Councillors to hear review

INVERCARGILL

INVERCARGILL city councillors are set to find out what their flaws may be and changes they may need to make, when they are briefed at a meeting today.

An Invercargill City Council extraordinary meeting begins at 9am for independent evaluator Richard Thomas and council independent governance adviser Bruce Robertson to brief councillors on their review of the council’s governance.

The pair were called in after the Department of Internal Affairs launched an investigation in August in response to concerns raised about the performance of elected representatives.

A council spokeswoman yesterday said that after the briefing, feedback would be sought from elected members about the report and the recommendations, which the evaluators would present.

The report would be finalised within the next fortnight, then considered formally by the full council.

‘‘Once the council has considered the report and made decisions on the way forward, the outcome and next steps will be shared with the Department of Internal Affairs and the community,’’ she said.

Today’s meeting, from which the public is excluded, does have some exemptions: Mr Robertson, Mr Thompson, council chief executive adviser Jane Parfitt and communications consultant Amanda Healy are all able to attend.

The AH Communications website says Ms Healy specialises in strategic communications, public relations, media management, crisis communications, reputation management and stakeholder engagement. She formerly worked for the Christchurch City Council as a public affairs manager and senior communications adviser.