Ombudsman puts spotlight on TDC

Tasman District Council is one of four local government agencies whose official information practices are under investigation by Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier.

The other three are Far North District Council, Auckland Council and Greater Wellington Regional Council. All four are subject to the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA).

Boshier is keen to hear from members of the public who have engaged with the councils in the past six to 12 months through the LGOIMA process.

‘‘I have spoken to the chief executives of the agencies, and they all welcome the initiative,’’ he said.

‘‘The selection process takes into account my strategic priorities, which for this year includes a focus on local government, public perception of how an agency complies with its official information obligations, factors that might increase the public interest in how the agency is managing its obligations, and any complaints and contacts my office has received.’’

The investigations aim to establish whether the agencies have the leadership, culture, organisational systems, policies and procedures in place to support good official information practices to achieve the purposes of the official information legislation relevant to their organisation.

Boshier said he had signalled ‘‘quite clearly’’ that he would be focusing more on local government, ‘‘and I have ensured we are looking at different sizes of councils in various areas of the

‘‘We are looking at different sizes of councils in various areas of the country.’’ Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier