By Krystal Gibbens and Mary Argue of RNZ
Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau says there was no talk of government interference during her talk with the Local Government Minister.
Whanau earlier arrived at Parliament for a meeting with Simeon Brown as her council faces the threat of government intervention.
The council has to find a way to fill a huge budget hole of at least $400 million, after a decision last week not to sell its airport shares.
Following this morning's meeting Whanau said the conversation was polite and friendly and was mainly about her giving an update on the city council.
She said she would not legally challenge the government if it decided to appoint a Crown Observer.
"I don't believe we've met the threshold for an observer or commissioner. However, I understand the concerns that have occurred as a result of last week."
Whanau said there were no further meetings planned with Brown and hoped the rhetoric from other Ministers, who described the council as a "shambles" and "shemozzle", would not continue.
If a Crown Observer is appointed, she would accept Brown's decision.
"I will live with it, and I will work in good faith with him to move forward."
She said she understood that the government had concerns but the council was committed to running a successful Long-Term Plan.
She told media Brown did not express any concerns to her about the council.
"I acknowledge that the decision around Wellington Airport was a tough one for all of us."
The mayor said there had been a lot of attention on her council in recent days and reiterated her belief the council had not met the threshold of government intervention.
"There was certainly no decision on government intervention today."
The meeting was requested by Whanau in order to be "proactive" and update Brown on progress made by the council on its Long-Term Plan.
Councillor Tony Randle told reporters he was open to a Crown Observer being appointed to oversee the council, but a Commissioner would be "too far."
"The councillors are trying very hard to work together and we've got a new Long-Term Plan to pull together, but I don't think that we're going to do a terrible job."
Randle said it was Simeon Brown's decision. "He's trying to judge what's right for Wellington."
"We've tripped up a few times, and for that you get put on detention don't you."
But when the Prime Minister is making comments, that's a "shot across the bow."
"If we mess up one more time, it certainly will happen."
Council met on Wednesday
On Wednesday, councillors met behind closed doors to discuss how its Long-Term Plan (LTP) could be amended.
After councillors had previously called for government intervention and expressed a lack of faith in the mayor, most presented a more united front yesterday, telling the media they were confident they could find a way forward.
Ben McNulty said there had been an agreement around the table from councillors of what they now needed to look at.
"I would probably classify it as the most productive meeting we've had as city councillors in this triennium.
"I think there was a lack of ego in the room for once."
Most items would be on the table, but water funding was one of the big exceptions.
McNulty said a plan had not yet been formed, but an approach on a path going forward would be taken to Brown.
He maintained that any government intervention from there would be straight politics.
Iona Pannett said the council had not actually broken the law.
"I've been a councillor for a long time, we've had lots of big arguments, this is not the first or the last one," she said.
"We have not broken the law. There's actually no reason for intervention.
"We've made a call and now we're going to make another call."
Meanwhile, Ray Chung would rather have an election than government intervention. He has already put his name forward for the job.
He was not convinced having a Crown observer would solve the problem.
"What would it result in if this observer came and sat at the back of the room and sort of looked at how things went? What does that actually change?"
Whanau said yesterday's meeting had been "very productive".
She said the vote against selling airport shares meant the council was now moving forward to develop a LTP amendment that would address it insurance risk due to earthquakes and climate change disasters.
"A bottom line for me as we move forward is that we address this insurance challenge without increasing rates further. I also want to assure the public that, as we go through this process, I do not intend to cut projects that are critical for our city's growth and sustainability.
"For me, that means protecting our social housing, and continuing funding for water and key climate initiatives.
"We agreed that we must address our insurance risk. An important step towards this is to reduce our debt consistently over the course of the next 10 years so that we achieve $500 million of debt headroom in the case of a disaster. We will be working together to identify where these reductions will come from."
She said councillors had a "shared commitment" to "investigate the sale of ground leases and carbon credit holdings to form the basis of a fund (or other insurance mechanism) that can offer both returns and form of self-insurance to council and would grow over time".
Whanau said the previous proposal to create a self-insurance fund was widely supported by councillors, even if the sale of airport shares was not.
"None of the decisions ahead of us are easy, but a majority of councillors and pouiwi support this approach and are committed to doing what is right for our city."
