Committees differ from plan

Gore District Council’s new committee structure is almost unrecognisable compared to the mayor’s original proposal and even differs to what was agreed upon just last month.

Councillors were each appointed to up to three of the council’s four committees at an extraordinary meeting last Tuesday.

The first meetings of the Audit and Risk committee and the newly established Community Wellbeing committee were held afterwards.

Each committee was expected to consist of seven councillors plus the mayor, as agreed at a full council meeting last month.

However, Mayor Ben Bell revealed at last week’s extraordinary meeting that the plan had changed.

‘‘There’s two committees of eight [Audit and Risk and Assets and Infrastructure], one committee of seven, which is Policy and Planning, and one committee of nine, which is Community Wellbeing,’’ he said.

This was not disputed by any councillors.

It is not the first time the structure has changed.

Mr Bell’s initial plan was for a six-committee structure with five portfolios back in November.

A four-committee structure was later approved at a full council meeting in December, where it was decided that all councillors would sit on all committees.

This was then revisited at last month’s ordinary council meeting, where four equal committees of eight members were approved.

Further changes were revealed last Tuesday, when Mr Bell announced the appointments.

Cr Stewart MacDonnell is chairman of the Audit and Risk committee, Cr Glenys Dickson is chairwoman of Community Wellbeing, Cr John Gardyne is chairman of Assets and Infrastructure and Cr Keith Hovell is chairman of Policy and Planning.

The committees do not have the power to act but can make recommendations to be voted on by councillors.

At the Audit and Risk committee meeting, it was decided to recommend the council put funding towards a critical risk assessment after a report revealed the council was not meeting its statutory health and safety obligations.

The meeting was chaired by Mr Bell in place of Cr MacDonnell, who was absent along with Cr Joe Stringer.

At the Community Wellbeing committee meeting afterwards, a request for $24,000 to support youth gaming events was among the recommendations that would be brought to the full council, as would the possibility of re-establishing a grants subcommittee.

As a newly established committee, Cr Dickson said the Community Wellbeing committee was a platform for iwi and community engagement.

‘‘The format is actually to shape the council decisionmaking around items that are important to our community that will feed into our annual plan.’’

GORE DISTRICT COUNCIL COMMITTEES