Board silent on Barrow's claims | Manawatu-Wanganui News | Local News in Manawatu-Wanganui

The board of Christian Social Services Wanganui is not making any comment on claims made by the city missioner until a complaints process has been resolved.

In Saturday's Wanganui Chronicle, City Missioner Shirley-Joy Barrow said the board of CSSW needed to be replaced, claiming it was dysfunctional and did not know what it was doing.

Yesterday David Bennett, chairman of the board's financial committee, said the board was not able to comment at this stage because it was in the process of taking legal advice.

"There's a complaints procedure, which is in progress, and we are not in a position to make any formal statement until after that is resolved," Mr Bennett said.

Mrs Barrow has been city missioner for the past eight years, but told the Chronicle she was prepared to walk away from her job because of the constant battles she was having with the board.

This follows a series of meetings involving some of the board of governors and City Mission staff, with the board indicating that unless radical changes were put in place the future of the mission was threatened.

Mrs Barrow said an interim board was needed to get things sorted out "because this board has been dysfunctional for the eight years I've been here and longer".

"They don't know what they're doing and they run around trying to micro-manage things they know nothing about."

She claimed there was a major disconnect between the mission and the board, which was trying to put a business template across a social service.

The board comprises three people from each of the four main churches - Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian and Methodist - and each of the churches commits $6000 a year to the mission.