Empowering Communities Through Their Representatives

Mayoral candidate, Laurie Byers, today set out his plans for governance for the Far North and, in particular, how he plans to empower communities.

Mr Byers said, “Before the last election we were told by the current Mayor that decision-making powers of Community Boards were to be significantly increased. Instead we have seen them turned into little more than grants committees – this is very unfortunate.”

“I don’t believe that Community Board members are doing a bad job, as one of my opponents has claimed. I just think that they have had the rug well and truly pulled out from under them. I have a plan to fix it.”

“The people elected to Community Boards tend to be very close to their communities, and know and understand the people they represent. Council should be taking advantage of the insights they can bring to decision-making, rather than belittling their role as we have seen over the last three years.

“Under a Byers Mayoralty, I would immediately increase the responsibilities that Boards have so that they will have more of a say in the level and nature of services provided in their communities.

“I will review the governance structures in Council to bring in proper public transparency to Council’s decision making. I will limit the amount of meetings to limit costs, retain the Finance Committee and introduce two new Council committees, a Works Committee and a District Development Committee. These committees, more often than not, will meet out in the community”.

“Committees allow for decisions to be worked through in detail and in public, rather than the back room jack-ups we have seen over the last three years, and they represent an important tool for both accountability and transparency. Holding the meetings where the issue is being discussed allows the councillors to see the issue first hand and for the public to see their councillors at work.”

“To further empower Boards, a representative of each of the three boards will sit on both the committees, with voting rights.”

“I also see a very important role for the Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Board in the implementation of the Kerikeri-Waipapa Structure Plan. This plan was adopted prior to the last election yet in the last three years, other than the current Gateway exercise, nothing has been done to implement it. That is simply not good enough.”

“I am not prepared to let all the effort that Kerikeri people put into their Structure Plan come to nothing. The plan is a wonderful example of community driven progress and I believe that the community board could play a key role in its implementation.”

“More broadly, I would see Boards playing a central role in facilitating similarly community-driven infrastructure planning exercises with their communities.”

“To my mind, local government is about serving communities, not dictating to them. The governance model I have outlined will be a vast improvement on the current approach.” Mr Byers said.

ENDS

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