The Dunedin City Council should keep its hands off community boards and focus on its own problems instead, the Otago Peninsula Community Board's chairwoman says.
The blunt message came from Christine Garey on the second day of the council's representation review public hearing yesterday.
Ms Garey, representing the last of the city's six boards to make a submission, urged councillors not to tamper with a system of local representation that was working well.
The clear message she was getting from the community was ''it may be worthwhile getting your own house in order in other areas, with great respect, than tampering with something that is working so well,'' she said.
The board supported boundary changes that would bring Quarantine Island inside its territory, and hoped a desire by sections of the Tomahawk community to join it could also be accommodated.
However, a proposal to reducing the number of board members from six to four would be ''unworkable'', she said.
A larger board brought in more experience, skills, geographic knowledge and a better gender mix, which ''works incredibly well for us'', she said.
It also meant any resident with a concern always had someone they felt they could approach, and allowed the board's workload to be spread around.
Ms Garey also objected to the ''very clear signal'' from the review panel that boards could face abolition at the time of the next review in six years' time.
Boards provided a conduit between the council and the community, helping with smaller projects and resolving concerns before they grew, she believed.
The community felt they had a voice through their board, unlike through the council, ''so we must be doing something right'', she said.
Those she had spoken to were ''dismayed'' by the proposed changes to boards, and Ms Garey said she would like to see more boards - not fewer.
''The community has spoken. It remains to be seen if the council is listening.''
Other speakers yesterday included members of the public and community groups, most of whom spoke in defence of their boards.
That included Port Chalmers Yacht Club board member Graeme Wall, who praised the ''special relationship'' between the club, the board and the rest of the West Harbour community.
That relationship was something the council should be ''very proud of'', as it allowed smaller issues - such as rubbish bins - to be addressed quickly and effectively, reducing the council's workload, he said.
Residents were also able to raise concerns with board members during chance encounters on the petrol station forecourt, in the supermarket or over a beer at a Port Chalmers pub on a Friday night, Mr Wall said.
''No disrespect, but I don't expect to be bumping shoulders with you in a pub on a Friday night,'' Mr Wall told Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull.
Mr Wall said the club opposed any reduction in board numbers, and boundary changes that would remove Ravensbourne, and between Blanket Bay and St Leonards, from the board's territory.
''They are West Harbour ...
it's all the same. It's all one community.''
Graeme Burns, of the Te Rauone Beach Coast Care Committee, praised the role of boards' vocal support for their communities, and warned a reduced number of board members would be ''unworkable''.
So, too, did Maia resident Lucy Gray, who said a reduction would turn boards into ''an elite group'' and would be ''an attack on democracy''.
''It will only serve, if this goes ahead, to quieten the voices of those that want to be heard.''
Among those to support plans to remove the council's two outlying wards - in a change to an ''at large'' voting system for council candidates - was Lyndon Weggery.
He said the change would allow him to ''quiz'' all council candidates, and have a say on the makeup of the entire council, rather than just those candidates who stood in his ward.
''That would be a very, very good move.''
The time had also come to get rid of community boards covering urban areas, while retaining those with a ''rural dimension'', at least for now, he said.
The hearing concluded yesterday, but councillors will meet again next week to deliberate, beginning on Wednesday.
