By Justin Tuburan

The councillor trying to reverse the regions amalgamation proposal says he’s “quietly confident” he can convince his colleagues to agree.

Mercury Bay ward councillor Flemming Rasmussen is among four moving a motion at next Thursday’s council meeting to reverse a commitment to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hauraki and Matamata-Piako district councils to merge.

The MoU was signed in August with the proposal being submitted to the government by its August 9 deadline.

He says the goalpost has shifted now that the government has pushed its decision on proposals until after the election.

“The premise on which we passed the resolution on the 4th of August - which was a 7-4 vote to go into headstart - doesn’t exist any longer, and that’s why it’s time, it’s timely, it’s prudent to stop and take stock”

Councillors Alison Smith, Rob Ashman and Tony Brljevich are the other three who voted against the MoU in August, and also form the group of signatories on this motion.

The group will need to convince two of their colleagues in order to reverse council’s commitment to its amalgamation partners.

Rasmussen says “I’m quietly confident that common sense and the rational argument that things have changed will resonate with my colleagues around the table”.

He says the work done over the three month period to form a proposal “wasn’t enough, it was a rushed process” however he says that’s not a reflection on councillors but rather the government’s tight timeframe.

“We simply, in my opinion, didn't end up with a result, with an outcome, that was good enough to put forward because it would substantiate that our communities would be better off with a headstart proposal.”

On the possibility of exploring other options, Rasmussen says the previous eligibility rules council were working within for proposals don’t apply anymore.

“Everything is off the table [...] nobody knows who the government is going to be [and] what the government’s position is going to be”.

He says both a Labour and National-led government after November’s election would see a change in how local council’s proposals will be handled.

According to Rasmussen, this includes the possibility of the peninsula becoming a standalone unitary authority, although this would be considered ineligible under the government’s initial rules which required at least two councils to agree to merge to submit.

He says he’s not in favour of any particular proposal, but wants to see the discussion return, even if it ends up resulting in the same partners as decided in August.

He accepts that reopening discussions would cost ratepayers more money than already spent on the issue, but says “I look at it as an investment, I think it’s too important to get wrong”.

Thames-Coromandel District Council will vote on reversing the proposal at its next meeting on October 29.