One councillor called it a blessing for a scrap metal yard.
It was meant to be a positive PR exercise by the Invercargill City Council for the opening of a new battery disposal site, but judging by the reaction around the room today, many were far from impressed.
Deputy Mayor Tom Campbell started the conversation at the Infrastructure Committee meeting, questioning why anyone would hold a blessing for a domestic battery disposal programme.
“Do we need a blessing event to mark the start of the programme?”
General manager of infrastructure Erin Moogan was clearly upset when the discussion around the table turned negative, telling councillors her staff had worked very hard on the event with WasteNet.
“These comments are not particularly positive for the team,” she said, thanking committee chair Ian Pottinger for at least backing her.
Ian said the blessing was for the opening of a site, and therefore something of value to the city, and didn’t understand what the big deal was.
But surprisingly, backlash from Cr Ria Bond and strong comments from Cr Peter Kett, “what the bloody hell is the world coming to?” brought forward more tension around the room.
Mayor Nobby Clark sat there with his head in his hands. He wasn’t having a bar of it.
Erin said disposing of batteries in your mobile phone was not something you can just put in your bin.
“Whenever we get things wrong in our waste journey, that contributes to those higher costs and higher rates.”
She said there had been a significant push from contractors to sort the problem, as regular fires were happening at the recycling facility and the landfill.
Mana whenua representative Evelyn Cook explained the importance of a blessing, “it’s about the people who will work in that place.” She said a blessing was for safety and wellbeing to clear the site of anything from the past that may be negative.
Ian’s attempt to end the discussion with some humour, “let’s end with a blessing,” didn’t go down well with Cr Bond who replied, “that’s not funny.”