By MATHEW DEARNALEY
The Auckland Regional Council, which claims to be a model of open government, barred an elected member from one of its own meetings.
Deputy transport chairman Jack Henderson was turfed out of the annual review of chief executive Jo Brosnahan's contract.
Mr Henderson's story is just one of a series of findings in a troubling Weekend Herald investigation into the secrecy of our public bodies.
The doors of local body meetings are being shut on public and press with monotonous regularity.
A variety of excuses are offered for the closures, including protection of personal privacy, commercial sensitivity and legal privilege.
During its investigation, the Weekend Herald has been kicked out of meetings ranging from a local community board to the closed-shop Auckland Mayoral Forum.
But even elected representatives are not immune.
Mr Henderson said he was barred when he turned up to a meeting after being sent confidential agenda papers like all other councillors. He said it was outrageous that an elected member should be barred.
Councils commonly let members sit in on meetings of committees to which they do not belong as long as they do not vote.
Mr Henderson had no quibbles with what the council paid Jo Brosnahan, whose negotiated increase from today on last year's pay package of $205,672 has yet to be disclosed.
The Weekend Herald has filed a request for the information, but an ARC legal adviser is considering how the council should respond.
Mr Henderson said his concern was about being locked out of a process which had a bearing on ARC staffing and the ability of officers to implement council policies.
ARC chairman Phil Warren said he didn't know "what Jack is on about."
He had simply followed the advice of the council's secretariat in upholding the integrity of committee structures.
"I have a policy that everything done in confidence with the public not in the room is eventually put out in the public arena," he said.
An examination of minute books shows the ARC is correct in claiming that it conducts more business in public than do neighbouring city councils.
The ARC and its four standing committees dealt with 8.9 per cent of their business items in secret last year.
More than half involved passenger transport tenders, which become public information once let.
Auckland City, mired for much of last year in confidential negotiations over the Britomart transport centre, closed the doors on 17.3 per cent of its business in 25 council meetings over 13 months.
In 1998, Mayor Christine Fletcher made an election pledge to be more open and accountable than her predecessor.
Closed doors make public business private
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