Before the start of today's meeting -- Allan Birchfield at the head of the table, right, sits stoney-faced alongside Cr Peter Haddock who was subsequently elected as chairman. Just two members of the public sat in the public gallery, but the livestream had 70 watching. Photo: Greymouth Star/Brendon McMahon
Allan Birchfield hurried out of the West Coast Regional Council chambers today, seconds after five of six councillors voted to sack him from the job.
Some spoke of the danger of the whole council being sacked.
New chairman councillor Peter Haddock - voted to the chair five minutes later - stressed the need to work as a team, and said if the current impasse between management and governance could not be righted "we could find ourselves with a commissioner".
The vote showed even the three new councillors Birchfield had shoulder-tapped to stand last election had lost confidence in him as chairman.
In a final defiant act, Birchfield took the chair this morning but neglected to open with the prayer he had previously insisted on at the start of every meeting.
This was his first meeting back after a four-month leave of absence when concerns with his chairmanship blew up.
Haddock, who had been acting chairman since December, was elected as chairman.
He first attempted to nominate new Westport councillor Frank Dooley, who declined the nomination after describing the "toxic environment" he encountered upon his arrival on the council after the October elections.
Dooley then nominated Haddock.
In accepting, Haddock - until last year a long-serving member of the Grey District Council - said with his move across to the regional council he had never intended to be the chairman, "but council needs to be working together".
Councillor Brett Cummings, who had earlier signed the requisition calling the meeting to remove Birchfield from the role, was the sole voice against the motion when it was put to the vote.
When Birchfield arrived the tension in the room was palpable. He sat next to his former ally and soon-to-be replacement Haddock, at the head of the table.
There was no small talk as everyone waited in silence for the meeting to start.
West Coast Regional Council representatives sit in silence moments before the start of today's extraordinary meeting to remove the chair. Photo: Greymouth Star/Brendon McMahon
But Birchfield ran the meeting by the book, with clearly conflicted fellow councillors also expressing their admiration for Birchfield and his long service to the West Coast, going back to the Westland Catchment Board in the late 1980s.
The former chairman said nothing in response, and as soon as he confirmed the vote by show of hands, he quickly left the chambers and the premises.
Afterwards he declined to comment on the outcome, only saying, "I was out of there".
It was not yet known whether he will remain as a councillor. He was the second highest polling candidate when re-elected to the Grey ward last year.
Haddock said it was the most difficult agenda item in his 15 years as a local government representative.
"I have huge respect for Allan as a person," he said.
However under his leadership the council had been functioning with "a disconnect between the chair and the management".
Former deputy chairperson councillor Peter Ewen, who nominated Cr Birchfield to be chairman in 2019, said he also had the "utmost respect" for him but the wider picture dictated the need for change.
Close confidant Cummings said if Birchfield was guilty of anything then it was "being passionate" about getting the best for ratepayers.
"If Allan spoke inappropriately in a public forum in a critical manner (it) is probably due to his frustrations and his passion for wanting the best outcomes ... it's just a shame that he wasn't hit by a motorbike just before he said it."
Cummings said in removing Birchfield as chair "he is likely to resign" from the council.
But he said the regional council had gone from "what seemed a well oiled machine" in 2019 when he first came aboard, to "a struggling disconnected group of individuals and consultants with a non-definitive chain of command".
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