‘And now’ cried Ray, ‘let the wild rumpus start’.
I think Maurice Sendak children’s author would have had a lot to say about the goings on at the Hamilton City Council.

Hullabaloo would be another word that comes to mind. Like most things in life, there is an endless team of experts lining up to tell you what the cornerstone fault is. Poor governance, bad management, over spending, unsustainable levels of debt are but a few words that are spoken.

We have former Mayors of the City pulling strings and giving helpful advice. We have splinter groups all pushing a particular bent. We have self-appointed Robin Hood Ray Stark, who unsuccessfully stood for public office in the past, using a man’s wealth to educate the poor masses about the wrong-doings of City Hall.

Interestingly, Stark’s web page ‘Concerned Citizen’ does not allocate much space to identifying what his ideal Council would look like. However, I do agree with him that some of the Councillors should go, but based on how they have voted, not for the final resolution. You see, in a democracy, the majority has the power and getting rid of all Councillors would only make sense if Council was an autocracy. Stark’s call for all of Council to be dismissed fails to recognise that Council is made up of individuals who voted individually on issues – his premise is autocratic not democratic.

Hamilton City is not broken; it has and will continue to grow. It is a great place to live, work and play. Have we got more work to do? Yes. It is going to be more about getting the balance right, than any ideological swing of the pendulum from a culture of unsustainable debt because of past over-spending, to a bleak and soulless City covered by the clouds of austerity.

I am the first to say, the ship was heading in the wrong direction. It was less about a particular spending project (although there were some dumb projects), and more about the mantra of former CEOs Marryatt and Redman to spend borrowed money rather than living within Council’s means. Elected members must also take responsibility as ultimately they enabled the Chief Executives’ modus operandi.

I must say at this point that not all debt is bad. Assets that have a long life should be funded over the life span of the asset by the rate payers it will benefit. But, in my opinion, this will clearly not include things like events.

Council has, however, this year come out with a plan to cut half a billion dollars from its capital expenditure over the next ten years, with a further fifteen million from its operational budget per year. Does it go far enough? Not for me. I would have liked to see a plan to reduce debt, not just cap it, but balancing the level of rates with what the community can live with in terms of facilities and services is a compromise.

Which Councillors should go? If you believe in a democracy, you must vote. And if you’re going to vote, you should be informed. Take the time to list the issues that are important to you and then ask each Councillor how they voted - judge them on that. To do otherwise means you are letting other people make decisions for you and that should have stopped when you finished reading children’s books.