Better design for decision-making

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

A new Mayor stamping their mark or a planned reorganisation prepared well in advance?

It is hard to say, as Gisborne District Council has been making more of its governance decisions over recent years in public-excluded or “workshop” sessions, where the issues are all canvassed and the gritty debate no doubt takes place

. . . then what comes through to the public domain is often more akin to some tame banter mixed with political grandstanding.

The public is less informed around the issues and personalities at play in decision-making. The infuence of council staff is less clear. But the council delivers a greater semblence of order and of operating as a team.

It is very early days, but this council and Mayor look like they will be able to manage internal divisions around thorny issues better than previous councils, and should be able (and willing) to have more of their real debates in public.

The major revamp of the council’s committee structure going before their first meeting tomorrow looks set to help deliver on this, too.

In a background to the proposals covered in our lead story today, Mayor Rehette Stoltz’s report says a review of council committees is timely given the 2019 election has concluded, and important to ensure that committees reflect the “key principles and directions” of the Local Government Act, in particular:

a. Governance structures should enable the council to conduct its business in an open and transparent manner.

b. Governance structures should ensure full coverage of core services, financial prudence and environmental stewardship.

c. Regulatory activities should be separated from operational activities.

d. Opportunities for Maori to participate in decision-making processes should be provided.

e. Opportunities to seek special interest communities’ views into decision-making should be provided.

f. Staff, elected members and the community should understand the governance structure and the respective roles each other has to play.

g. Governance structures should allow for an all-of-wellbeing understanding to the decision-making processes.

h. Governance structures should be efficient and effective.

Back to the initial question, no doubt the answer is “both”. In her report Mrs Stoltz says the functions and structure of committees have been reviewed several times, particularly after triennial elections. Clearly it has been decided that now is the time to act on the thinking developed in those reviews.