West Coast councils defend use of closed-door workshops
By local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
A fresh call by the Ombudsman for council workshops to be open to the public by default has received a cautionary response on the West Coast.
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier made the demand following his investigation into the way some councils have excluded the public from meetings.
None of the West Coast's four local authorities were formally scrutinized by the review.
The investigation followed complaints about councils "undermining local democracy" by holding secret meetings.
Boshier dismissed some of the reasons councils gave for closed-door meetings -- including being able to ask "silly questions".
West Coast Regional Council risk and assurance chairperson Frank Dooley said there was "no such thing as a silly question" and it should not be "an excuse" for closing the door to public scrutiny.
Everyone had "a right to understand" council business, but workshops were useful to inform elected members for later formal decision making, he said.
"It's getting your ducks in a row," Dooley said.
However, the council had conducted seven closed door workshops on the council's next 10-year long-term plan alone this year. Some of those workshops lasted several hours.
"I don't think there is anything to be gained by having those workshops in the public forum because we've got to debate where we go [later] from a strategic point of view," Dooley said.
Although, he said there was "greater scope for communication" around the purpose of the workshops.
The Westland District Council's use of workshops has been contentious at times, since the local body elections in October 2022.
Westland mayor Helen Lash said she had been upfront about the need for them, while acknowledging council discourse should primarily be in public.
A closed meeting invariably fuelled poor perception, but it was not necessarily a case of "hiding anything," Lash said.
"I have not doubt there have been workshops around the country held to hide information. It's something I despise from my previous tenure at council."
But the new Westland council had required a high level of briefings after the local election.
Closed workshops had been mainly on the commitments made by the council's predecessor, and to guide new councillors in their governance role, she said.
"Primarily, workshops were to develop the skills of the new council."
Lash said they had been deliberately called "workshops" instead of "training days" because they provided context for future decisions on urgent issues, including a "state of play" on the district's assets.
At the same time, workshops helped avoid "quick, rash decisions" by council only based on a summary report or sketchy information provided just days before, she said.
"If you don't understand the detail behind it, to me it's irresponsible in making decisions."
Dooley said it was sometimes necessary to brief councillors informally, such as with the 2022-23 annual report.
"I think it's really important for councillors to go through the annual report and understand and ask questions on it before putting it into the public [domain].
"Some of the other workshops we've had have been really technical."
These included expert briefings on the Westport flood resilience scheme and the 10-year Waiho River Management Strategy.
The later briefing was prior to the public presentation to the Franz Josef community a fortnight ago.
This ensured "everyone understood" what was coming in order to respond to constituents, he said.
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Stressed landowners on tenterhooks for Budget confirmation
By local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Flood-stricken landowners and the West Coast Regional Council are on tenterhooks on the promise of new funding for Franz Josef under $400m of new protection money announced in the Budget.
The council's Waiho River south and north banks project has been named as "ready for" the first tranche of the Regional Infrastructure Fund initial allocation in 2024-25.
However, whether the council gets the $10m it has been seeking in the past year in ongoing discussions with Government officials is not yet clear.
Council chief executive Darryl Lew initially said on Friday a $6m allocation under the new fund was confirmed.
However, staff later contacted LDR and said they "might have jumped the gun".
Minister Shane Jones' office said they did not know the individual project details and were unable to confirm the West Coast project allocation beyond Thursday's sweeping budget statement.
Lew said he understood council was to get $6m from the fund, predicated on a 40% ($4m) contribution from the landowners across the Franz Josef Special Joint Rating District.
He said bolstering the existing protection on the Waiho River south side and installing a flood forecasting and warning system was the primary focus of their $10m scheme.
A portion would also add protection for the north bank Franz Josef sewage ponds site - pending a district council decision to move the ponds, Lew said.
The council assured Waiho River ratepayers in April it was still working to secure the release of $8.7m of money previously allocated for the area's flood protection.
The $8.7m was meant to be spent on fixing stop banks on the south side of the river at Waiho Flat after announcement of a broader $24m scheme for the area in 2020.
Subsequently the council announced its 10-year Waiho River Management Strategy in October last year after the previous Government asked for a more detailed case including retreat from the south bank.
Under the strategy, the council proposes better flood warning and protection initially before a retreat from the area in about 10 years.
Lew said the $8.7m had now "gone" and money under the Regional Infrastructure Fund was "new money".
"It is predicated on a 60/40 split," he said.
"The total budget will be $10m of which 40% has to be recovered locally."
He anticipated a special meeting of the joint committee being called first to test "their commitment" to co-funding.
Waiho Flat ratepayers spokesman Dale Straight said stressed landowners on the south bank were hanging for some good news - particularly in the wake of the October announcement.
"There's people there pretty bloody stressed and worried," he said.
If the new funding "comes to pass" then it would be a major boost.
"It's been a pigs ear in the way it's been handled," he said.
"It's got to be good news for the south side, and certainly some of the farms further down the valley that are not really covered by any protection at all."
However, Straight said ratepayers may not feel able to financially commit to co-funding given the drawn out process they had endured for years.
"We had that nearly $8.7m promised four years ago that then got 'unpromised'. This may go someway to replace that I suppose."
Straight said the promise of "money for nothing" still had a price which might be "a big noose around our necks".
"There's a bit of water to go under the bridge yet."
Lew said the new money was aligned with the first two prongs of the 10-year Waiho River Management Strategy.
That was to immediately bolster civil defence and flood warning for the people living there, and to bolster the existing protection banks.
It would still be to "buy time" before an eventual staged retreat from the river's south bank, as announced in October.
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