However, last night both chairwoman Cr Gretchen Robertson and deputy chairman Cr Lloyd McCall pushed back.
The Otago Regional Council has been embroiled in a standoff with the government since late last year over the timing of its contentious land and water plan and the rewriting of the equally contentious national policy statement for freshwater management (NPSFM).
Environment Minister Penny Simmonds late last week formally extended the deadline for the council’s plan from June 30 to the end of 2027.
In a letter to Cr Robertson and Cr McCall, Ms Simmonds also advised the council if it continued on its path to notify its land and water plan ahead of the forthcoming changes to the NPSFM, she would require an "outline of the costs, benefits and implications" of doing so by May 1.
Cr Gary Kelliher, who lost a vote 8-4 last month to delay notification of the land and water plan, said an earlier meeting in Wellington between the council’s leadership and Ms Simmonds, Resource Management Act (RMA) Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay seemed only to make the council leadership more resolute about continuing work on the plan.
Now, Cr Kelliher questioned why the council would wait until a March 27 council meeting to address the latest correspondence from Ms Simmonds formally.
In the meantime, tomorrow, councillors were expected to sit through a seven-hour workshop discussing feedback on the plan from stakeholders.
"In my mind, now that means that majority [who have previously voted to continue] are rallying to carry on.
"I would desperately hope I’m going to be proved wrong in that, but at this stage I’ve lost faith and confidence in the chair and deputy chair, because of the way this is tracking," Cr Kelliher said.
"It really shows the level of disregard that certainly the majority of councillors have for the community.
"They don’t give a toss about the cries that are coming from the primary sector.
"They think all sectors across Otago need a massive king hit to fix this supposed degradation — and this is the only way to do it."
Cr Michael Laws also said yesterday the council seemed intent upon ignoring the minister.
"It appears a majority of Dunedin-based councillors — who don’t seem to understand the relationship between water and rural economic productivity — want to fly on regardless of Friday’s ministerial directive.
"ORC’s defiance isn’t a sane option.
"Mountains tend not to move.
"And this government is that mountain."
Cr Robertson said "it would be very poor form" not to consider the feedback stakeholders had provided.
And she said it was not up to individual councillors to consider the implications of changes of government direction on council work programmes.
"The black-and-white reality is that ORC has not made a decision on notification timing yet," Cr Robertson said.
"It did not vote to ‘plough on’, it will decide together on March 27.
"This is not about going rogue, being stubborn or going against government orders, quite the opposite in fact.
"Otago Regional Council has simply been meeting its legal obligations and doing its job."
Cr McCall said reviewing stakeholder feedback tomorrow showed the council respected the significant investment the community had put into the development of the plan.
The constructive feedback provided would be valuable "no matter when the plan is notified".
"All councillors commit to representing the environment for the benefit of all of Otago at the start of the triennium," Cr McCall said.
"This commitment does not distinguish boundaries or political affiliations.
"Personal situations and profile have a back seat to the wider benefit of all Otago.
"It is important we as a council continue to have robust discussions and work to find a position to move forward.
"That is democracy."
