Council’s mistaken reply to data request ‘alarming’
A Nelson City councillor was ‘‘alarmed’’ by an official response to his request for information from his own council.
Local councils are obliged to answer official requests for information by members of the public under a law known as the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA).
However, these standards generally do not apply to elected members of the council.
Councillor Mel Courtney said his initial request for data on the Trafalgar Centre – which he raised as a problem when the figures revealed the sports and event centre had been used for 123 days out of 480 since its reopening – was treated as a LGOIMA request.
Such requests must be answered within 20 days of their receipt, and generally are returned towards the end of that period.
Courtney was ‘‘alarmed’’ when he saw the council’s response, and asked for it to be reconsidered. ‘‘That was very unusual,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ve never had that happen before.’’
Courtney has recently been a vocal advocate for more transparency at the council, including pushing for an external review of processes which lead to the troubled Greenmeadows community centre project.
‘‘We need to publicly acknowledge challenges and set about fixing them,’’ he said.
Communications manager Paul Shattock said the response to Courtney was simply an error in processing the question.
‘‘It was just the case of one of the customer service staff heading off on the wrong track, and it was rectified as soon as the assigned council officer saw it was recorded incorrectly.’’
Courtney received an answer within a week of his question, rather than the almost four-week period designated by the legislation.
Anyone can make a LGOIMA request for information from local councils, as well as Official Information Act requests from the Government.
‘‘That was very unusual. I’ve never had that happen before.’’
Councillor Mel Courtney