Ōtorohanga District Council led the way last week as the first of five councils to decide to hand its drinking and waste water over to a council-controlled water authority.
Ōtorohanga councillors voted to join stage one of the Waikato Water Done Well organisation last Tuesday, moments after Taupō District Council had made the decision to keep its water services in house after 74 per cent of the 220 submissions it received favoured that option.
Hauraki, Matamata-Piako, South Waikato and Waitomo district councils followed Ōtorohanga’s lead before Waitomo confirmed its decision at Monday’s council meeting.
Waipā District Council will confirm whether it’s joining Waikato Water Done Well when it adopts its Annual Plan later in the month.
Despite months of discussion and public consultation, Ōtorohanga’s decision was far from a done deal. Three councillors voted against the decision after hearing the district would hold a four per cent stake in the organisation based on the number of water connections.
“I would like to have seen a dollar figure about how much that four per cent is,” said Ōtorohanga ward councillor Katrina Christison.
“We have been given lots of competitive information on Waikato Water Done Well. There’s too much uncertainty for me.”
Fellow Ōtorohanga ward councillor Steve Hughes said he had been leaning “more” towards the status quo… “people don’t really understand it”.
Kio Kio-Korakonui Ward councillor Rodney Dow said joining Waikato Water Done Well would cost the council $600,000 and keeping water services in house would give staff a chance to learn a lot of skills.
Council engineering and assets group manager Mark Lewis said the analysis indicated that joining Waikato Water Done Well would deliver advantages to the council including greater resilience with better borrowing capacity for unexpected events such as plant failures, civil defence and other emergencies.
In Waitomo, deputy mayor Allan Goddard’s motion to join was seconded by councillor Eady Manawaiti. “This is the biggest decision this council has had to make,” Goddard said. “We need to look forward to what will benefit our ratepayers.
“The reason I support this is based on the principles of kaitiakitanga, it’s about looking after that river,” Manawaiti said.
Waipā District Council has approved the draft constitution and shareholders agreement for the Waikato Water Done Well council-controlled organisation.
But Pirongia councillor Clare St Pierre is unhappy with the level of detail.
“I’m a bit disappointed we haven’t had enough time to understand that in more detail. It’s the urgency. Central Government are cracking the whip on this to get us to a certain point by a date.”
