Gore-Invercargill mayors 'fine', despite email 'warning shot'
“Those who target me in the media as ‘screwing over the South’ you do so at your peril."
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The Invercargill and Gore mayors say their working relationship is just fine despite one “firing a warning shot” at the other telling him to target him at “your peril”.
Last month Gore Mayor Ben Bell was quoted by Stuff in an article about the Three Waters situation saying; “If Invercargill City Council decides to go alone, it will screw over the rest of the lower South Island - Otago/Southland.”
Days later Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark sent an email to various Southland Mayors and CEOs about the Three Waters and other matters, and he addressed Bell’s comment.
“Those who target me in the media as ‘screwing over the South’ you do so at your peril.
“With all the issues in Gore, I've respected they are for Gore to resolve and not for me to comment,” Clark wrote in the September 11 email, which has been obtained by The Tribune through an official information request.
Speaking to The Tribune about that email Clark said he did not have anything personal against Bell.
“I was just giving him a warning shot because that email also went out to all of the mayors and chief executives in the Otago-Southland zones, so they all knew upfront.
“I’ve had no kick-back from any of that. People have just said; Nobby is being transparent about how he feels.”
“It’s good with Ben. We have our issues and that’s not personal.
“[Gore] had a lot of issues early on in the triennium, which I’ve thanked him for because while Gore has got issues people are not focusing on Invercargill or anywhere else, so he keeps us off the front page,” Clark said jokingly.
“He’s thanked me when I had the Code of Conduct stuff because it keeps him off the front page.”
Clark said he admired Bell for “the work he has done as a young man”.
“He is in a totally different scenario than us, he’s got a council that really can’t afford to go forward in lots of ways, because they don’t have the borrowing capacity and enough ratepayers to fund what they would like to fund.
“It’s a horrible position to be in and I wouldn’t like to be the Mayor of Gore for that reason. I think your hands a tied.”
On the flipside, Bell said there were also issues in Invercargill that he would not like to have to deal with.
Bell said he got on fine with Clark and felt the "screwing over the South" comment reported in the media was probably taken out of context.
“We have the occasional stoush, as politicians do. We are allowed to have different opinions,” Bell said.
The contentious issue is around whether the Invercargill City Council will join a regional collaboration around Three Waters with other councils.
Mayor Clark has stated the focus for Invercargill was to standalone on Three Waters, while Gore is one of the councils keen on a joint model.
“Invercargill is going to make their own decision on ‘Water Done Well’ and that is their prerogative at the end of the day,” Bell said.
“My personal opinion is the more of us that work together the better it is for the ratepayer. I can see how certain cities might think differently.
“But from a rural perspective the more people work together, you get the economies of scale.”
Clark said he was elected to look after the Invercargill ratepayers and felt it was in their best interests to standalone, but added they were still yet to go through the process of consulting with the public.
He's so pathetic and petty