No-show in light of exclusion

West Coast regional councillor Allan Birchfield walked away from scheduled committee meetings yesterday rather than face exclusion from the confidential sections.

The Greymouth gold-miner, who was censured by his colleagues last year for allegedly revealing confidential information, has been repeatedly evicted from committee meetings chaired by Frank Dooley.

After a recent statement by Local Government New Zealand that elected members are entitled to attend all committee meetings, Cr Dooley has confirmed Cr Birchfield could attend but not participate.

"They’re saying I have to leave for the confidential bit and if I refuse they’ll call the police and have me evicted," Cr Birchfield said yesterday.

The argument came down to whether he had been "lawfully excluded" — the only exception allowed under the Local Government Act for barring an elected member from meetings, Cr Birchfield said.

"I’ve taken this to the Ombudsman. But I can’t see the point of sitting through meetings I can’t be part of and not getting all the information."

He had better things to do, he said.

"Gold’s at $4400 an ounce and I’m better off at work."

He had earlier been able to attend the first council meeting of the day, to award contracts for management of the council’s Okuru quarry in South Westland.

Council chairman Peter Haddock, whose son is a director of Greymouth-based MBD Contracting, left the meeting citing a conflict of interest.

 - By Lois Williams