Colin Smith’s days in the top job at Oreti Community Board appear numbered after four of the seven members penned a letter to Southland District Council requesting a special meeting for his removal.
At 5.45pm on August 19, his fate will be decided at Winton Memorial Hall’s supper room. But it already looks sealed given the four members form a majority.
Speaking to Local Democracy Reporting, Mr Smith said he was in his second term on the board and had sought re-election only after seeing the nominations that were coming through last election.
He was "not that happy" about the move to oust him.
"I’m not sure if they’ve got the community interest at heart. There are other agendas going on, and that’s as much as I’ll say."
Most recently, there had been a six-month saga about CCTV upgrades in the town.
Five members voted against the $40,000 project, despite a community survey showing strong support for it to go ahead.
Those members were Dave Diack, Chris Herud, Katie Allan, Tracy Kennedy and Karen Maw, whose sudden recent resignation has sparked a by-election.
Mr Smith is expected to have the support of deputy chairman Philip Dobson and councillor Darren Frazer at next week’s meeting.
Cr Frazer said he was "really disappointed" by the move to oust Mr Smith, but not surprised it was happening.
There had been division in the board for some time, he said, and the group was pushing its own views instead of listening to what the community wanted.
"It’s just divisive, and distracting from the task at hand, and it’s costing time and energy."
Southland District Council chief executive Cameron McIntosh confirmed removal of a chairman was possible with a minimum of four votes, given the recent departure of Ms Maw.
The resolution would be achieved if a majority of the total membership of the community board (excluding vacancies) voted in favour of it.
According to the letter written by the four members, a new chairman would be elected at the meeting if a majority of the board resolved to do so.
Chris Herud was the only letter writer who could be reached for comment, but did not wish to speak to media.
— Matthew Rosenberg, Local Democracy Reporter
— LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
