Raised voices, table thumped

Press, 1 May 1984, Page 9

Raised voices, table thumped

A “childish” matter led to raised voices and tablethumping at a Waimairi District Council committee meeting last evening. The dispute started when Cr Ralph Skjellerup took to heart a remark from the council’s chairman, Mrs Margaret Murray, about members of the recreation planning and development sub-committee arriving late for its morning meetings. Cr Skjellerup said he objected to being told he was a “naughty boy” for arriving late at one meeting, although Mrs Murray said she had just raised the

matter as a general concern. He was backed up by Cr Hazel Tait who said it was unfair and petty to pick on councillors arriving late. But it was Mrs Murray’s next comment that inflamed the matter further. “Councillors should not be so childish as to take it personally,” she told the works committee meeting. It was inevitable that Councillors sometimes arrived late because of the early hour of the sub-com-mittee meeting, “but it does concern me when several councillors are coming and going like yo-yoes,” she said.

At this point Cr Skjellerup thumped the table. “God, this is rudeness,” he said. “I have been called a childish councillor by Cr Murray.” Mrs Murray denied she had made that inference, “but I do not believe that anyone round this table should lose his temper in a debate,” she said. A motion to proceed with other council business was lost, 6-4. Mrs Murray did not formally apologise but the matter was settled when she agreed to withdraw the words about “childish councillors.”