Crunch time for city council | Canterbury News | Local News in Canterbury

Today is D-day for the embattled and divided Christchurch City Council.

Outspoken elected councillors and under-fire Mayor Bob Parker will meet with Local Government Minister Nick Smith today for crunch talks to save the shaken local body from imploding and being replaced by emergency commissioners.

At a time when the quake-battered city demands leadership, the city council has dissolved into total disarray.

The highly-anticipated meeting - one of the most extraordinary in the city's history - will kick off at 2.30pm in the Mayor's Lounge at the Civic Offices and will likely be an explosive affair.

Half of the councillors, including Mayor Parker, want the in-fighting and differences to be buried, and to start with a clean slate looking forward to the seismic year ahead of the city.

But the other councillors are baying for blood.

Some have even demanded council chief executive Tony Marryatt resigns and be replaced by a Government-appointed commissioner.

They are outraged by the lack of transparency and internal communication.

Councillor Yani Johanson told The Star last night that he has lodged a formal request for an urgent extraordinary council meeting to raise concerns, which he says is "destroying" the council.

He has won the backing of six councillors to have the extraordinary council meeting heard on Monday.

Ahead of today's meeting with the local government minister, Mr Johanson said: "I'm going in to the meeting with an open mind, but fundamentally there is a number of things that have to change."

The fall out was sparked in December after it was revealed councillors had voted to give Mr Marryatt a 14.4 per cent pay rise, bringing his annual salary above $500,000.

Mr Marryatt immediately came under intense criticism for accepting the $68,129 annual pay increase, especially with many Cantabrians struggling after losing their homes or jobs after the quakes.

But Mr Marryatt defended his meteoric remuneration, claiming it "appropriate" remuneration for his level of performance and matched the market rate for chief executives across the country.

Furious residents have set up campaign groups to protest against the pay rise, with one group, 'No Pay Rise for Tony Marryatt', organising a protest at the council's Hereford St offices next Wednesday.

And he was further embroiled in controversy this month after a decision to move a local call centre to the North Island.

To make matters worse for the bungling council, in a joint release from Mr Parker and Mr Marryatt last Friday, they admitted criticism of their performance had been "justified" - and in the same breath revealed an $80,000 review of its communication with the public - all done without the consultation of councillors.

The move outraged council communications committee chairman, Mr Johanson who was only told of the move 20 minutes before it was released.

The councillor said: "I'm very angry about it, and it's symbolic of the way the CEO and the mayor have been operating.

"That is why I've put a request in for an emergency council meeting on Monday, which has been signed by six councillors, so that formal resolutions can be put in place."

Mr Johanson's outspoken views have won support from fellow councillor Tim Carter, who has gone a step further by calling for Mr Marryatt to be sacked and replaced by a Government-appointed commissioner.

Mr Carter last night refused to be drawn on what the meeting might hold, but was looking forward to airing his concerns with Minister Smith.

He said: "I'm very concerned about the leadership of the city and I'm concerned for the people of Christchurch because we need strong leadership at this time."

The "informal talks" chaired by Dr Smith are expected to last for several hours as the various parties vent their views.

Mr Marryatt will not be in attendance, confirmed Parker, but said the chief executive would be "on call" and brought in "if it's felt that people would like him there."

The mayor hopes councillors could put aside "personal enmity" and behaviour that "puts at risk the democratically elected council" to find a way of operating without outside interference.

He said: "There are some individuals who have broken the conventions and rules around how a council can work together in a way that has undermined the trust of the organisation and fellow councillors.

"It has been gnawing away even since we began the chief executive's recruitment process.

"All this talk of commissioners, throwing the council out and have elections - all that stuff is just going to waste a huge amount of time - even if the government agreed to it, which they are not going to. They want us to do what we are jolly-well paid to do."

Councillor Sue Wells has also been outspoken in this giant week in local politics.

She shocked her colleagues by going a step further than fellow councillor Mr Carter by saying that all councillors should be replace by a city-wide commission because the governing body was "tearing itself apart."

Last night, she was worried that today's meeting would not resolve any issues, pointing the finger at fellow councillors who she said had been "undermining" the council since the start of this latest term.

Ms. Wells said: "When you spend lots of time trying to undermine council decisions, that's not exercising collective responsibility. We all own the decisions we make together.

"In the year ahead, we're going to have to make decisions that I can guarantee will be unpopular, controversial and divisive. We have to make decisions ton what to do with AMI Stadium, the Town Hall, the Convention Centre, swimming pools.

"If we can work constructively together, without descending in name calling, abuse, and attacks, then this city will come to a grinding halt."

Labour MP Lianne Dalziel won't be at the meeting today but called for the council to resolve its internal difficulties "for the sake of the city they were elected to represent."

She said: "Christchurch people want transparency and accountability from the council."

However, she believed that any suggestions the council be replaced by commissioners should be "strongly resisted."

"There is already a democratic deficit in our regional council, and such a move at city level would be disastrous and hold back our recovery even further," Ms. Dalziel said.

"That is not to say that change is not required. Councillors need to be fully engaged in the governance of the city and it is vital that there are much more open processes... they need to re-think the way they operate and interact with the communities they serve."

Ms. Dalziel was also critical of Marryatt, saying that a "significant" part of Marryatt's problems stemmed from a the "poor relationships he has with the wider community, especially the business community," she claimed.