Official information responses costing Coast council $120k a year, boss says

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

By local democracy reporter Lois Williams:

Responding to official information requests is costing the West Coast Regional Council more than $100,000 a year, councillors have been told.

The council’s Risk and Assurance committee discussed a staff report on Tuesday (August 27) showing that in the three months to the end of June, the council had 26 requests for official information, including one that asked for all current resource consents and their GIS locations.

Under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, councils must respond as promptly as they can to requests, within 20 days.

All but one had been provided within the statutory timeframe, staffer Jo Field told councillors.

A request filed on 29 December last year had been the subject of a complaint to the Ombudsman after it was lost in the system during the council’s holiday period.

The LGOIMA requests came from members of the public as well as media, and while some were simple enough, others were complex.

An unusual query, asking what contracts the council had with former Cabinet Minister Steven Joyce, was easily disposed of: the answer was none.

Others, relating to reports on the Westport floods and coastal hazard mapping, were more complicated.

Requests refused by the council included one asking for Civil Defence community contacts (declined on privacy grounds) and one asking for correspondence about the Taylorville Resource Park (on grounds of legal privilege).

Chief executive Darryl Lew said OIA requests were on the increase right across central and local government and were also becoming more complex.

Responding to them was creating more work for staff.

“If I totaled up the cost it would be about $120,000 in staff time. It’s a cost of doing business and we don’t have any latitude to opt out.”

The council did not have an in-house specialist to deal with LGOIMA requests and needed to think about the best way of delivering the service, Lew said.

The council had the option of charging for some of the work involved in responses, he confirmed.

Chair Frank Dooley said the council needed to weigh up its options.
“The media is very important on the West Coast – it’s important to the community; we have to balance the need to provide information in an open and transparent manner, as opposed to cost.”

Lew agreed to come up with a paper analysing the issues involved, for councillors to consider at their next meeting.