A council denies it blocked emails from a ratepayer, but the man who made the allegation says his questions are going unanswered.
Greytown resident Derek Anderton claimed during last week's South Wairarapa District Council (SWDC) finance committee meeting that he was blocked from contacting councillors by email.
After the meeting, SWDC acting chief executive Russell O'Leary said Anderton was not blocked from contacting councillors by email, but intimated there were controls over his emails to staff.
"Council can confirm that emails to councillors from Mr Anderton have not been blocked," he said. "Although very rare, occasionally measures need to be put in place at the discretion of the CE to protect staff from excessive or unwarranted contact.
"In this instance, Mr Anderton is able to communicate directly with the CE and a number of general Council email groups."
Anderton said efforts to get information from the council were frustrating, and his questions about council finances and other matters were not answered.
He said he did not send a large number of emails generally, but said his enquiries clustered around finance committee meetings.
"The officers use the OIA deadlines to drag out responses, then given incorrect responses. Emails to Councillors go into a black hole so I am forced to try three minutes of public participation at a meeting," he said.
"I am not able to communicate directly with any SWDC staff — I cannot even reply to an email they send me. Replies to emails from councillors are as scarce as hen's teeth."
He said he didn't send many emails in a month but tended to send them when SWDC had a finance committee meeting.
"I sent five emails to Colin Olds as chair of the finance committee for the most recent meeting — one to just confirm my public participation.
"It looks like I sent 15 emails for the last finance committee meeting — this was to show how many questions the committee should be asking — and a long agenda."
Anderton said a councillor recently told him he had not received an email from him, which had led him to make the comment he appeared to be blocked from emailing councillors.
"I did a test email to the Greytown community board members on 26 October, and the email was blocked," he said.
Anderton said if the SWDC chief executive was away, his emails appeared to go into 'a black hole' and expire.
Deputy Mayor Melissa Sadler-Futter said all councillors made an effort to communicate and be available.
"Elected members welcome constructive engagement with the community. Our contact details are readily available on the council website, we have a presence across social media, and public participation in our formal and informal meetings is encouraged," she said.
By Sue Teodoro, Local Democracy Reporter
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
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