Southland District Council will submit a merger proposal for local government reform — even though most of the people it asked said not to.
Councillors voted on Wednesday to back a Head Start proposal for two councils to govern the region: a Southland-Gore unitary council and an Invercargill unitary council. The deadline for submitting under the Government's Head Start process is the end of this week. Miss it, and a structure gets imposed.
The catch: a council survey of 142 respondents found 55% preferred no proposal be submitted, against 40% who supported going ahead. A clear majority also favoured a two-council structure overall — 76% — but wanted no part in the rushed Head Start process. The report prepared for the meeting acknowledged the hesitation was less about the shape of the proposal and more about speed, process, and a perceived lack of scrutiny.
Councillor Paul Duffy noted the gap between the survey result and Wednesday's decision, questioning whether pushing ahead left the council open to accusations of not listening. Mayor Rob Scott said communications could go out with an explanation.
Scott framed the submission as hedging bets, pointing out the parallel Local Government Commission process — which is already investigating a single region-wide unitary council or two unitary councils — could fall over, leaving the council with nothing.
Only one councillor, Matt Wilson, voted against. Wilson raised concerns there was no mandate to support a two-council setup, and repeated earlier warnings that continuing a long-term plan process was "financially reckless" given the scale of incoming change — concerns he had also put in writing to members of all four Southland councils last Friday.
Scott pushed back, saying the council still needed to plan and look at its needs regardless of what reform brings.
If the commission's investigation produces a reorganisation plan, a public poll requiring 50% support would follow before any change could proceed. The commission process and the Head Start process carry no hierarchy between them, the council report noted.
Gore District Council, meanwhile, decided on Tuesday to keep its options open by exploring proposals from both the district council and Invercargill City Council. The city council makes its own Head Start call on Thursday — having already signalled support for a single authority across the region.