Media Release: Waikato District Council, 9 November 2015
Waikato District Council has voted in favour of re-establishing a Governance Group to continue discussions around a Council Controlled Organisation which would manage the district’s water in future.
At today’s Waikato District Council meeting, His Worship the Mayor, Allan Sanson, and Councillors Clint Baddeley and Janet Gibb were appointed as representatives to the Governance Group. Council also committed a further $87,500 to the project.
Hamilton City and Waipa District Council have already voted in favour of re-establishing the Governance Group and have also committed $175,000 and $87,500 (respectively).
The governance group is not a decision-making body. It will work through a variety of issues to reach agreement and establish the essential elements that determine how a ratepayer-owned Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) would function if established to manage waters operations across three councils.
A CCO could not be established before extensive consultation with the public which is unlikely to occur before 2017.
More information about the project to consider a waters CCO can be found at www.waterstudywaikato.org.nz
No mention here of the witch-hunt going on on council to keep councillors silent and in line. A pity our councillor has gone along with it. Good that Waikato Times has been covering this news -http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/73880636/council-row-spills-over-to-waikato-water-group and http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/73852994/waikato-mayor-allan-sanson-swears-to-roll-chair.