Cr Rick Curach is concerned by the number of secret meetings held by the Tauranga District Council.
Cr Rick Curach is concerned by the number of secret meetings held by the Tauranga District Council.
Should Tauranga councillors hold regular secret briefings?
This question is a fair one after this newspaper yesterday reported councillors have held 86 confidential briefings since being elected 18 months ago and two experienced councillors are unhappy at the volume of information being discussed behind closed doors.
Secret briefings replaced open workshops the previous council held.
Councillors Rick Curach and Catherine Stewart oppose the number of topics being discussed confidentially since the current council was formed with seven new faces in October 2013.
But they are the minority. Seven others defend them. Mayor Stuart Crosby is comfortable with going back to open workshops or sticking with the briefings.
Supporters say closed-door meetings, which exclude public and media, allow staff to gauge whether enough information is provided. They are not used to debate issues and provide important background.
But councillors Curach and Stewart say topics such as Mount Maunganui Shopping Centre's Phoenix Carpark redevelopment and the controversial waterfront waka project have been discussed confidentially. Cr Curach argues important issues are being discussed in a vacuum.
He's right. We have no idea when these meetings are being held and what the people elected to run this city are saying in them.
It is important to note other councils in the region hold confidential briefings and it would be wrong to suggest councillors never meet in private. But 86? This is far too many and more than twice the number at Western Bay council.
This issue drives to the heart of democracy. Councillors are elected by the people and it is a fair expectation that most of their discussion on matters of public importance and interest take place in public.
Councillors are already able to exclude the public and media from formal meetings in certain circumstances.
Tauranga councillors will discuss today whether to open up these briefings to the public and whether to tell the public when they are holding them.
They should certainly open up most of them. Confidential briefings should be the exception, not the norm.
