Mayor Lewers blames councillors for sewage crisis as Government pushes for major water debt and control changes

It's doubtful the community will get a chance to fully understand the repercussions of these changes

In an extraordinary outburst during the QLDC’s Arrowtown full council meeting yesterday (May 29) Mayor Glyn Lewers blamed councillors past and present for political interference and having insufficient skills to manage big local issues.

He was arguing in favour on transferring QLDC’s drinking, waste and stormwater services to a new, external council controlled organisation (CCO) that would take over three waters debt from QLDC and remove councillors from most of the decision making processes.

The mayor claimed that the Government shared his views that democratically elected councillors were getting in the way of necessary water reforms and efficiencies.

Here’s the section of the meeting where the mayor made his views more than clear.

• The council’s You Tube channel published a recording of the Arrowtown meeting that was not shown live due to technical reasons.

Many of the councillors challenged the mayor’s view and said the community expected them to be publicly accountable for the cost and delivery of all public services including sewage and waste water. Yesterday’s vote was just to agree to consult with the community.

Deputy Mayor Quentin Smith and Niki Gladding both voted against that move believing that decision making on water should stay within council.