Chief Ombudsman releases findings and reports on council workshops
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has now released his reports for eight councils, including Rotorua Lakes Council, following an inquiry into practices related to elected member workshops.
Rotorua Lakes Interim Council Chief Executive Gina Rangi says the organisation has already introduced a number of changes the Chief Ombudsman has recommended with work towards further improvement ongoing.
“Our elected members and our organisation are committed to transparency and we take our responsibilities in this regard very seriously,” Ms Rangi says.
“As such, we are always open to making changes to improve our processes and practices and ensure the community has access to information and Council decision-making.
“While we don’t completely agree with all the Chief Ombudsman’s views, we take on board his report and a number of recommendations have already been, or are being, implemented.
“We appreciate that the Chief Ombudsman, in correspondence to us, has acknowledged the many improvements already made to meeting and workshop practices and commended us on the opening of forums to the public and the livestreaming of these. We have worked with our elected members to introduce positive change and will continue to look for ways for further enhancements.
“One change already implemented is opening up workshops to the public, with some exceptions where that is warranted. This is a positive change, although it should be noted that workshops were not used for decision-making in the past – decisions can only be made in formal meetings of Council and its committee. Opening the workshops to the public ensures that Council discussions are transparent and that helps maintain community trust.”
Other changes also already introduced:
- Information about workshops now provided on Council’s website HERE;
- Improved record-keeping for workshops;
- Workshops open to the public are livestreamed;
- Livestreaming extended to include Audit and Risk Committee meetings.
Previously existing transparency initiatives:
- Livestreaming of committee and Council meetings (since 2015);
- Communication (via ‘news’ section on council website and social media) of matters coming up at committee and Council meetings, decisions made and where to find more information;
- Regular alerts and updates on consultation, work programmes and projects (via ‘news’ section on website, social media and marketing campaigns);
- Fortnightly e-panui people can sign up to receive or can read on council website;
- Responses to media enquiries and to formal requests made under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) available on website (since 2017).
“Work is underway to review, improve and add to what we do internally and we will continue to promote and build on the various ways our community can keep up-to-date about and engaged with council work, decisions and consultation,” Ms Rangi says.
“We will continue to identify opportunities for ongoing improvement.”
View the statement released today by the Chief Ombudsman at THIS LINK on the www.ombudsman.parliament.nz website, which includes links to his findings for each council.
View the Rotorua report HERE
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Statement from Rotorua Mayor, Tania Tapsell:
I acknowledge that the issues highlighted through this investigation arose with the previous Council.
Since being elected as Mayor I have taken action to improve transparency.
We have made workshops and Council meetings open to the public as much as possible. Where a discussion is not able to be held in public, the reasons for this have been clearly outlined and information that is able to be released is released as soon as possible.
For the benefit of the community I have also ensured agendas and information about upcoming decisions are made publicly available one week ahead of time, rather than two days before which was previous practice.
I agree there is still room for improvement and have advised our Interim Chief Executive to take on board these recommendations.
The new Council and I are pleased to be setting better standards and including the community in our new direction of decision-making.