Councils in Whanganui region mull opening workshops following Ombudsman’s report

Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe says live-streaming workshops is "the right thing to do".

An investigation by Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has prompted councils to rethink their approach to closed-door meetings and workshops.

The Rangitīkei District Council was one of eight local authorities reviewed by Boshier last year.

Mayor Andy Watson said staff weren’t “dragged over the coals”.

“[The Ombudsman] acknowledged that we were already livestreaming council meetings,” he said.

The council did not livestream its workshops but it had recently been decided the public could attend - other than for commercially or personally sensitive discussions, Watson said.

Livestreaming workshops could lead to people forming opinions without the full context of a topic, with issues such as rates being refined over a series of meetings, he said.

“We believe in making as many of our meetings as open as we possibly can.

“People are more than welcome to come along to the workshops and watch.”

Public exclusion from meetings could be used as “a veil of secrecy” but that wasn’t the case in Rangitīkei, he said.

Boshier found the Taranaki Regional Council did not advertise or inform the public about workshops “in any way”, despite the council claiming it did not exclude the public from most workshops.

Taranaki staff were wrongly using their need to deliver blunt advice as an excuse to keep the public out of meetings, Boshier said.

As a matter of good practice, workshops should be closed only where it was reasonable, he said.

The Whanganui District Council began livestreaming workshops following the election of Mayor Andrew Tripe in 2022.

Tripe said he ramped up council transparency and visibility as soon as he came on board.

“It’s about helping our community understand more about what council does but, also, telling them pretty much everything - including being upfront about where we’re heading with rates.

“There is a paradox where, if you try and suppress stuff or keep it away, people grow suspicious. We don’t want that.”

A workshop on October 10 lasted for almost five hours.

Rangitīkei Mayor Andy Watson. Photo / Bevan Conley

Ruapehu Mayor Weston Kirton said council workshops in his district were not open to the public but that position was about to be reviewed.

Notes from the workshops were made publicly available.

“[Exclusion] has been on the basis of protecting individuals who don’t feel that safe asking questions if it’s on a livestream,” he said.

“We are all grown-ups though and we appreciate the need to be transparent.

“We need the public to know we aren’t dealing in decision-making behind closed doors.”

Kirton said there may be a need to have closed workshops in the future but it could be done on a case-by-case basis.

“I think the question has to be ‘Why wouldn’t we open it up to the public?’

“You do have to be careful.

“If you invite someone from MSD [Ministry of Social Development] for example, or someone overseas who wants to engage with the council about a new business, it has to be by consent that it’s public.”

Former Whanganui mayor Hamish McDouall introduced live-streaming to council meetings in 2017, and then to committee meetings.

Workshops did not follow suit although affected parties could attend in person, as could the public on occasion.

McDouall said transparency was vital; however, so were commercial sensibilities and encouraging robust responses from staff.

“It’s a balance but, in the end, final decisions are almost always made in public,” he said.

“What I noticed after [the introduction of] live-streaming was that some councillors would use it as a performative forum when we were there to make sober decisions about other people’s money.”

Increased transparency could spur some councillors to do more pre-work before a meeting, he said.

South Taranaki District Council workshops were not open to the public, Mayor Phil Nixon said.

“We’ve got nothing to hide and we’ll have a talk about what to do next year.

“To me, [workshops] are a good place where officers can brief us on whatever is coming up and we can have good, robust discussions.

“When we do these things, we are in different breakout groups so I don’t really know how effective it would be with people coming in.”

South Taranaki did not have livestreaming technology but all other council meetings were open to the public, he said.

“If we do get pushed and we do have to have workshops open to the public, I hope Cabinet meetings will also be open.

“They are throwing ideas around and doing the exact things we do in workshops. What’s different?”

McDouall said council workshops were like a band recording a first demo.

“It’s not bad but the vocals are a bit **** and then someone says the verses need work.

“Once that’s sorted, then you go into the studio. You wouldn’t just release the demo.”

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.