Council gets tick of approval in audit

A year of hard work has resulted in a tick of approval for Stratford’s council.

During the adoption of the 20161/2017 annual report on Tuesday, Audit New Zealand’s Andrew Clark said the Stratford District Council (SDC) had performed well over the year before giving them an ‘‘unmodified opinion’’, a tick of approval on the council’s operations for the year.

The major revaluation involved working out the value of all the assets owned by the council, which Clarke said was a large job but added he was happy with the process that had been followed by the council to do it.

He also pointed out the changes in senior management and the creation of an audit committee as major points for the council throughout the year.

Assets manager Sven Hanne was appointed chief executive in February, while Victoria Araba stepped into his former role and Clarke said changes in senior management always carried an inherent risk in making sure the correct process were carried out while the transition took place.

‘‘We think Council is in a good position with Sven taking up the chief executive position and through the audit we haven’t noticed any actions or process failures which is good,’’ he said.

Clarke said appointing an independent chair of the audit committee, which the council did, was best practice and was a positive step by the council.

With the report signed off by council, Hanne will be issuing a summary of it for the public to read.

During the meeting on Tuesday afternoon, councillors also adopted a new parking schedule which Director Environmental Services, Liam Dagg, said was to clear up some inconsistencies between what was on the streets and what was in the council records.

The new changes, which mean council records will be the same as what it marked around the town, will come into effect on January 1.