The region's mayors Alex Walker of CHB (left), Kirsten Wise of Napier, Craig Little of Wairoa, Sandra Hazlehurst of Hastings, and Hinewai Ormsby, chairwoman of Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, all speak highly of their councillors' commitment to attending meetings and workshops.
The region's mayors Alex Walker of CHB (left), Kirsten Wise of Napier, Craig Little of Wairoa, Sandra Hazlehurst of Hastings, and Hinewai Ormsby, chairwoman of Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, all speak highly of their councillors' commitment to attending meetings and workshops.
With the end of the year in sight, Local Democracy Reporter Linda Hall asked the region’s councils for their attendance records.
The majority of Hawke’s Bay’s councillors attend 90% or more of their meetings, but there’s one who only made it to just over half of them.
Hawke’s Bay’s councils have released their meeting attendance sheets for their councillors for 2024, up to October 1.
They make for interesting reading. Local Democracy Reporting only looked at public council meetings, because they are the most important when it comes to decision-making.
However, it is worth noting that they are only a small part of a councillor’s work, which includes workshops, committee and sub-committee meetings as well as community events and meetings.
Hastings
At the Hastings District Council, just three of the 15 councillors and the mayor attended all the full council meetings.
A fourth, Hana Montaperto-Hendry, was voted in at a byelection and sat at the table for the first time in May and has attended every meeting since.
Damon Harvey, Alwyn Corban and Wendy Schollum had 100% attendance.
At the bottom was Henry Heke, who attended just seven meetings (53%), the lowest of the region’s councillors.
Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said she had a committed and dedicated council who understood the importance of working together.
“Everyone brings different skills and expertise and as a collective represents a wide spectrum of the community,” she said.
“All our councillors have been working hard and pulling together this year to manage the huge workload we have to support our community with the rebuild and recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle.
“There’s some enormous decisions to make and we need good attendance at our meetings to help us face the challenges of rebuilding our community’s wellbeing and the economy.”
Harvey said it was hugely important that councillors had full participation and engagement, as this led to better decision-making.
Hawke's Bay councils' attendance figures.
“As well as formal council meetings, workshops are equally important.
“I’ve been on council for eight years and it’s been a rollercoaster ride because of the fallout from the Havelock North water crisis and the need to spend on water infrastructure through to the cyclone recovery. We face further big challenges in 2025 so it will be all hands on deck.
“Unlike some of my colleagues, my property wasn’t directly impacted by the cyclone, so no excuses, and it’s been my pleasure to step up to support those who were.”
Corban, who has been a councillor for five years, said he enjoyed the connection with the community and making a positive difference for them.
“I make every effort to attend meetings and community events to keep up to speed and be in a position to make good decisions.”
Schollum has been a councillor for seven years and says there have been very few “normal” years in that time.
“Councillors can sometimes miss full council meetings because of illness, bereavement, or pre-planned commitments — these things happen in any role.
“But since these meetings are where we exercise our main decision-making responsibilities, it’s essential that councillors are as present and as engaged as possible. We each bring our dedication, diverse views and unique perspectives to the table.”
Heke didn’t respond to Local Democracy’s requests for comment.
CHB
Half of the eight councillors on Central Hawke’s Bay Council attended all full council meetings, along with Mayor Alex Walker.
Walker said they hold either council meetings, committee meetings or workshops one day every fortnight, starting in late January and finishing in early December.
“We have a short break in July after adopting the Annual Plan, while staff implement the new budget,” Walker said.
“It is my expectation that councillors prioritise the time to attend all meetings. Being a councillor is a part-time job, however, they also spend a lot of time outside of those meetings, reading, preparing and working with the community.
“Sometimes life happens — we may need to grant leave to councillors for family reasons, or to take an extended holiday — and it’s important we are flexible.
“These roles are treated the same as those who are self-employed. They receive no sick leave, annual leave or KiwiSaver [payments], and pay a full withholding tax on each payment of wages.”
