Councillor Loses Chair Position Without Explanation From Nobby Clark

Wednesday, 26 June 2024, 8:18 pm
Article: Matthew Rosenberg - Local Democracy Reporter

Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark may be on leave, but that hasn’t stopped him ruffling feathers in his absence.

A committee restructure initiated by the mayor will soon push long-serving councillor Ian Pottinger out of a chair’s role — a position he’s held since 2019.

Pottinger was the only casualty of the reshuffle, and remains none-the-wiser why he’s been dropped.

“I’m a bit p.....d, in the fact that there wasn’t a review where you got interviewed,” he told Local Democracy Reporting.

Pottinger expressed concern at a council meeting on Tuesday afternoon where the decision was approved, requesting Clark’s adjustments sat on the table until he returned from a month off.

But deputy mayor Tom Campbell said the mayor was not required to deliver them.

Pottinger opted to not table a motion for its delay because he didn’t want to force the deputy mayor.

“He’s in charge, it was his call,” he said.

Last week, Pottinger made an early call for Clark’s resignation after the details of a code of conduct complaint went public alleging the mayor made inappropriate comments at a private event.

A seperate code of conduct matter brought against the mayor in April by Pottinger and councillor Ria Bond related to Clark’s appearance on New Zealand Today, and is ongoing.

Pottinger had previously withdrawn his candidacy for mayor in 2022 to throw his support behind Clark.

Asked last week if things were now frosty between the pair, he laughed.

"No comment. We’ve got different views on life.”

Pottinger said on Wednesday that regardless of different views, it was important the mayor did what was best for the city.

“And I believe with my experience and skill that I am the best chair, and honestly, next best chair if he really doesn’t want me would be Alex Crackett, because previous term she was deputy chair.

"To take the projects chair and make them the infrastructure chair doesn’t make sense.

“So those were sort of questions I wanted to run past Nobby, but he wasn’t there.”

Pottinger said Clark had emailed him yesterday to catch up next month and explain the decision making process, but it was too late.

Mayor Clark is currently on a paid month off after announcing on Monday he had come back too soon from open heart surgery in January.

He was approached for comment, but did not respond.

In a media release from the council on Wednesday, Mayor Clark thanked Pottinger for his time, commitment and input to the role.

The reshuffle sees Pottinger’s infrastructure committee link with projects, which would now be chaired by first-term councillor Grant Dermody.

Dermody’s previous finance and projects committee would be renamed finance and policy, and be chaired by councillor Lesley Soper.

The community wellbeing committee would be renamed the community wellbeing and regulatory committee, with councillor Darren Ludlow remaining as chair.

Independent consultant Ross Jackson had already been appointed chair of the council’s risk and assurance committee following the resignation of previous independent chair Bruce Robertson.

Mayor Clark said he made a promise when he became mayor to review committee structures, and Pottinger said councillors had been told about the proposed changes in advance this month.

The restructure is set to come into place July 1.

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