Tensions between Birchfield and his deputy were evident at a council meeting this week, over changes to government-funded flood protection projects in Hokitika and Franz Josef Glacier.
Challenger said the changes were significant and the council had an obligation to go back to the communities and re-consult them. I called the meeting [to replace the chairman] because I am concerned at the way things have been operating, he said.
Field inspections will begin on the West Coast this winter to decide if significant natural areas (SNAs) spotted by researchers using maps, are in fact worth protecting.
Landowners who try to pre-empt the SNA designation by clearing the land now could find themselves in breach of the existing rules (File image).
Photo: RNZ / Tracy Neal
The West Coast Regional Council says a desktop study of potential SNAs should be complete by the end of June, and the affected landowners will then be asked if an ecologist can undertake an on-site assessment.
If the landowner refuses, the site will automatically be assumed to be an SNA and protected under new rules now being developed by the Tai o Poutini Plan Committee in accordance with the Resource Management Act.