Association winds up

The Dunedin Ratepayers and Householders' Association is to be dissolved.

Chairman Lyndon Weggery yesterday confirmed the association was going through its constitutional process to be wound up.

His comments followed information yesterday the association had asked the Dunedin City Council to remove it from its distribution list for agendas and papers, as it was winding up.

Mr Weggery said he could not elaborate on the process but it was instigated by the association, not the Companies Office.

It had been a ''very open and democratic'' process and there had been wide consultation with members, he said.

He expected the process to take until mid-May to complete.

The association has not made returns or held an annual meeting for several years and questions about its membership have been rife since former secretary Neville Poole declared it ''defunct'' and Mr Weggery ''the chairman of nothing'' in February, after the Companies Office wrote asking for copies of financial returns since 2010.

A Companies Office spokesman said to dissolve an incorporated society, an application signed by an officer of the society must confirm it was no longer operating, had no remaining assets or liabilities, and had passed a resolution for it to be dissolved.

The registrar could dissolve a society without an application if they were satisfied it had ceased to operate; for example, because it had not filed a copy of its annual financial statements and there had been no other contact with it to suggest it was still operating.

A society is also dissolved if it is placed into liquidation.

The former chairman of the association, Syd Adie, said he would have rather seen Mr Weggery step aside and hand the association over to the new group trying to establish a ratepayers' group.

''I would have liked to see the other group take it over rather than have to fork out hundreds of dollars to become an incorporated society, when there's already one there.''

Mr Adie said Mr Weggery should recognise when his time was up and step aside.

''At least, I had the good grace to know when it was the right time to go.''

He said there was something ''very odd'' going on with Mr Weggery, who seemed to want to keep holding the reins of the association, of which he appeared to be the only remaining member.

Mr Weggery had said he would attend a public meeting held in February by Denis Dorney, who was looking to set up a new ratepayers' group, but he did not turn up and had not since explained what was happening with the association.

It was all a bit odd, Mr Adie said.

''He has gone off on his own little hobbyhorse.''

Mr Weggery declined to comment on Mr Adie's remarks.

- debbie.porteous@odt.co.nz