The mayor, deputy mayor Kelly Annand and councillors Pip Burne, Gerard Minehan and Kate Taylor attended all meetings, while Tim Aitken attended the fewest (76%).
Aitken said he missed three council meetings in April because of commitments on his calendar that had been booked well before the council calendar came out in late January.
“You will note that the council typically has a council meeting every four weeks, but in April, we had three in three weeks,” Aitken said.
The third-term councillor said he took his role very seriously.
“If I cannot attend a meeting, I ensure I have read the papers and give feedback before the meeting.”
HBRC
At the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, four councillors — Will Foley, Sophie Siers, Neil Kirton and Xan Harding — attended 100% of meetings.
Charles Lambert attended the fewest at 73% and chairwoman Hinewai Ormsby attended 80% of meetings.
This is Harding’s first term in council, although he has worked on HBRC issues for more than 15 years.
“I love that this job lets me find ways to balance competing environmental and community concerns, make a real difference in how we respond to climate change and ultimately how we maintain a great living environment in Hawke’s Bay.
“Plus, I work with a bunch of highly committed councillors and staff who all have the interests of our region at heart and a wide range of views on how to get there.
“I least enjoy local government processes, which are agonisingly slow and the fact that sometimes local and central government are out of step.”
Lambert, who has been a councillor in Wairoa and Hawke’s Bay since 2016, said that aside from the regular council meetings, he also represented HBRC on several sub-committees.
“All councillors are also encouraged to attend as many of the other sub-committee meetings as they can. Which I certainly endeavour to do. In addition to this, our weekly timetables are often peppered with regular workshops run by senior staff to ensure that we have all the relevant information that we need and that we understand the processes required to make timely decisions.
“I take all my responsibilities with the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council very seriously and I will continue to do so until the end of my term.”
Chairwoman Hinewai Ormsby said for committee, workshops and council meetings, it is expected that all councillors attend.
“If councillors can’t attend, their apology is expected with a valid reason, which is then accepted or not at the meeting by voting members.
“Various councillors and I represent the council on national and local forums, and for dignitary visits that at times clash with council and committee days, however, judgments are made carefully on the importance of the matters being considered.
“Online presence is an alternative made available and provides the opportunity to be present at meetings when it is difficult to be physically present.”
Napier
At Napier City Council, four out of 12 councillors attended all meetings, along with the mayor. They were Maxine Boag, Rhonda Chrystal, Sally Crown and Juliet Greig, while Greg Mawson and Nigel Simpson attended the fewest, scoring 80%.
Councillor Richard McGrath made an apology and was absent from the meeting, with other councillors at the time saying part of his reason for not attending was the threat of patched gang members also being there.
Mayor Kirsten Wise said councillors were committed and dedicated to their roles.
“Apologies are accepted in good faith, and I know that absent councillors make apologies for genuine reasons.”
Wairoa
At the Wairoa District Council, three out of six councillors had 100% attendance at full council meetings. Denise Eaglesome-Karekare not only attended every meeting, she was also at 30 out of 30 committee meetings.
Eaglesome-Karekare is in her seventh term, five of those as deputy mayor.
“I see it as my duty to attend council meetings, I have been elected to be one of the voices of the community and you can’t be that if you’re not there,” Eaglesome-Karekare said.
“I love that I can in some way influence and try to make the best decisions for our community and lobby for what we need. It’s getting harder financially for ratepayers and looking for solutions to minimise that and still make our community the choice for people to settle here is a priority.”
Jeremy Harker and Roslyn Thomas were present at all meetings, while Chaans Tumataroa-Clarke attended the fewest at 70%.
Tumataroa-Clarke didn’t respond to Local Democracy’s requests for comment.
Mayor Craig Little said attendance at meetings and community involvement were important to ensure elected members were effective.
“I know for myself, as ex-officio on all committees, it is not possible to attend all meetings due to time and calendar conflicts with other civic duties,” Little said.
