District council heeds Ombudsman’s advice about transparency, accountability

Gisborne District Council: Gisborne District Council is looking to make its workshops more publicly accessible after the Ombudsman called on councils to pick up their game this week. Picture by Liam Clayton.

Workshops at Gisborne District Council could soon be more accessible to the public on the back of a nationwide investigation by the Ombudsman calling for greater transparency.

On Tuesday, Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier released the findings of his investigation into eight councils, setting out a list of expectations to “increase transparency and accountability”.

The investigation tested concerns that councils were using workshops and informal meetings to make decisions.

Although Mr Boshier found no evidence of that happening, he said some councils were effectively closing all workshops by default, which was unreasonable.

Gisborne District Council was not one of those investigated by Mr Boshier, but falls within the category of councils which technically deem their workshops to be open while failing to provide any information to the public about their whereabouts.

Since October 2022, the council has held 18 workshops, none of which were advertised publicly.

Mr Boshier said it was important for councils to release times, dates and venues for upcoming workshops for both transparency and public attendance.

He was critical of the practice of labelling workshops as open when the public was not told about them happening.

“It is difficult to imagine how a council could consider a workshop to be ‘held in public’ when the public doesn’t know about it,” he said in the report.

In response to questions from Local Democracy Reporting, Mayor Rehette Stoltz said in a written statement that the council agreed with the Ombudsman on the importance of making decisions in public view.

Workshops were most often used at the council when staff and councillors needed to discuss proposals, options and ideas ahead of decision-making, she said.

“In light of the Ombudsman’s report, council will consider a more transparent way of advising our public what workshops have taken place or will take place.”

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The council was now considering putting up workshop times and agendas on its website, and Mrs Stoltz was clear that no decision-making took place behind closed doors.

Although workshops had not been advertised publicly in the past, groups and community members with vested interests had at times been involved, the council said.

An example included joint workshops with iwi for the development of the Tairāwhiti Resource Management Plan in 2022 and Kiwa Group representatives participating in wastewater committee workshops.

The eight councils investigated included Rotorua Lakes Council, Taupō District Council, Palmerston North City Council, Taranaki Regional Council, Rangitīkei District Council, Waimakariri District Council, Timaru District Council and Clutha District Council.