New spirit of openness on Tauranga council

Rick Curach says the abolition of secret briefings is a victory for democracy.

The abolition of secret briefings has been labelled a victory for democracy by re-elected Tauranga city councillor Rick Curach.

He has succeeded in formalising the new direction of the council to replace closed briefings with open workshops.

Today's meeting focused mainly on the council's revamped committee structure and its standing orders. It included a section that dealt with workshops - meetings where councillors were briefed on issues without reaching agreement.

Cr Curach's move to formalise the holding of all workshops in the open, except where good reasons existed to exclude the public, was unanimously endorsed by the newly elected council. It was also agreed that all workshops, including closed sessions, must be publicly notified along with their topics on the council website.

Another long-serving councillor, Catherine Stewart, praised the leadership of new mayor Greg Brownless for backing the move to open workshops - reverting to a system that existed before the 2013 election.

The Bay of Plenty Times revealed this year that nearly 200 confidential briefings were held by the former council over two and a-half years. This was more than twice as many as the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and four times more than Hamilton City Council.

"It is a victory for democracy," Cr Curach said afterwards.

The new mood of openness was reinforced by Mr Brownless, who pledged to eventually bring into the open the only confidential item dealt with yesterday - delegations to the chief executive during the electoral hiatus between councils.

He also wanted names to be recorded of those who opposed recommendations, ending a system in which it was sometimes difficult to know exactly how councillors voted, particularly if it was by voice vote or a quick show of hands.

The only note of disharmony yesterday was the replacement of deputy mayor Kelvin Clout as one of the council's recommended four representatives on the region's SmartGrowth committee. He was replaced by Mount/Papamoa Ward councillor Leanne Brown because her constituency included one of the city's biggest growth areas, Papamoa East.

Cr Clout nitially indicated that he would vote against being dropped in favour of Cr Brown.

However, after a lengthy debate, he said he was not going to be petulant by being the only person to vote against her appointment, saying he appreciated the offer of a possible alternate arrangement where he stood in for members unable to attend SmartGrowth meetings.

A major departure from previous councils was an ''innovative'' committee structure in which the membership of five of the six standing committees will comprise seven of the 11 elected representatives. The exception was the audit, finance, risk and monitoring committee.

Cr Catherine Stewart has been given a special role as a community liaison and consultation councillor.

Having a committee dedicated to transport recognised the growing pressures on the city's roading network. The city transformation committee would deal with the city's built environment, including to achieve a greater range of housing options.

Tauranga City Council's new committee chairs
City Transformation: Larry Baldock (deputy Gail McIntosh)
Transport: Rick Curach (deputy Terry Molloy)
Environment: Steve Morris (deputy Kelvin Clout)
Community & Culture: Terry Molloy (deputy Leanne Brown)
Economic Development and Investment: Max Mason (deputy Kelvin Clout)
Audit, Finance, Risk and Monitoring: Gail McIntosh (deputy Max Mason)