Election Issues: transparency
‘‘There has been much criticism by council candidates standing this year about a lack of transparency around council decisions, in particular the amount of closed meetings in council meetings. Do you feel council is currently conducting in a transparent manner? What would you do differently if mayor? ’’
With several councillors running for the Taupo District Council running on platforms that call for greater transparency, this week we have asked council candidates to speak their piece about how council conduct business.
I believe in maximum transparency in all council dealings certainly in terms of outcomes. This council has a reputation for withholding information and, bearing in mind it is exclusively the ratepayers money they are spending, this is totally unacceptable. Hiding behind confidentiality ensures ratepayers are kept in the dark until controversial decisions are beyond change. The current scandal with the previous ceo’s enormous recent payout, despite this council receiving clear legal advise not to do this, is proof of this process. We as Ratepayers should be outraged and hold the Mayor who led this decision and all councillors that voted for it to account. I promise that as your mayor I will create a transparent system including all mayoral spending and expenses in detail.
As your mayor I will guide council to make the right decisions for our district. As a result there will be little need to hide behind confidentiality. To be extra clear, there will not be any cronyism or golden handshakes on my watch as mayor. There has been a lack of transparency in council. We should make decisions knowing they will be subject to scrutiny. My voting record shows I have stood firmly against the poor decisions hidden from ratepayers by confidentiality. I confirm I voted against the golden handshake for the previous CEO. Moving forward hiding unpopular decisions behind confidentiality in council meetings will be something associated with past mayors, not me. Ratepayers deserve better.