Did he stumble out of his warm, dry cave by himself, or was he encouraged to emerge from his long slumber by those upset by my outspokenness, that's what I wondered as I fielded ex-chairman Collie's terse accusations of bias, at the yesterday's 'listen to the public' meeting in Invercargill. Collie was like a bear with a sore head, and his grumbling was caused by my calling a meeting where, shock, horror, the public was able to say what they thought, without restriction, to a councillor who was willing to listen and note their concerns. Collie thought this most improper and said so. He probably wasn't expecting the stropping that followed! Several members of the crowd that turned out for the meeting vigorously chastised the ex-chairman for his churlish views and stated their strong support for the opportunity the meeting provided for them to have their say. Collie vainly tried to maintain his objections, until Labour's Leslie Soper delivered the coup de grace with some well chosen facts and definitive phrases that ended Collies diatribe on predetermination and made my heart swell with pride! There was applause all round at her words. To Collies' credit, he stayed for the rest of the meeting and got to hear, as I did, what people thought about Solid Energy's lignite mining plans, along with other associated issues. The crowd was a well informed one and covered some very important concerns, all of which I will take to the council I sit on, for their information. I learned a great deal from those people and was hugely grateful for their opinions and their support. The Southland Times reporter, naturally, chose to focus on the conflict, as reporters are bound to do, and I've copy/pasted that story below. Thank you, by the way, very much to all those who came to the meeting. I was very encouraged by what I heard and by the calibre of thought that I heard being expressed.
Environment Southland councillor Robert Guyton has been accused of having a conflict of interest after he held his own public meeting to discuss lignite mining yesterday.
Former council chairman Stuart Collie, who was at the meeting, asked if it was appropriate if Mr Guyton sat on the council's resource consent committee.
Mr Guyton's opinion on mining was "predetermined" and that meant sitting on the resource consents committee was a conflict of interest, Mr Collie said.
"As a councillor you've got some very well-known point-of-views ... from a consent committee point-of-view I don't know how you can operate in that role," Mr Collie said.
Mr Guyton earlier this week announced he would hold the meeting to gauge public opinion, instead of attending a council resource consents committee hearing for Solid Energy, which plans to build a $25 million briquetting plant in the Mataura Valley.
Mr Guyton said he had been careful about commenting on mining, and had stepped aside from sitting on yesterday's actual hearing so he could not be accused of having a conflict of interest.
He had also invited people with all viewpoints to attend, he said.
About 30 people turned up at his meeting yesterday afternoon, and the majority appeared to hold their own concerns about the sustainability and potential negative impacts further mining could bring to the area.
Others attending the meeting threw their weight behind Mr Guyton, with many arguing councillors were elected because of the viewpoints they represented.
Otatara woman Sherry Elton said she was grateful Mr Guyton voiced his opinions. "Robert's views have been Robert's views since he was a kid. I'm pleased there's somebody in there willing to listen to me."
After the meeting, Environment Southland chief executive Ciaran Keogh said he was disappointed to hear Mr Collie had publicly criticised Mr Guyton.
"I think it's inappropriate for him to be saying those sorts of things about one of our councillors," he said. Many councillors had their own opinions, but all had a duty to remain impartial when making decisions.
He declined to comment on whether individual meetings could impact on Mr Guyton's role on the committee.
alana.dixon@stl.co.nz
* As I expected, the council granted the consent applications from Solid Energy at a meeting held at the same time. "The committee unanimously approved the application for a consent period of 20 years etc..."
