Gore envoy no-show at waste meet

A meeting to discuss the current WasteNet contract with Southland Disability Enterprises (SDE) could not go ahead at the Invercargill City Council yesterday as the Gore delegation was a no-show.

WasteNet Advisory Group (WAG) committee member and Invercargill City Cr Nobby Clark said after the WAG committee meeting yesterday, an apology had been received from Gore District Cr Nicky Davis. Cr Cliff Bolger, also of Gore, put in no apology and was not contactable.

"He didn’t front up and they couldn’t find them," Mr Clark said.

The committee then discussed whether the meeting, which was public excluded, could proceed as they needed one person from each council to give fair representation.

The committee decided it could not, and it was decided the item would be placed on the agenda of the next full WAG meeting next Thursday.

WasteNet is a joint venture between the Invercargill City Council, Gore District Council and Southland District Council.

Tensions between the three councils were highlighted last year when the Invercargill City Council overturned the decision of the Southland and Gore District Councils to vote in Smart Environmental as the preferred tenderer for recycling in the southern region.

It was decided to extend the SDE contract until June 30 this year.

Cr Nobby Clark said yesterday he expected next week’s meeting to be an interesting one.

It was anticipated each council was required to "show their hand" next week with regards to how it wanted to proceed with recycling for its respective area, Mr Clark said.

"I’ve heard it on the grapevine that Gore’s not going to play party. I’m just hearing a whisper that they’re going to throw everything into the landfill which includes plastics and I don’t think the Minister for the Environment will be too happy with that."

Mr Bolger did not return phone calls yesterday.

Add a Comment

 

Advertisement