Mayor's partner writes to city council opposing his view

“She doesn’t like the position I’ve taken so she is exercising her democratic right… I don’t agree with the submission she has put in.”

Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark and his partner Karen Carter.

Karen Carter has a more direct line into the mayoral office than anyone elsewhere in the city.

After all, she shares a dinner table most nights with Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark.

Carter is Clark’s long-time partner. However, that doesn’t mean she gets to follow a different route in the democratic process when she disagrees with Mayor Clark on city matters.

At the moment, the two are at odds at what should happen as part of a Wachner Place and Esk St West redevelopment.

All of the options put forward have the current clock at Wachner Place being removed. The preferred option is to also open Wachner Place up for buses to access the new hotel in the old Menzies Building.

Clark has publicly supported that.

Although his partner, Carter, disagrees.

Not content on simply dishing up her opinion at home, Carter is one of the 150-plus submitters who have provided her thoughts in writing to the wider council.

“We don’t agree on everything, that’s for sure,” Clark said about his partner’s submission to the council.

“She doesn’t like the position I’ve taken so she is exercising her democratic right… I don’t agree with the submission she has put in.”

“We got to the position at home where I said, ‘if you are so heated up about it, put your name forward for the next election’.

“She said, no, she would use her democratic right [and put in a submission].”

Carter said it’s not the first time she has disagreed with her mayoral partner’s views on various city matters, and it probably won’t be the last.

“It’s nothing new, it quite normal in our household… I’m my own person,” Carter told The Tribune.

“We quite often disagree; it always turns into quite an interesting debate.”

One of Carter’s biggest concerns around the options put forward for a Wachner Place- Esk St West redevelopment is the wind.

“I think we still need a wind barrier to prevent awful wind further along Esk St and I would like to see the clock to its full potential.

“So please just make the area pretty, maybe a water feature could be added somewhere and lots of seating.”

The Mayor’s response?

“She wants [the clock] to remain for a lot of reasons, including that it will be a wind tunnel without it, but I don’t agree. I’ve sat there on windy days, because I worked at the Menzies Building for 10-15 years, it can be windy but it’s nowhere like Tay St.”

Carter has opted not to speak to her submission next week when the public is invited to talk to councillors about their views.

Clark is a little disappointed by that.

“It would be great if she did, I could have some fun with that,” Clark joked.

Carter’s response: “He said he would have plenty of questions, and I thought bugger that. I thought, no, I’ll just put a written [submission] in.”

Carter would like to see more people put their views forward to the council when matters were raised for consultation.

“If people are really passionate about something they need to submit. It’s no good thinking that they won’t listen.

“If enough people put a submission in they have to listen…. I think people think it’s a waste of time. I said to Nobby, ‘You better listen’.”

While Wachner Place has been raised, Clark said he has tried to stop unloading his thoughts on his partner at home because he felt it wasn’t fair on her.

“We’ve got to the stage where we’ve agreed I don’t take too much home now because it’s not right. You could sit there for hours talking about things.

“I go home angry about some things and it’s offloaded onto her and she has nowhere to offload it. Every politician will tell you that.”

Verbal submissions on the Wachner Place-Esk St West redevelopment will be heard on Tuesday.