Cr Vandervis was behind a proposal in 2017 to examine the pros and cons of merging the operations of the Dunedin City Council with those of the Otago Regional Council within the Dunedin area.
However, the council’s unanimous resolution never resulted in a report after chief executive at the time Sue Bidrose regarded it as a "low priority".
In the end, the council decided in 2019 to rescind the resolution.
Now, the possibility of a unitary authority being explored is again in front of the city council because of a notice of motion by Cr Kevin Gilbert.
The proposed motion, to be discussed today, included a request for "a high-level staff report on options for progressing discussions about a possible unitary authority for Otago".
As regional council chairwoman Gretchen Robertson observed, this could mean an organisational shakeup as large as merging six councils.
In this scenario, an authority covering the functions of regional councils and those of the city and district councils, could stretch from Mt Aspiring to the Catlins.
Cr Vandervis considered this a problem.
"Cr Gilbert’s motion speaks to a long-sought solution to the problem of unaffordable duplication, division and inefficiency in Dunedin’s local government with its two councils, but in my view makes it too difficult by suggesting a unitary council for all of Otago, rather than just for the Dunedin area", he said.
Cr Vandervis said a Dunedin unitary authority would not have the complications of dealing with neighbouring and nearby districts, major rivers running through Otago and the competing interests of Central Otago and Queenstown.
Cr Gilbert’s motion suggested a Local Government Act review or establishment of a joint committee of the Dunedin City Council and Otago Regional Council to progress a discussion.
Cr Vandervis felt a committee comprising "turkeys and butchers"was unlikely to find common ground.
"Despite this, if Cr Gilbert can be persuaded to limit his unitary council exploration to the Dunedin territorial authority area, rather than all of Otago, I could vote for it with complete enthusiasm."
Cr Robertson, from the regional council, doubted a sub-regional model — such as covering two territorial authority areas — would have sufficient scale to achieve desired efficiency.
Rivers did not stop at district boundaries and she believed regional council functions, primarily environmental resource management, were best delivered at a regional scale.
Cr Vandervis considered Dr Bidrose’s lack of action to progress the council’s 2017 resolution to be a scandal.
The investigation stalled after discussion in non-public meetings and this was followed by a contentious blocked public debate in 2019, failure by the council to comply with standing orders concerning a notice of motion and councillors voting a second time to rescind the 2017 resolution.
Dr Bidrose said her decision to deprioritise the investigation reflected staff workloads and the need to preserve improved relationships with the regional council, it was reported in 2019.
The push to rescind the resolution was led by Cr David Benson-Pope.
