Changes to committees for council’s new term
New Plymouth’s mayor has shaken up the district council’s committees for the forthcoming term, while two newcomers have launched straight into chair positions.
Neil Holdom has set up meeting structures for the next three years, which are likely to be adopted at next week’s inaugural council meeting, and has also named most committee members.
Last term’s planning and performance committees have been scrapped and a new committee, called strategy and operations, has been introduced.
Under the recommendation it would have wide-ranging delegated authority to handle issues including some parking controls and consider whether bylaws are working.
Holdom said the new structure would make the council process more efficient.
Strategy and operations could make some decisions straight away rather than issues going through several meetings, particularly on smaller matters, he said, but it could also refer them on.
Under the six-week council cycle, the strategy and operations committee would meet first, followed by the community board round, the iwi Te Huinga Taumatua committee, the finance, audit & risk committee and then full council.
Holdom said under the previous system an issue could often go through a community board ‘‘before councillors had had an opportunity to get into it’’.
Councillor Stacey Hitchcock will chair the strategy and operations committee, with councillor Richard Handley as her deputy. All councillors are members of the committee, as is the co-chair of Te Huinga Taumatua, an iwi representative who has yet to be named.
Councillor Gordon Brown will stay as co-chair of Te Huinga Taumatua and the council members of the committee will be all newcomers – Anneka Carlson, David Bublitz and Dinnie Moeahu. The iwi members have yet to be named.
The police liaison working party has also been disestablished, as it was often dealing with traffic issues, many of which related to the state highways, which are under NZTA control.
‘‘We’ll continue our close relationship with the police,’’ Holdom said.
He has also given two of the first-time councillors – Dinnie Moeahu and Amanda ClintonGohdes – leadership positions, with Moeahu chairing the aged and accessibility issues working party and Clinton-Gohdes the community funding investment committee.
‘‘Both Dinnie and Amanda are really capable, intelligent young professionals and we will wrap the appropriate support around them,’’ Holdom said.
Clinton-Gohdes said she was excited by the opportunity.
There were some real potential benefits in having the strategic and operations committee at the start, which would allow councillors to be across the issues at the beginning of the meeting round, as well as the ability to refer matters to the relevant committee at an early stage.
She said that she understood there would be the opportunity to review the structure in 18 months if it was not working as intended.
The first council meeting will be Wednesday, October 30, at 6pm.