"Ugly truth or pretty lies...you decide.



Cr. Chris Teo-Sherrell. 



It is said, “That the ugliest truth is still better than the prettiest of lies”

 “Twenty-one thousand dollars for photo-copying”, that is simply hum-bug! Chris Teo-Sherrell has a duty and a right to demand information regarding breaches of the discharge agreement between the PNCC of which he is a councillor and Horizons. To suggest that the cost is twenty one thousand dollars is simply an expensive blunt exercise in shutting down a very damaging episode in our council history.

This kind of heavy handed behaviour was expected from our last dictatorial CEO [Paul Wylie] but in this day and age surely his replacement CEO can to better than follow in Wylie’s shadowy footsteps. At 3 to 5 cents a page it would take hundreds of thousands of pages to equal 21 thousand dollars. Surely the council is not including staff costs, since we pay them regardless. No let’s cut the crap and release the information. Or should some one organise a protest outside the council chamber…pitch a tent or two maybe. It would be interesting to find out which councillors support Chris in his desire to seek the truth and which councillors prefer to hide behind the CEO…I don’t suppose we’ll ever find out for that would mean that some councillors would have to open their mouths…and gosh that would be unusual.

Prosecutions Advisory Committee...yeah right!

No darling you must not swim in that river...the waters not nice

While we hear nothing but rugby real problems confront us all, students at our universities have been compulsory ordered to become voluntary, illegal cameras have become legal as we continue to increase the covert powers of police and the SIS. Credit rating companies push our credit worthiness downward which increases interest rates. Here in Palmerston North our local council appears to receive special treatment from Horizons over its poor operation of its waste operations. This from a couple of concerned citizens:

·         “We now have a similar situation with Horizons Regional Council which has increased their Committees to include a Prosecutions Advisory Committee (PAC) composed of a few select Crs. (unnamed to the public) and staff. 

·         We can accept that staff needs to discuss what action to take but why are Crs. involved?  Many of them are qualified RMA Commissioners and have the potential to adjudicate on applications for resource consents.  It is unacceptable that they can further have the opportunity to tinker with the implementation of conditions that they may have set to protect the environment. 

·         PAC meets behind closed doors, produces no Minutes and offers no invitation to those they choose to prosecute to state their case for mitigation, so how is it that the Palmerston North City Council has never been prosecuted for significant non-compliance? Do they have representation behind the closed doors? If this PAC was a flock of rooks they would be instantly eliminated”. Quote ends.

After noting the statements above we must naturally ask why this PAC committee exists, is it to protect the farmers on that committee or is to protect the ex-city councillors or ex-mayors that make up Horizons councillors.

Horizons PNCC PR Grap

Past Councillor and PN Mayoral candidate Michael Feyen has sent this to the Manawatu Standard and I agree with every word. This is simply proof of the public relations grap pumped out by those who preach honesty but fail to live up to their claims. When found out they simply move into 'Blame mode'...here is what Michael wrote... 

Hello Editor,

PNCC are rightly being blamed for high levels of river pollution by Horizons.  This outcome has occurred as the direct result of continual pressure on Horizons by many determined people and groups to better look after our waterways. As every sewer rat will do when cornered, Horizons have turned on whom ever else they can to put the blame onto. Make no mistake, Horizons are at fault as they have overall responsibility for guardianship of our waterways. PNCC Management also has a case to answer. I absolutely agree with Councilor Teo Sherrell's assertion that PNCC councilors (past councilor in my case) were misled or at best mis-guided by PNCC Management during the numerous times we tried to question them in relation to the various discharges into the river.  For Council Management to claim ignorance of consent breaches is plainly untrue. If we knew and they were doing their job, they must have known.  Mayor Naylor constantly stymied management being questioned on these matters and my guess is will now claim to be in shock that he had no knowledge of the city's effect on our river. All this from the leaders of our River Accord. Baloney. 

Regards

Michael Feyen