Mr Kircher and Waitaki district councillors spent about six hours yesterday going through the remaining verbal and non-verbal submissions as part of the council’s consultation on the future of the 2.51ha of land overlooking Oamaru Harbour.
As they read through the hundreds of non-verbal submissions, they stopped several times to clear up misconceptions, call out "lies" and take a stand against some comments directed towards the council, including accusations of corruption and bribery.
Cr Kelli Williams said some of the comments were "offensive beyond belief", and she reminded the community that councillors were "only human", voted in by the public to make decisions in the best interests of the district.
Mr Kircher said sometimes councillors had to take name-calling "on the chin", but some of the "nasty, libellous submissions" were "probably going beyond the pale".
Cr Jim Hopkins believed some of the statements in submissions should be redacted, but chief executive Alex Parmley warned that the council would need to "tread carefully" if editing people’s submissions.
Mr Kircher also interrupted Annah Evington’s verbal submission, when she said she was "somewhat gobsmacked" the mayor told her Forrester Heights would sell for $1 million to $2 million.
Mr Kircher said he had never stated how much the land would sell for, instead he had tried to use examples "of numbers pulled out of the air" so people could think about what the council could use proceeds for.
Among others making their case to councillors in person yesterday was Sophia Leon de La Barra, who supported the status of Forrester Heights being changed back to a public reserve and implored councillors to adopt "seven-generation" thinking.
Facing a climate change crisis, trees were the "ultimate tool" for carbon sequestration and she suggested the council plant the land in natives and generate money through carbon credits.
Mr Kircher said councillors were not motivated by money, they just wanted the "right result".
The council was looking at other opportunities for earning carbon credits, he said.
George Kelcher was one of few people who made a verbal submission in support of a subdivision development, sections of which he said would be highly sought-after and sell for premium prices.
He urged the council to look to the future, rather than "trying to stay in the past".
Several submitters criticised the council’s consultation document for being confusing and biased towards selling.
Many suggested the issue should be a binding referendum at the October local body elections.
While there had been a lot of discussion about Forrester Heights over the years, this was the first formal consultation carried out by the council, Mr Kircher said.
It was an important process and he thanked all of the submitters for having their say.
Councillors will make a final decision on June 28 after they consider a report from council officers, which addresses the concerns raised.
