Mrs Jayne, speaking during the public forum before yesterday's council meeting, said ''virtually every fact and every decision'' concerning harbour land had been made in a public-excluded session.
''As best I can determine from agendas and minutes, virtually every fact and every decision concerning these dispositions of public land is kept secret - as public excluded items - under the excuse that secrecy is necessary to enable the council to carry out commercial negotiations without prejudice or disadvantage,'' she said.
Referring to yesterday's agenda item 25 - recommendations from an October 9 public-excluded harbour area committee meeting - she said: ''Blanket secrecy is not helpful to the public. You have no idea looking through the minutes what this even relates to.''
The Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act was not intended to promote secrecy but to ''mandate openness'', she said.
Mrs Jayne asked for the identity of the leaseholder whose lease extension was to be considered and the recommended action of the agenda item.
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said the council adhered to ''very stringent rules''. To be more transparent in cases where the council was asking its chief executive to carry out lease negotiations would be akin to asking him to play poker with an opponent who could see his cards.
''We want to make sure we have wins on behalf of the ratepayer,'' he said.
However, later in the day, the council dealt with the matter in public.
McKeown Group, which had been due to relinquish a portion of land it occupied in what was previously marketed as ''site 1'' for one of two harbour accommodation sites, asked for two 12-month lease extensions, which were granted.
In July, the council confirmed it had sold the second site - on Waterfront Rd and Tyne St - for the construction of 20 to 24 ocean-facing studio, hotel-style units.
And when the concept of a multimillion-dollar floating luxury hotel for the harbour was presented by the community-owned Oamaru Licensing Trust, the council confirmed it had decided to put development of site 1 on hold. The creation of site 1 would require McKeown Group to shift.
Recent proposals in the harbour, including a zipline, have proved controversial.
Friends of Oamaru Harbour is a recently established interest group.
Public engagement on Oamaru's harbour and heritage quarter masterplan is now under way.
After yesterday's meeting, Mr Kircher said the council had a legal obligation to its tenants regarding privacy of information, but had sought and received permission from McKeown Group to release the information.
