Auckland councillors ranked under secret surveillance

By ANNE BESTON

The Auckland Regional Council secretly rated the performance of its elected councillors at public meetings to explain its controversial rating system.

The council was also accused of denying councillors the right to speak out publicly.

Reports issued to Glenfield Ratepayers chairman David Thornton reveal ARC staff made notes on how well individual councillors sold the rates policy in the lead-up to its release early last year.

Councillors were asked to attend a series of "rating roadshows" at Rotary clubs and ratepayers association meetings in late 2002 as the council prepared to sell the new rates system to ratepayers.

Councillor Brian Smith said he requested a copy of his rating after he learned of the secret reports.

It said some comments he made at an RSA meeting were "not helpful" and that he spoke "for quite a while before talking to the notes he had been provided with".

Another report, by former communications adviser Christine Young, noted that ARC chairwoman Gwen Bull would be better off with a chaperone at meetings.

"I would recommend that a senior staff member go with Gwen to all her presentations to help with the details of what is happening and why," Ms Young said.

Mr Smith said that although he did not mind constructive feedback on his performance, he was annoyed it was done in secret.

"Unless you're told about surveillance you can't do anything to improve your performance," he said.

Other councillors were unaware of the reports on their performance.

"Perhaps we should start secretly rating staff on their performance," said Waitakere member Paul Walbran.

Mr Smith was also critical of a memo issued last week by Mrs Bull saying all official statements on the council's behalf must go through her, and any councillors communicating with voters must pay their own costs unless the views expressed are in line with council policy.

The memo and secret monitoring come in the run-up to this year's local body elections, where voters are widely tipped to take revenge on councillors after sharp rate rises last year.

Mrs Bull's memo is based on draft "public communications" guidelines from the Auditor-General's office.

But the guidelines are not yet finalised, and other councils, such as Auckland City and Environment Waikato, are waiting for the final document.

Assistant auditor, legal, Robert Buchanan was diplomatic when asked whether Mrs Bull's memo was jumping the gun.

"If a council wanted the final Auditor-General's position, then they would be advised to wait until the final document is out," he said.

While the memo outlines the Audit Office principles, council staff added "additional notes".

Among them is that members are not permitted "to use council communications facilities for political or re-election purposes".

Mr Smith, who represents Rodney District, has been told he will have to pay for a newsletter he wants to send out which is critical of the council's rates policy. Council staff picked out the offending paragraphs and told him the newsletter, to be sent to about 35 constituents, could not be issued using ARC resources.

Director of secretariat Ewen Hutchinson said the memo was a mixture of staff work and the Auditor-General's comments from the guidelines.

ARC communications adviser Ken Dyer said staff were simply at each rates roadshow to take note of attendance and any questions.

Mr Smith has written to the Auditor-General and the Office of the Ombudsmen to complain about the new communication guidelines.