Fewer official requests

Official requests for council information in the last three months are down 45 per cent on the first quarter of the year, from 69 to 38, Tauranga City Council has reported. Queries from elected members, however, were up by 239 per cent from 77 to 261 – in part attributed to new councillors settling in, and to a new system of having all requests from councillors go through the council’s democracy services team, rather than directly to staff members. Requests from the mayor were generally handled outside of this process.