Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell. Photo / Andrew Warner
Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell. Photo / Andrew Warner
A mayor’s request to council staff to notify Rotorua residents of public-excluded workshops has taken months to be acted on.
But after enquiries from Local Democracy Reporting, the notification of workshops will now be made public following the council’s “oversight”.
Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell said she asked council staff at the beginning of the new term to include in its information on meetings the date and time of workshops, in a move for greater transparency on council processes.
This has not been done to date, however, and council has said it was down to an “oversight”.
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier last year launched an investigation into concerns that councils were undermining local democracy by using workshops to discuss issues and make decisions behind closed doors.
Rotorua Lakes Council was among the eight councils he was investigating, and the findings were expected halfway through this year.
Councils around the country varied in how transparent workshops were for the general public.
Ōpōtiki District Council earlier this year decided to publish key notes from workshops.
Local Government New Zealand president Stuart Crosby believed unless there was good reason, all workshops should be held publicly.
He said councils were becoming more transparent and Ōpōtiki’s move was a good one.
There were benefits to workshops, but suspicions arose and assumptions could be made when people did not know what was happening in them.
Rotorua resident Justin Adams previously opposed public-excluded workshops. In response to Ōpōtiki’s change, he said Rotorua could adopt something similar, “as a step towards greater public transparency”.
He had previously complained to the Ombudsman about the council not providing detailed information on discussions in public-excluded workshops.
He said he had encouraged the new mayor and councillors to end what he believed was excessive public exclusion.
Rotorua Lakes Council district leadership and democracy deputy chief executive Oonagh Hopkins said any change to the forums process needed to be at the request of elected members.
She said forums were a way to support informed decision-making and were to brief elected members on emerging issues or get an indication of councillor preference before initiating a policy or project, and to provide an opportunity for elected members to develop ideas.
Rotorua forums were not open to the public or media and no minutes are recorded from these because, she said, no decisions were made during forums.
There had been 18 forums this term, 14 of which were induction workshops following the 2022 election.
Local Democracy Reporting asked Rotorua councillors whether workshops should be made public, to what degree and why, in what circumstances they should be closed to the public and what role they believed workshops had in decision-making.
Responses were provided by Tapsell and councillors Robert Lee, Sandra Kai Fong, Conan O’Brien and Lani Kereopa.
Tapsell said she supported including key notes from workshops as information available to the public.
“At times, [the] council will be discussing information that is commercially sensitive, such as how much we expect a project to cost.
“It’s in ratepayers’ best interest that we’re able to lay out the scope of these before we take on quotes from contractors so that we can ensure we get the best price back.”
Tapsell said workshops meant councillors could do their job well and be informed.
She said at the beginning of this term she made a number of changes, including that meeting agendas be uploaded a week before committee and council meetings, and that the date and topic of workshops be notified. This was to improve transparency on council processes.
The latter, however, was not happening.
Tapsell said it was her expectation all workshops would be notified and, having found out yesterday that was not the case, was told they would be in future.
A council spokesperson said this was an oversight and would be rectified.
Kereopa believed public and media scrutiny of workshops was unhelpful, and they were the “only opportunity councillors have to gather, share and question information collectively with council operations staff on-hand to provide answers”.
Rotorua councillors provided views on public-excluded workshops. Photo / Andrew Warner
She thought that scrutiny belonged at council meetings, and the council should keep its workshops closed to the public but provide key notes like Ōpōtiki.
She said workshops needed to be a safe space for councillors to talk.
Lee also supported the release of key notes, but said he was more for closed or mostly closed workshops.
He said he previously, prior to being elected, objected to public-excluded workshops because, in his view, it seemed decision-making was happening in them. He believed there had been a shift from the previous council.
Lee believed the role of workshops was to help ensure elected members could ask sensible questions, have an insightful debate and make informed decisions when they are on the public stage in front of the media and public.
Kai Fong said there was a need for councillors to have some time in forum sessions closed to the public to test ideas, ask as many questions as needed and do “blue-sky thinking”.
“No decisions should be made in forums. All decisions should be made in formal council meetings.”
O’Brien felt workshops should work the same as council and committee meetings and be open to the public except for where commercial, privacy or legal sensitivities applied.
“The public have the right to know the substance of information and advice to elected members from council officers, and how their elected representatives respond.
“Like justice, democracy must not only be done, but also seen to be done.”
Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ on Air.
