Perusing minutes as part of a project is always an interesting exercise, how easy it is to get side tracked by the full and interesting minutes of days gone by. What was proposed, who said what and how the vote went was all noted – an absolute gold mine for researches.
In marked contrast we have today’s minimalist minutes which give little or no idea of what happened in the meeting. The agenda for the December meeting ( latest available at the time of writing) had eighteen items listed for discussion. And yet the Minutes tell very little about a few of these and nothing on most.
The CEO’s six weekly report was dealt with thus: ‘Council considered the report of the Chief Executive Officer. Council resolved to receive the report’. What did the CEO say? What did councillor’s consider? We will never know. The Mayor’s report received similar treatment.
Over half of the Councillors reported that they had nothing to report. During the previous six weeks they had done nothing pertaining to their positions as councillors worth mentioning? Of those who did report the minutes simply noted, as with the CEO’s and Mayor’s, that their reports were received.
What, if anything, are our representatives doing? What are the issues and what are councillor’s opinions?
This treatment of the Minutes seems to contravene the Local Body Act’s Rules on Council Minutes which says:
‘The purposes of this Act are—
(i) to provide for the availability to the public of official information held by local authorities, and to promote the open and public transaction of business at meetings of local authorities, in order—
(ii) to enable more effective participation by the public in the actions and decisions of local authorities; and
(iii) to promote the accountability of local authority members and officials,— and thereby to enhance respect for the law and to promote good local government in New Zealand
Council meeting are held during the day when most ratepayers can not attend. As the Act says, Minutes are to enable people to be informed on the current issues being discussed and individual councillor’s positions on them. Up until around ten years ago the minutes did just that. What has caused the change?
Every council has members who work intelligently and enthusiastically – and others less so. Being election year it is particularly important that voters are able to work out which are which. Good full minutes would give such an indication.
In addition currently there is what is quite probably the most important decision of the century to be made: future governance. This was not even mentioned in the minutes, is it being discussed? I am sure that most people would really like to know each councillor’s view on this subject.
The minutes noted the Times Age reporter’s presence, however precious little has appeared in that paper. Clearly what is needed is a local person to attend and report on the meetings. In days gone by I have done this and would dearly like to still be doing so, however this is not possible.
Is there anybody out there, a retired person maybe, who would be prepared to spend a morning every six weeks to be the community’s eyes and ears? I can guarantee an interesting morning – and they may even give you a cup of coffee at some stage
