Mayor drops committees as council to meet fortnightly
New Southland mayor Rob Scott’s streamlined meeting structure is in place: The full district council will meet fortnightly instead of six-weekly, and three of the four major committees have been given the chop.
The changes passed unchallenged when the council met yesterday.
Scott had signalled the overhaul beforehand as a means for swifter decisionmaking, preventing duplications, and giving councillors a ‘‘wider lens’’ on issues facing the district.
He also wanted a blueprint ‘‘to show Wellington how to run local government really well’’, he said.
That meant reflecting the Southland district’s strong desire for a localised approach using community boards. Scott called it a ‘‘grassroots-upwards’’ system.
‘‘I want to keep it as simple as possible and make it really easy for people to work with the council, including staff, community boards and councillors,’’ he said.
Councillors accepted the recommendation in the meeting agenda to note ‘‘the mayor has exercised his power’’ under the Local Government Act.
Under the new system, the council’s finance and assurance committee remains. It will comprise all elected members, with non-councillor Bruce Robertson retained as an independent chairperson, a position he held in the previous term.
Scott acknowledged Robertson’s skills and expertise in that role.
Three committees are gone: services and assets; community and strategy; and regulatory and consents.
Though no councillor dissented, councillor Don Byars did make clear his intention to challenge one of the finance committee’s major strategies – borrowing to invest in the money market. ‘‘I don’t think that’s particularly prudent given [that] that borrowing is unnecessary,’’ he said.
Scott said that was a discussion to take to the finance committee.
The new system is not necessarily locked into place for the entire council term ahead.
The council resolution noted that Scott was considering whether or not to establish additional committees and may choose to do so in the coming year.