One cannot understand why we need an independent financial chair who is to be unelected with voting rights and being paid probably up to $50,000 pa.

If not one of the elected members can do the job then all resign forthwith please.

If there is a majority of councillors in the current team that oppose this undemocratic action then please see this does not happen as it is an affront to ratepayers, an assault on their pockets and another bite out of the democratic pie in NZ.

TCCs over the years should all be awarded black belts in wasting money.

Here we have a newcomer who has hardly warmed his mayoral seat wanting to waste more money.

The mayor's comment is that such a post is commonplace and I would argue that.

In England there is no such post. The chair in Auckland Council is Cr Desley Simpson, an elected member of the council.

I have spent quite a bit of time googling this and cannot find any reference to it at all.

Can the mayor name one other council in NZ that has such a posting in the form he proposes?

Not that many countries around the world have exactly the same local body systems as we do so one can hardly see how it could be commonplace.

Alastair Bourne, Bethlehem