Confusion reigns

Councillors and local boardmembers have been asked how they feel about our new uber council, and the answers aren't pretty. Edward Rooney reports.
Local boardmembers and councillors have voiced low levels of satisfaction with the Auckland Council and officers in an online survey.
The result will be a blow to Len Brown's administration, which has a stated objective of getting "real synergy" between local boards and all levels of council.
The online survey was conducted by Gravitas at the end of last month and obtained by The Aucklander last week. It finds low levels of satisfaction across most services of council.
Asked how they rated "input to regional plans and strategies", a third of elected members rated the support and advice just a one or two out of five. Almost half of the local boardmembers (43 per cent) also rated the local board agreements poorly.
In the overview of findings from Gravitas, it is pointed out the results for satisfaction with advice and support received by elected members can be summarised as "moderate and mixed".
"Most problematic is the rating by local boardmembers of 'quality of budget advice and information provided' in relation to the development of local board agreements, with 69 per cent of local boardmembers raiting this at 1 or 2."
The survey quotes one unnamed member as says: "Wonderful staff but no accurate or timely information was available to us. Everything provided to us was estimates and very poor."
The Gravitas report also notes a consitent theme of unprompted comments about the co-governance structure being difficult to get used to and not properly understood by Len Brown's council or the council staff. Says one unsourced comment: "The council is bogged down in its former district and city council roles and has been hostile to region-wide approaches."
Other concerns raised by elected members include:
* Timeframes too short, time pressure too great
* Consultation not effective, outcomes of process pre-determined
* Elected members not consulted early enough.
The report notes however, a number of respondents to the survey acknowledge the difficulties of the significant transition and are hopeful for the future. "Other comments are quite damning of the process and cite a failure to embrace the new structure so far."
One unattributed comment calls for council officers and staff to be trained on the role of local boards. "Regionwide policy, plan and strategy development is last minute stuff by officers, staff or not put in front of us at all."
Waitemata board chair Shale Chambers didn't contribute to the survey as he felt the questions are premature.
However, he says there is a lack of clarity about board responsibilities and staff delegations within the responsibilities.
He says boards are having difficulty understanding budgets and there are inadequate resources and channels for local board to communicate with communities.
Takapuna-Devonport board chair Chris Darby filled out the survey and praised the initiative of the council in sending it out. "I think it's quite proactive. If you get too far down the track before takign stock youc an start to develop a culture and it may not be int eh direction you want."
He says the boards do have some problems engagiong properly with communities and they will need more hamn and financial resources to achieve it.
Albert-Eden board chair Peter Haynes says he didn't do the survey. "I haven't voiced concerns about support in the past because I've preferred to concentrate on the big issues with long-term implications. Also the officers who provide direct support are battling the same resource constraints. Some of them have been doing splendidly well." He says however, it's interesting the survey didn't include information technology. "The results would have been very different had they done so. The administration of IT services is overly bureaucratic and often hinders efficiency. For example, because the wee printer they gave me is at home, where I also do Council work, I'm not allowed to connect to the printer in our board offices. I have to email stuff to our administrator in the next office to print."
Kaipatiki board chair Lindsay Waugh likewise didn't fill out the survey but agrees with many of the findings. "We're dealing with a massive culture change and a lot of the staff are fantastic but it will take a while to shake down - who knows how long." She's says it's no surprise such a massive transition comes with frustrations but the council is largely aware of the problems and is committed to getting past them.
Whau board chiar Derek Battersby says he filled in the survey and hasn't really given it another thought. "It's going to improve and it's taking everyone a while to come to terms with it all. You can look at what the Auckland Council is doing, but you could also say a lot of boardmembers are finding it all a bit much."
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Some of the more damning comments in the Gravitas report:
"The work the Local Boards are required to do should have been better understood and prepared for from the outset by the Mayor and top management. The model has been far too slow to get going."
"Community feel they are ignored by the governing body and local boards are not adequately empowered to deal with public expectation."