Nick Clark of the NZ Initiative has a good report on how democracy doesn’t work well at local government level. He gives some examples:
- Wellington City Council requires a Crown Observer to address mounting dysfunction.
- Carterton District Council attempted to exclude an elected representative from key decisions for expressing views consistent with her election platform.
- At Waitomo, a mayor who campaigned for a rates freeze, was subject to a complaint for publishing personal views ahead of a council vote on its rates increase.
- Gore District Council saw relationships deteriorate to the point where both mayor and chief executive officer (CEO) faced calls for resignation.
Nick touches of five improvements or solutions. They are:
- Let voters have a direct say on big decisions. Have referenda on major projects
- Make it easier for mayors and councillors to get information and speak up. CEOs block Crs from basic info. They should be able to ask written questions like MPs that must be answered within five days. Also standard performance reporting to allow comparisons between Councils.
- Give mayors their own support team. Extend the Auckland model where the Mayor is guaranteed a certain amount of funding for their own office, rather than having the CEO determine what level of support their supposed boss gets.
- Give elected representatives powers similar to those of company board members. I think the Government is looking at a law change in this direction.
- Consider the ‘strong mayor’ system that works in Germany. This is basically when the Mayor is Chair and CEO,. You sort of have this in London also. This one is quite radical, but would be worth considering in larger cities.
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