But Mr Scott has hit back, saying he is waiting on information too and would like Mr McPhail to pick up his phone.
The regional council fronted media on Friday over its new reform model which showed Southland District Council’s preference for two authorities was the least cost-effective.
That discovery prompted Mr Scott to challenge the numbers earlier this week and question their ‘‘premature’’ release before his team could assess them.
Environment Southland management said on Friday the council had been transparent with the mayoral forum and involved chief financial officers from different councils ahead of the information being released.
Mr McPhail said he ‘‘asked and asked’’ Mr Scott for spreadsheets of the district council numbers.
Mr Scott said an in-principle agreement had been made at June’s mayoral forum that councils would agree on the model’s underlying assumptions before it was released to the public.
District council staff received the information on Tuesday but did not have time to test it.
Mr Scott said he had been asked once about passing on his spreadsheet, but preferred to look at it in person and was waiting to hear back about a time when he could meet Mr McPhail — who he was also waiting on information from.
Mr Scott said he tried to call Mr McPhail after Environment Southland put out its release.
‘‘I follow old school values of doing things face to face and I’ve tried to touch base with him to find out why they’ve done what they’ve done, but yeah, he hasn’t taken my calls yet.’’
Southland is made up of four councils — Southland District Council, Invercargill City Council, Gore District Council and Environment Southland.
Mr Scott has been a proponent of halving that number to one urban and one rural authority.
He lodged a proposal with the local government commission, which was being investigated in parallel with the government’s Head Start process.
Results from the Environment Southland model showed a two-council option would cost a total $15.1 million until 2034 but would save $2.2m every year afterwards.
Conversely, Invercargill City Council’s preference for a single authority would save a total $23m before 2034 and result in annual savings of $9.8m afterwards.
Environment Southland drew on published information from other councils for its model such as long-term plans and annual reports.
• LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
