The council this week considered a report by chairman Stephen Woodhead which recommended the council withdraw from Otago Forward, the membership of which was mayors and chief executives from Otago's local bodies, but maintain the brand for appropriate regional initiatives.
Otago's mayors had decided earlier this year that the responsibilities of Otago Forward should be taken on by a Mayoral Forum.
"After an initial surge of activity, Otago Forward struggled to find any truly regional projects and lost the connection with council chief executives," Mr Woodhead said.
The forum met in May to discuss local government's role in economic development and suggested that each Otago council resolve to disband the joint committee and delegate the residual roles of Otago Forward to the Dunedin City Council and Otago Chamber of Commerce.
The suggestion by the forum that the brand "Otago Forward" be kept was not welcomed by some Otago regional councillors and the council voted not to retain it.
Cr David Shepherd said Otago Forward was a "failed" brand and continuing a failed brand was not a good idea if the region wanted to market something down the track. Instead, it should look for a new brand.
Cr Scott said there was a danger the problems of Otago Forward could be carried on.
Mr Woodhead said there was no chance of that, as the Mayoral Forum was a new organisation.
It had already acknowledged that each council had economic development, business and social support going on within their district but a "high level" statement had been developed for each council to discuss in workshops, he said.
Economic development was "important work at a local level, but does not need a regional organisation continuing to facilitate it" and could be effectively managed as part of the forum's quarterly meetings, he said.
