Two councillor roles could go

There could be two fewer seats at the Rotorua Lakes Council table, if a proposal is agreed. Photo / File

Rotorua Lakes Council is proposing to drop the number of councillors from 12 to 10 and introduce a rural community board as part of its ongoing 2016 election review.

At an extraordinary council meeting at 9.30am tomorrow, councillors will discuss the recommendation made by council staff.

The proposal was formulated as part of the council's Your Choice 2016 Election Review that began in February.

If passed, the proposal will go out for public consultation starting next week.

It would see the number of councillors drop by two plus a mayor, and a rural community board set up with the same structure as the current Rotorua Lakes Community Board - with a chairperson, three elected members and one nominated councillor.

The proposal does not include options for any changes to the voting system, which remains first past the post and was confirmed in September last year, or provision for Maori wards, which were ruled out in October last year.

In their report to councillors, the council's governance and partnerships manager Oonagh Hopkins and governance lead Rick Dunn, said the proposal was put forward by the 2016 Election Review working party - which was made up of three councillors and three independent members of the public.

"The proposal is based on a need for change, the need for a rural and lakes voice, the opportunity to be involved in local decision making as and when topics/projects that citizens have a special interest in arise, fairness, and the the ability to elect as many councillors as possible," the report stated.

An initial budget of $20,000 was set aside for the first part of the representation review. Costs to date are $12,800.

"The next phase of consultation will be utilising the remaining budget set aside as on-line and hard copy collateral is able to be achieved at no additional cost to the review," the report stated. Federated Farmers Rotorua/Taupo branch committee member Neil Heather said the proposal was "better than nothing".

"We spent a lot of time preparing submissions to council and were asking for two rural councillors in a ward-style system - this is what we would prefer.

"But this does seem to me that maybe they do feel the rural sector is under-represented and at least they are thinking about it," Mr Heather said.