12-month review results in committee structure change
Twocommittees have been merged into one to providemoreintegrated oversight of catchmentmanagement in the Waikato region.
The change – todisestablish the community restoration and river and catchmentmanagementcommittees, replacing them with an integrated catchmentmanagementcommittee – wasapproved at Friday’s council meeting.
The ground-breaking committee structure approved lastNovemberby thenewcouncil challenged the status quo withnewcommittees, including one with a specific focuson climate change and another on regional connections.
Itwas agreed at the time that the effectiveness of all the discretionary committees should be reviewed after 12 months.
As part of the review councillors
were recently asked to complete a short survey. There wasa general consensus that, overall, the committee structure does work well, said Waikato Regional Council chairman Russ Rimmington.
“But a commontheme emerged around crossover of the role and function of the community
restoration committee and the river and catchmentmanagement committee,” he said. “We’ve tried a differentwayof doing things this year, but it hasn’t worked as well as wethought it might.”
Rimmington said councillors wanted a structure thatwas costefficient and effective.
“This work accounts for around one-third of our core business and is vital to oureconomyand environmental prosperity. Bringing it under one umbrella will provide improved oversight and efficiencies,” he said.
Thenewcommittee will be chaired by councillors Stuart
Husband (north) and Stu Kneebone (south). Its membership comprises councillors Fred Lichtwark, Andrew MacPherson, Kathy White, Pamela Storey andTipaMahuta. The terms of reference for the committee are due to be confirmed in the newyear andwill capture the work of both committees.