17 June 2021
Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: Housing
Enquiry
Reporter working on story re Kainga Ora purchasing land corner of Ranolf and Malfroy (refer to yesterday’s Heads Up) asked if Mayor Chadwick would like to comment or be in a photo at the site.
Response
Mayor Chadwick provided the following comment:
Council and the housing taskforce are working very hard on many fronts on solutions to our housing challenges. We have work underway on numerous parts of the district housing plan, we now have a plan being implemented for better management of emergency housing, and progress towards more much-needed public housing is obviously great news. It’s small steps but very heartening – we’re seeing the value of working collaboratively together to find solutions for our community.
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Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: Call for independent review of Council
Enquiry
I have some comments for right of reply from the mayor and chief executive, if desired.
COMMENTS:
On Thursday, former mayor Grahame Hall told Local Democracy Reporting he believed it was "time that councillors pushed for an independent review of the council".
His comments come in the wake on Monday's revelation that an organisational realignment had resulted in the appointment of seven deputy chief executives, two of which have received pay rises.
Hall said an independent review, such as one Wellington underwent last year, would probably cost just under $100,000 and be "money well spent".
"An independent review of [the] council would conform the organisation is on the right track, or it would put them on the right track.
"I think our community has the right to have that. It would give confidence to a whole lot of unhappy ratepayers."
Hall, who was mayor from 1992 to 2004, said he had stayed out of commenting on the council for about a decade, but had been "drawn out ... because I'm so concerned".
"People come up and talk to me about the council, it's such a mess. It's got to the stage where it's so bad.
"It's a slippery slope and it's going down."
He said he had "no axe to grind" and liked the mayor Steve Chadwick as a person.
"There are some good things happening but its being overwhelmed behind the scenes, like a tide wave ... going to crash down on us."
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Rotorua MP Todd McClay joined Hall's call for an independent review into Rotorua Lakes Council.
He said he had received a lot of emails and calls from ratepayers over the last day about the news of the appointment of the seven deputy chief executives.
"As a ratepayer, I'm deeply concerned my rates are going up at least 9 per cent next year and there's not a single project in Rotorua that seems close to completion.
"When Tauranga has no deputy chief executives, why does Rotorua need one, let alone seven?"
He said both local and central government needed to be responsible about spending and open and transparent to ratepayers and taxpayers.
"This is feeling like the Government - lots of spending, lots of announcements, lots of bureaucrats and not a lot of progress."
He said he supported the call for an independent review into the council "to see exactly what's happening and why, so ratepayers can have confidence in their council".
SUBSEQUENT 1 from reporter:
Couple of typos in my haste:
*confirm not conform
*Wellington City Council not just Wellington
SUBSEQUENT 2 from reporter:
Apologies - Grahame also said "I can’t sit back and say nothing".
SUBSEQUENT 3 from reporter:
Further comments for right of reply:
Rotorua Lakes councillor Raj Kumar said on Thursday he thought the organisation was top-heavy."Everyone's a deputy chief executive. Anyone else left out?"
SUBSEQUENT 4 from reporter:
Just wanted to double-check if the council or mayor wanted to add anything in light of this?:
Hall shared McClay’s concerns about rates and spending and transparency as well as whether Rotorua needed seven deputy chief executives.
Response
The CE has no comment but thanks for checking. See below from the mayor:
From Mayor Steve Chadwick:
I’m working with those who can support the changes needed to get things done and the CE has my total confidence.
People are entitled to their views but things have changed a lot in local government over the years – and continue to change – and this requires new thinking and new ways of doing things to deliver the outcomes our community needs.
With regards to subsequent ‘right of reply’ number 4 from reporter:
Reporter was informed there was nothing further from council or the mayor.
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Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: Elected member workshops
Enquiry
As you will be aware, Justin Adams wrote the below open letter to the mayor, councillors and chief executive recently.
I'd like to invite the mayor to respond to Justin's letter for a story about it, as well as some questions - please answer these in line - ie:
- Question
Answer
Questions for mayor:
- What is your response to Mr Adams' request - will you bring a motion to the council to, as he says “hold open to the public workshops/forums and only go into a publicly excluded workshop/forum sessions when legally necessary”? Why / why not?
- Will it be on the next council agenda (June 24), a future one, or never?
- Do you think Mr Adams is correct that people have a perception the council is conducting business in secret? Why / why not?
- You have previously stated support for fully confidential workshops. Is everything discussed in those workshops always a confidential matter?
Council question:
- Would there need to be a motion of council to open up workshops? ie would a motion be necessary or could they just be opened at the discretion of the mayor/councillors/officials?
LETTER:
Dear your Worship the Mayor, Councillors and Chief Executive of Rotorua Lakes Council,
I write to you today to implore you to, at the next Council Meeting (Monday 28th June 2021) pass a resolution to “hold open to the public workshops/forums and only go into a publicly excluded workshop/forum sessions when legally necessary” and show the citizens of Rotorua that the current perception of Rotorua Lakes Council conducting business in “secret” is incorrect.
