Council governance manager Greer Golding said there were no workshops held in public.
Asked if any of the minutes or notes from workshops had been made public, Golding said none.
”It is council’s intention going forward to include workshop notes on subsequent committee agendas.”
Joyce said all councillors were clear about the no-decisions-to-be-made-in-workshops rule. The council needed to take the public along with them in the decision-making process and workshops didn’t do that, he said.
Councillor Anne Henry agreed: “Workshops have their place, but I do believe we need to be showing the process of our decision-making through our meetings.”
There needed to be a balance between transparent decision-making and time for the councillors to nut out some of the harder issues, she said.
The public could also be brutal, Henry said.
”The public need to really realise if they want to have good politicians, they need to not be so brutal and give the people the opportunity to talk through the issues.”
Mayor James Denyer said Boshier’s review was “surprisingly” wide-ranging and went further than most expected.
There were cost implications if all the recommendations were adopted, with more staff likely to be required, Denyer said.
”We’re happy to move towards being more open and transparent. But where that finally lands and what is actually being asked for is a little bit unclear at the moment.”
Denyer said it would be possible to open up some workshops to the public, but some issues were commercially sensitive or involved privacy issues.
Elected members could also behave differently when they were being observed publicly, he said.
”Sometimes you get more speeches and a less free-flowing discussion. Having an ability to speak freely is a valuable one.”
Councillor Don Thwaites said more could be done in the open.
”That would be a good thing, I believe because it would actually help everyone’s understanding of the matter.
“If there’s more research needed or the facts aren’t fully there, that’s when they tend to be directed towards workshops.”
When asked if he thought long-term and annual plan workshops could be held in the open as Tauranga City Council had done, Thwaites said it would be a good idea.
”[It would] bring people up to date on the pressures that exist.”
–Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ on Air