A memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Crown and Cromwell Borough Council of 1989 was brought to the attention of local government representatives yesterday.

Cromwell resident Werner Murray was among those who spoke in the public forum of the Cromwell Community Board yesterday, about the proposed loss of delegated authority Cromwell, along with Vincent, Roxburgh and Maniototo wards were facing. 

The perception was that Cromwell would lose control of its assets under the Central Otago District Council proposal, more than 30 years after an MOU was put in place as part of an amalgamation deal.

Werner told the board the current proposal went against all the hard work by the community all those years ago, to ensure the Cromwell board would maintain full control over its assets - following the Clyde dam project.

There was also a protest underway against any change by council called STAG - or Stop The Asset Grab by Cromwell businessman James Dicey - with signatures in a letter soon to be presented to council.

Council’s chief executive Peter Kelly has since started making new recommendations to the delegated authority proposals, which he shared at the Roxburgh Community Board meeting last week.

He said there would be three options presented to the council meeting at the end of February; the first was to retain the status quo, the second was to include the discussion into the Long Term Plan, and the third was to push on with the proposed changes.

On Thursday following the Roxburgh meeting, the Cromwell Community Board (CCB) sent out a letter publicly - signed by all members, to council stating its ‘position’ towards the proposals, which it was clearly against.

CCB chair Anna Harrison told the meeting yesterday the length of time to make a written submission was limited, and that was one of the reasons why they didn’t submit.

Acknowledging the historical information brought to the board from the two members of the public, she questioned, along with Deputy Mayor Neil Gillespie, whether that MOU information was relevant to the current issue.

She said it was a big piece of work, and they didn't have the skills, funds or time to look into it, and appreciated the work that the community had done.