'More militant' call prompts Adie walk-out

Syd Adie says calls for the Dunedin Ratepayers and Householders Association to become "more militant" were a personal attack on his leadership style after 20 years' involvement in the organisation.

Mr Adie said yesterday it was the call - by Stop the Stadium member Peter Attwooll - that prompted him to walk out part-way through the association's public meeting on Monday night.

The meeting was to decide the association's future, and Mr Adie attended as a member despite resigning as chairman in May.

Mr Attwooll, the husband of former STS president Bev Butler, also attended, and told the meeting the association was "too polite" and "would have to get more stroppy and more militant", Mr Adie said.

Mr Attwooll is not a member of the association.

Mr Adie said he left the meeting because he did not want to "have a personal slanging match" with Mr Attwooll in front of new members.

"I just thought it was a personal attack on me for not being stroppy enough and not being militant enough," Mr Adie said.

He rejected that approach, preferring to treat Dunedin city councillors with respect while arguing against the increasing burden on ratepayers.

Mr Adie said he had previously had good relations with Stop the Stadium, despite the two groups' differences, and was "quite surprised" by the comments.

"I don't think you achieve anything by being militant - there are other methods."

However, Mr Attwooll said he had "enormous respect" for Mr Adie, the incident had been a misunderstanding and he had followed Mr Adie from the meeting to try to explain his comments.

"The last thing I would want is for him to take offence," Mr Attwooll said.

His comments reflected Stop the Stadium's frustration with the association's lack of success in engaging with the council's formal submissions process, but were also meant to be general advice for any future organisation.

"I was just talking in generalities."

Mr Attwooll said he had mentioned the need to be more "stroppy", but did not think he had used the word "militant".

However, he acknowledged "it would have been read that way".

The association's new chairman, Lyndon Weggery, also believed Mr Attwooll's comments were not meant as a personal attack, saying the incident was "a storm in a teacup".

Any decision to change the association's tactics would be made by the committee, but no promises had been made, he said.

"Sometimes, you may find [members] will be a bit more militant. Other times, they might just be adopting a slightly different tack. We certainly don't want to be engaging in all-out war with the council."

- chris.morris@odt.co.nz [1]