C.T.B. board abandons meeting

Press, 28 April 1989, Page 5

C.T.B. board abandons meeting

By'

TOM METCALFE

A meeting of the Christchurch Transport Board was abandoned after 15 minutes yesterday because members feared it was not legal. The meeting was to have been held on Wednesday, but was postponed on Monday by the board’s chairman, Mr Pat Neary, because two members could not attend. The postponement upset another member, Ms Linda Purves, who had arranged her shifts as a

C.T.B. bus driver so she could attend the Wednesday meeting. Ms Purves said on Wednesday that the postponement had not given her enough time to rearrange her shifts. When the meeting began yesterday, Ms Purves, who had arranged for a workmate to work her bus-driving shift, questioned the legality of holding a meeting when five working days notice had not been given of the postponement. Under the laws that govern

such meetings, local authorities are required to notify the public of meetings at least five days before they are held. Ms Purves said the postponement of a meeting should also be notified five days ahead. Because this had not happened, yesterday’s meeting was illegal, and any decisions it made would not have the authority of the board, she said. Mr Neary said the required notice had been given of the Wednesday meeting, and the

meeting yesterday was a postponement, not a new meeting for which further notice had to be given. “Rules and regulations are meant to be guides, not limitations,” he said. After considering a proposal to continue with yesterday’s meeting and to ratify any decisions made at another meeting next week, the board decided to abandon the meeting and meet again after the required notice had been given.