Whakatāne District Council is set to implement changes to its meeting processes to align with recommendations from the Chief Ombudsman’s recent report on best practice for council workshops.
From Wednesday, the Council has announced it will adopt several new measures to ensure compliance with legislation and improve transparency.
Council Acting Chief Executive, David Bewley, outlined the Council’s commitment to an ‘open by default’ approach.
“These changes will further enhance our current practices, making our operations more transparent and accessible to the public,” Mr Bewley explains.
“Meetings and briefings are only held in public excluded sessions when there is a justifiable reason for doing so.”
Changes will include publishing briefing agendas and details on the Council website, opening briefings to the public and briefings being recorded. If the decision is made to exclude the public from a briefing, as determined under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, the briefing and the reasons for excluding the public will be published on the Council website.
“Council briefings are designed to provide Elected Members with information they need to be able to make informed, effective decisions during Council meetings.”
“While no decisions are made at briefings, there is complex information to discuss and digest and can often provide a great deal of context for when the decisions are made,’ said Mr Bewley.
