Councillor calls for clearer meetings

Councillor Alan Dick wants to see more transparency at meetings held by our region's leaders.

The transparency and accountability of leadership meetings has been called into question by Hawke's Bay Regional Councillor Alan Dick.

Mr Dick raised the issue during the Chairman's Monthly Report at HBRC's meeting this week, in which Chairman Fenton Wilson mentioned the monthly Mayoral Forum.

"I would just like you to comment on the Mayoral Forum and whatever you call that and the intersectorial group, which undoubtably have their merits," Mr Dick said.

"In my view they are not transparent and they [are] not accountable."

He noted the forum and group rely on the support of elected councillors to get things done.

Mr Wilson came to the defence of the meetings, saying it has been a less formal construct with amalgamation talk swallowing up much of the conversation.

"So it was used as an opportunity for the mayors and myself to get together, kick the door shut, and just have a chat about a whole range of issues," he said.

He said the recommendation was for the ILG to be open to the public and be more transparent as it has "all the players".

Mr Dick said the council should be the repository and the forum for regional leadership and advocacy, using an example of the Taranaki region.

"You don't need any legislative change," he said.

"[You] could form a leadership and advocacy committee - have mayors and deputy mayors appointed to it and operate it under the Local Government Meeting Act provisions.

"[To] be a truly accountable and transparent forum for collective decisions to be made on advocating and planning for the development of this province."

Mr Fenton said Mr Dick's idea was not new, and the forum may move towards a more formal and structured set up.

"Nothing is off the table," he said. "But that is not definitely on the table at this stage."

Councillor Rick Barker chipped into the debate saying over the past 20 years council co-operation has been limited.

"I would have thought the view of the public out there is that they expect something extremely ambitious [to] go well beyond what has been done before," he said.

"I would hope at some stage in the near future this council debates the extent to which it believes interco-operation between councils and shared services can go.

"For my money everything should be on the table and nothing should be off."

"So I would hope that we are taking that mission of ambition and wide scope and nothing off the table would be the starting position of this council."

Mr Wilson responded, "we shouldn't accept anything less".

Councillor Debbie Hewitt questioned how councillors's wish could be represented at the Mayoral meeting, when they did not even have a chance to meet post-amalgamation.

"So I think we have missed a step in the communication chain," she said.

She said she would the council to discuss agenda items in advance "that you are truly representative of this council and what we are all thinking when you are going into those meetings".

In response, Mr Wilson said there was no agenda for the previous forum.