Rex McIntyre has stepped down as Chair of the Regional Council, also resigning his Council seat. A new Chair will be elected Tuesday, February 3rd, by the remaining eight Councillors, and a by-election will be held in April to fill his Wairoa seat.
Rex has served his constituency and the broader community devotedly for decades.
But, as judged by six of his eight colleagues, with a seventh publicly critical, he was not right for the job of leading the Regional Council.
Councillor Allan Dick lost the 5-4 vote that elected Rex to his post at the beginning of the term. So we expect he is likely to be elected the new Chair.
Whoever the next Chair is, one should expect that such a leadership change, not made lightly, will indeed produce noticeable change in both the style and thrust of HBRC decision-making. Otherwise, why bother?
It won’t take long to see whether the Regional Council actually gets a fresh start, or reverts to business as usual … which , lately, has included performance a tad underwhelming on issues like the status of woodburners and the condition of the Mohaka River.
Hopefully everyone at the Regional Council — elected members and staff alike — will take this action as a bit of a wake-up call.
We’ll get back to you on this!
Tom Belford
[Edited by BayBuzz]
I have a severe water shortage problem on my farm caused by the Hawkes Bay Rgional Council and its predecessor The Hawkes Bay Catchment Board.
My once permanently flowing stream, which was once abundant in fishlife, is now dry for up to 10 months of the year caused by over drainage.
I have made many representations for the regional council to rectify this and they have shown no interest and are positively nasty. [xxx] being the last person I spoke to on the matter. Frankly he could not care a damn; nor do any of the other personnel I have spoken to!
[Appropriate staff] refuse to come visit me to observe the damage council has inflicted upon me and the environment.
I currently have no solution to this council except all the council apart from Neil Kirton should be fired and a new group of paper pushers installed. Or better still the council legislated out of existence.
To me as a farmer and a person who cares about the environment and the future prospects of Hawks Bay and New Zealand, the Regional Council are undoubtedly a bunch of ratepayer funded environmental vandals who at present have a free hand to destroy our environment at their whim; frankly they are a disaster for Hawkes Bay Farmers and Citizens.
[Edited by BayBuzz]
I am pursuing compensation and rectification to my loss of water and facilities!
I took the Council to the small claims Tribunal to get compensation for the Councils destruction of my well.
Thje council [represented] to the Tribunal that the well did not exist even though it was once my sole source of water and is listed on their own charts!
It is such a shame that an elected public figure placed himself in such a situation, it is unfortunate that Mr McIntyre had to make the decision he had. However, given his track record as the recently departed Chairman,it is appropriate and thankfully a relief to the greater Hawkes Bay community.
But let us remind ourselves, it wasn't the people of Hawkes Bay who elected him but the small grouping of Hawkes Bay Regional Councillors, therefore reflecting on their collective lack of judgement.
Let's hope that their next choice is better.