Ruapehu Selected as a Foundation Council for New Standards Programme

Ruapehu District Council (RDC) is pleased to announce it has been selected as a Foundation Council for the recently announced local government New Zealand standards programme.

Ruapehu Mayor Don Cameron said the new system outlined in the excellence programme lined up with the sectors’ and its own strategic plans to lift the value of its services to the community.

“We are thrilled to be selected as one of the founding councils for this standards programme. We are excited by what the programme offers and the chance to share the results with our community.

“We believe we offer great value to Ruapehu communities but there is always room for improvement,” Mayor Cameron said.

The local government standards system will demonstrate and improve the value and services of councils by measuring qualitative and quantitative indicators across leadership, finance, service delivery and community engagement. Local Government New Zealand has selected 21 Foundation Councils to lead out the programme in 2016. Results will be published in 2017.

Through the programme participating councils will be assessed every three years, given a standard from A to C, and the results publicised. Councils will discuss results with communities and use the assessments to plan improvements.

LGNZ President Lawrence Yule said the system was being set up to give communities a clear and independent picture of how well their council was performing in serving the community.

“This will provide for communities a thorough and trusted standard for council performance. They will now know that their council meets an A, B, or C standard,” he said.

“For councils this will help them improve to deliver top value for communities. They will now know how they perform in dozens of services, and where the community wants improvement.”

The excellence programme been developed in response to the 2015 New Zealand Local Government Survey, which showed there is an opportunity to lift and demonstrate the service and value councils deliver to their communities.

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