Pre-empt the undeniable outcome of the Ombudsman’s investigation and show the citizens of Rotorua that there is nothing to hide, and that Tatau tatau – We together is not just a PR phrase but an actual council philosophy. You ask that the citizens of Rotorua “Trust us” well the citizens of Rotorua want you to trust them.
Rotorua can be an economic powerhouse if you bring the public along with you. The best ideas often come from the most unlikely sources. But by shutting the public out you shut out the ability to capture these ideas and the transparency legislated for in both Local Government Act and the Local Government Official Information Act.
Below I have outlined some of the numerous examples that show not only is it the intention of both the Local Government Act and the Local Government Official Information Act, but the expectation of the Ombudsman’s office and the public.
1. Ombudsman’s Guide – The LGOIMA for local agencies.
2. Ombudsman’s Guide – Public interest
3. Ombudsman’s Report – LGOIMA Compliance & Practice - Invercargill City Council (p45)
4. Ombudsman’s Report – LGOIMA Compliance & Practice - Christchurch City Council (p75)
5. Ombudsman’s Report – LGOIMA Compliance & Practice – New Plymouth City Council (p54)
6. Ombudsman’s Media Statement 14th November 2019 - report ‘wakeup call’ for council
7. Ombudsman’s Report – LGOIMA Compliance & Practice – Buller District Council (p44-45)
8. Ombudsman’s Report – LGOIMA Compliance & Practice - Tauranga City Council (p56-57)
9. Ombudsman’s Report – LGOIMA Compliance & Practice - Invercargill City Council (p45)
10. Ombudsman’s Report – LGOIMA Compliance & Practice - Porirua City Council (p54)
I could easily go on however those listed above should make my point. The precedence is clearly shown. You showed legislative courage with the passing of Maori wards, I ask you now to show that same courage with transparency around workshops and forums.
Thank you for your time. I would be happy to discuss this further with you and look forward to receiving your reply preferably by seeing the resolution on the next agenda.
Yours Sincerely,
Justin Adams
Citizen, Ratepayer, Father
Response
The following information and comment was provided:
From Mayor Steve Chadwick:
Forums, or workshops, remain a very important, legitimate and appropriate tool for policy and strategy development, to provide direction for council staff and to help ensure decision-making by elected members is well-informed. Matters that are covered in forums become public and there are no plans at this time to make any change.
Re: Would there need to be a motion of council to open up workshops? ie would a motion be necessary or could they just be opened at the discretion of the mayor/councillors/officials?
It would require a review of the Governance Statement 2020 that was adopted by Council on 26 March 2020. Any review would need to be initiated by the Mayor.
For your reference, see below excerpt from the Governance Statement in relation to forums:
Forums
From time to time council will hold forums. Forums or informal meetings are to brief elected members on emerging issues, or get an indication of councillor preference before initiating a policy or project, or provide an opportunity for the council to develop ideas and to be informed of the options and issues the council may face. Forums cannot be used to make decisions. These sessions are not open to the public or the media. The Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act in relation to meeting establishment does not apply to forums.
SUBSEQUENT from reporter
You've missed two questions, could you please respond to those - in line, as I requested?
Here they are again:
- Do you think Mr Adams is correct that people have a perception the council is conducting business in secret? Why / why not?
- You have previously stated support for fully confidential workshops. Is everything discussed in those workshops always a confidential matter?
Response
From Mayor Chadwick:
Mr Adams is entitled to his personal view.
Council must have mechanisms like these types of forums to discuss issues.
The other question was covered in original response: ie Matters that are covered in forums become public.
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Media: Maori TV
Topic: Use of Maori land for housing
Enquiry
I am currently working on a story for Māori Television's current affairs programme Te Ao with Moana about local initiatives to utilise Māori land for transitional and public housing.
I have spoken with a local woman who has moved back to her family land as a result of having a huge rent hike that she can no longer afford and she is struggling to get services onto the property because of costs and conditions associated with Māori land.
She lives at 49 Rangiteaorere Rd.
She said it would cost her $6K each to have power and water connected - is this correct?
Could you also please give me an indication on how much it would cost to get sewerage lines put in?
She also said she would have to have the land registered as general land and taken out of Maori ownership in order to have council services - is this correct?
Are there special provisions or rules that apply to living on Māori land?
Response
Information provided:
Council does not deal with power connections.
There is no public water network in that area to connect to. Properties in that area will either use private supplies (tanks on their property etc) or will be part of a private group supply.
As part of the 2021-2031 Long-term Plan council is proposing to investigate the possibility of extending the public water supply to that area and surrounding areas in the next few years.
This property does have access to the reticulated wastewater network. We can see that there is an existing connection to this property.
If the owners would like to add a new connection there is a $92 application fee payable to council. The owners would then need to engage a Council Approved Contractor to do the work. The owner would pay the contractor directly so we don’t know what the cost of that service would be. It may also depend on how much work is involved for the contractor. Council services only go to the boundary of the property, from there all services are then deemed private.
We are not aware of any difference between general land and Māori land when it comes to connecting to council services. Multiple owned property (Māori land or general land) can provide challenges in the application process as we need to ensure the applicant is either the owner or has permission from the owner, however that doesn’t add any extra cost or change the connection process