Waitaki residents had the opportunity to ask their elected officials the tough questions face to face on Wednesday night, after a newly formed Waitaki Ratepayers and Residents Association invited Waitaki district councillors to attend a public meeting to address a number of topics that had become burning issues.
A selection of Waitaki district councillors and chief executive Alex Parmley accepted the invitation and faced a range of topics such as the Government’s Affordable Waters Reform, the use of debt by the council and the future of the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony.
Both the self appointed "association" and those present took the opportunity to submit their own questions to the panel of councillors, which included Mayor Gary Kircher and deputy mayor Hana Halalele.
Waitaki Ratepayers and Residents Association chairman Ray Henderson said the meeting was a great opportunity for the council to clarify a few things with members of the public.
"Marked out of 10 I’d probably go as high as an eight. Not a 10 out of 10 — things can be done better."
Mr Kircher agreed with this.
"I spoke to a number of people afterwards who felt they understood the issues better, and had a better appreciation of the challenges that council [is] working through."
One of the big issues that was discussed was the council not live-streaming all of its workshops.
The council conducted 68 workshops last year and the ratepayers association wanted more transparency around what happened during those workshops.
Mr Kircher said this was one of the few issues that could see an immediate change from council.
"Most of the issues are part of ongoing processes and those processes have to run their course, but there are some topics such as public access to workshops and training sessions that we will look at more immediately."
Mr Henderson said the public meetings were a great way for everyone to stay informed, as many did not have the time to read through council documents.
"It gets people more engaged. There aren’t really heaps of people that will go through heaps and heaps of reports and documents. Having the public meeting does kick people into action."
There was a possibility of these types of meetings becoming a regular occurrence, he said.
Mr Kircher said councillors were not opposed to returning for future events.
"A forum like last night’s meeting is better in many ways than a discussion on social media. I’m sure I speak for our councillors when I say that we will be very happy to attend such meetings again in the future."
