Last year, candidate Christopher Ruthe said:
External lawyers fees should be no more than $75,000. KCDC has its own lawyer [Tim Power] in a $250,000 to $300,000 pay range. Yet in the last 3 years it has spent $1.69 million on external legal fees. Most of this has gone on fighting losing legal battles. Rather than listen to the ratepayers, this Council has run off time after time to get out of town lawyers to tell them what to do. All the cases I know about, KCDC lost.
Well, here’s another as decided in the Environment Court two weeks ago. How much Ratepayers money did Mr Dougherty waste on this? And what will the award for costs to Coastal Ratepayers United be? We’ll report when we find out.
Hopefully, we now have a new regime who will get rid of the lawyers and spend more time getting the concerned parties together in a room, with a cup of tea, and facilitate face to face dialogue. But, this did not happen with David Scott—old habits die hard….
In retrospect a bad example, but there are times when face to face will overcome a heap of red-tape, bureacracy and mis-communication.
You’re more optimistic than we are. The way David Scott was treated was really quite nasty, including a car from BECA contractors, whose involvement in Mr Dougherty’s plans he opposed, showing up and sitting outside his house. This will all come out.