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Petulance forte

At 8:20am yesterday morning there was a knock on the door.

There stood an employee of the South Waikato District Council and in her hand was a trespass notice.

Yep, the clowns at the SWDC have trespassed me from the entire building, including the council chambers which is a public place during meetings.

No reason for the trespass is given on the notice but the mayor has made it very clear (thanks for the evidence by the way) that it is because he doesn't like the videos I make which keep the community informed as to the council's actions.

Surprise Mr Mayor... that's not a valid reason to violate someones rights.

So what happens now?

Well all the evidence I've documented over the past several years goes off to the Ombudsman who, I have no doubt, will find significant fault on the part of the Mayor and his council.

Mayors do not get to violate the rights of a member of the public just because they don't like the fact that they report the council's activities and actions to the community they serve.

Mayors can not ignore the Local Government Act simply because its provisions are inconvenient to them.

Once the Ombudsman has ruled in my favour on this matter, things will head off to court where I'll be claiming damages, losses and costs, a sum I'm told which could easily reach six figures in magnitude.

According to legal advice, it's important to get the Ombudsman to rule before filing suit because a ruling against the council by him would significantly weaken any defense the council might try to bring.

The council knew full-well that if they trespassed me, I would bring legal action so they have knowingly and willingly incurred a huge liability for the community solely to satisfy the mayor's petulance in respect to the work I do keeping that community informed.

I strongly suspect that in light of recent (and other) events, a commissioner may soon be appointed to run the district because they mayor and his council's actions are causing so much harm right now.

I'm sure most of you will have checked out the comments on this video which now number over 1,000 and are almost entirely critical of the mayor and his council. This has clearly caused massive reputational damage (further to that already inflicted by past events) and that is something that can't be allowed to continue.

What businessperson in their right mind would risk a single cent of their money starting a business or investing in this district when it is very clear that the mayor and his council consider themselves above the law and are openly prepared to violate the rights of those who they take a dislike to?

The cost of this awful behaviour can be measured in lost opportunities for the people of the district.

In my opinion, the largest liability this district has is clearly the mayor's pride and ratepayers are going to pay dearly for it. This can't be acceptable by any standard.

I will keep you all informed as things progress but this is going to be a somewhat drawn-out business although I suspect it may get a little priority because every day I'm denied my rights will increase the amount the courts may choose to award me.

Carpe Diem folks!

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