Gore mayor Ben Bell throws governance curveball at councillors
Wednesday, 15 February 2023
Five months after the local body elections it remains unclear which councillors will sit on the Gore District Council’s governance committees, after mayor Ben Bell threw a curveball at a meeting on Tuesday night.
The council was due to discuss the standing orders for its committees when Bell said he was uncomfortable with all councillors being on all committees – a structure the council voted on after his first proposed governance structure failed to gain traction.
At a meeting in December, the council voted that all councillors would sit on all four committees – Assets and Infrastructure, Audit and Risk, Community Wellbeing, and Policy and Planning.
However, on Tuesday, Bell proposed that councillors should be able to opt out of some committees – and he had prepared a list of which councillors he thought should be on each committee.
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He said most councillors had a full-time job, he was concerned about media attention around councillors missing meetings, and having more meetings meant there would be more pressure on the council’s governance staff.
Bell suggested councillors should step down from the committee they would have the least experience on, but Cr Bronwyn Reid said councillors should stay on those committees, so they could gain experience.
Bell suggested councillors should say at the meeting which committees they did not want to be on, but Reid said councillors should be able to choose.
Council chief executive Stephen Parry said councillors may want to reflect on their decisions and discuss it with the mayor. He suggested the council hold an extraordinary meeting before the first committee meetings were scheduled to appoint councillors.
The Community Wellbeing and Audit and Risk committees are scheduled to meet on February 21. Parry said the agendas for those meetings were already being prepared.
Cr Keith Hovell said that as deputy mayor, he should be on all the committees.
Cr Glenys Dickson said he could still attend all the meetings, but may not have voting rights at those where he was not appointed to that committee.
After a lengthy discussion, it was decided the committees should meet quarterly, would have eight members each, and the council would hold an extraordinary meeting to appoint councillors to the committees.
Bell also requested a report be prepared into what extra pressure the committee structure would put on the council’s governance staff.
Cr Bret Highsted said the council had operated with four committees before, but Bell said that was when the council had a full time governance officer, and that person now worked part-time.
In November, Bell removed his proposed governance structure of six committees, five portfolios and mana whenua representation, which council staff estimated could cost nearly $300,000 per year more than the previous model, from the council meeting agenda.
Councillors then met behind closed doors in a workshop to discuss the governance structure.