Councillor's attendance questioned
Nobby Clark. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON
Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark has hit out at an attempt by a councillor to ask for details about museum build costs, saying if he turned up to meetings he would be aware of the money involved.
Mr Clark and Cr Ian Pottinger were at odds at yesterday's infrastructure and projects committee meeting after the councillor proposed a notice of motion seeking answers to questions about how money had been spent.
In March, Cr Pottinger filed a Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act request seeking details on the amount spent on consultants for Project 1225, which includes the new museum for Southland, the tuatara enclosure and a storage facility in Tisbury.
Speaking to the motion, he said after reading the information he had questions about how money had been spent.
He outlined those questions which were included in an amended resolution asking council staff to prepare a report explaining why $337,927 was spent on museum operational advice, if the $249,519 spent on legal services involved litigation or mediation and what the $387,000 spend on fit-out and design was related to.
During the discussion of the motion, Mr Clark said it was with a "reasonable level of frustration" that he listened to Cr Pottinger speak to the motion.
In the past seven months the project had been discussed at length during four meetings, he said.
"Three of those four meetings he's been an apology."
At the council's July 30 meeting where eight resolutions regarding the museum were passed, the only one Cr Pottinger opposed was a proposal to consult the public.
Cr Pottinger called a point of order and said the reason he was not at the meeting was because he was in the United States.
"This is getting personal from the mayor against me."
He asked the meeting chairman Cr Grant Dermody to intervene.
Cr Dermody said he was about to and asked Cr Pottinger to be "respectful".
"We're not going to get into a tit for tat here."
Mr Clark said the time to have input had been at those earlier meetings.
"It's a bit rich to come back at this late stage in an election year and do politicking."
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