KEY POINTS:
Rodney politicians painted a picture of a district council that is already striving to reform its ways when they faced keen questioning by the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Auckland Governance.
Earlier, commissioners heard a procession of residents complaining about high rates and low satisfaction with services that strongly suggested there was something wrong with Rodney.
Councillor Suzanne Weld said the council suffered from a lack of focus and resources and she had been disturbed by the lack of calibre of representatives and "the bickering that goes on".
Commission chairman Peter Salmon: "In a word, is Rodney a dysfunctional council?"
Ms Weld: "Yes, I think so. But it's improving, and with a new council elected last October and seven new councillors, it feels different and there is more co-operation and willingness to try to work together."
Mike Smith, of the Rodney Economic Development Trust, told commissioners: "We have the best councillors that we can remember but the jury is still out whether they will be able to deal with future growth while being exposed to a vocal minority who want no rate increases and no change."
When her turn came, Mayor Penny Webster answered criticism that the council lacked a strategic direction by saying that the new council had changed committee structure and staff so it could make faster progress with making operative the Proposed District Plan 2000.
Furthermore, it had just put out a draft document, "Planning Rodney", which would give effect to the "Vision Rodney" document of 2003. She said the council suffered from lack of recognition of the impact of growth.
But it was campaigning hard for change.
Evidence of moving swiftly towards this goal, she said, was the decision - taken ahead of annual plan consultation this week on 940 submissions - to put out a revised draft plan, with a new average rates increase.
Previously, the council proposed an average rates rise of 13 per cent for the district's rural and townships properties and an average of 11 per cent for Hibiscus Coast properties.
Mrs Webster is now guaranteeing residents that average rates district-wide will not exceed 10 per cent, though the final rates increase will be decided on June 26.
Rodney's average increase for the pas three years has been 6.5 per cent, 10.2 per cent and 6.1 per cent.
Chief executive Rodger Kerr-Newell has begun a restructuring of staffing and administration procedures in an attempt to bring costs down.
Last month, the council spent $5000 on creating its "Serf City" billboard in Wellington's Lambton Quay, as close to the Beehive as possible.
It explained it wanted to inform MPs and public servants that Rodney did not want to be "gobbled up" into a super city.
