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THURSDAY FEBRUARY 27, 2025
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FEBRUARY 27, 2025
Raceway counts cost By Mary Anne Gill
Police and licensing inspectors have withdrawn their opposition to a renewal of Cambridge Raceway’s liquor licence. It means the trotting company can go ahead with its racing season and serve alcohol to patrons - but chief executive Dave Branch revealed the club’s legal costs had reached $50,000. Ratepayers will also foot a considerable bill because Waipā District Council rented the meeting room for two days, prepared papers for, and administered the hearing before three independent Waipā District Licensing Committee commissioners. They also had staff sitting in on it. Police senior sergeant David Hall and licensing inspector Glynn Jones both conceded at the end of the hearing last week they no longer considered the trotting company to be an “unsuitable candidate”.
They also withdrew their plans this week to oppose chief executive Dave Branch’s manager’s certificate application, which was to have been heard in Cambridge tomorrow (Friday). A special licence application for the Night of Champions in April, which was to have gone ahead today, will now be resolved through mediation. Cambridge Raceway can’t recover the $50,000 costs made up of 100 hours of legal time. Branch said he also spent several hours preparing for the hearings and had three key executives sitting in over both days. He acknowledged the role The News played in covering the hearing. Hall said he no longer opposed Branch’s application for a manager’s certificate because he was satisfied his comments and statements at the hearing deemed it no longer necessary.
Waipā licensing inspector Maddison Berry said she wanted to withdraw her opposition because the police no longer raised any concerns about Cambridge Raceway, “Given that Mr Branch is the CEO of the Cambridge Raceway Ltd, it is my opinion that this in turn reflects on the suitability of (him).” Under police cross examination, Branch answered questions confidently and was clear in his requirements under the Sale of Liquor Act, she said. In his closing statements to the hearing last week, Murray Branch - Cambridge Raceway’s lawyer and Dave Branch’s father – said he did not agree with the way police and the licensing inspectors were interpreting the act. “Just because someone is intoxicated, it doesn’t mean there is a breach of the act,” he said. When police arrested patrons at
Crowds at Cambridge Raceway’s Christmas Eve meeting.
the Night of Champions meeting last year, they let them go soon after and there were no prosecutions. But Raceway staff’s reputation was impugned. “Even though suitability is no longer an issue, there needs to be
Photo: Angelique Bridson.
some recognition about some of the processes, and the integrity of the people trying their absolute best should be acknowledged.” Branch Snr said Raceway staff felt the way they were treated suggested a “power imbalance.”
Chair changes at city hall By Mary Anne Gill
First term Waipā councillor Mike Montgomerie is the big winner of an election year reshuffle around the council table. The Maungatautari ward member takes over as chair of the Finance and Corporate committee from Andrew Brown while deputy mayor Liz Stolwyk has resigned as chair of the Strategic Planning and Policy committee. Mayor Susan O’Regan has retaken the chair which she has previously held.
Montgomerie comes from the Fonterra governance factory line and after Brown said he was not standing again, his promotion came as no surprise. Brown takes over from Bruce Thomas, another departing councillor, as finance deputy chair. Stolwyk stepping down from a committee which she led through some significant hearings, including Ahu Ake and annual plans, was unexpected. The News understands internal politics has been at play for several weeks. Montgomerie is now the highest paid
councillor earning $62,508 a year with Stolwyk, kept as deputy mayor, still on $58,341. Cambridge ward member Mike Pettit, a former community board chair and two-term councillor, is now deputy chair of both the Service Delivery and strategic committees. It completed an eventful time for the council which began just after The News went to press last week with the announcement long-serving deputy chief executive Ken Morris had resigned.
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Morris, honoured in the 2023 New Year’s Honours with the Queen’s Service Medal for his services to the community, leaves in April after 15 years. The council has also referred The News’ request for information which previously appeared in committee agendas to its Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act response team. Council now doesn’t have to answer for 20 working days. • See: Council trio make sharing deal, page 5.
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