Click here to read presentation of Annual Report
One issue, raised by Charles Sturt, was the annual survey of the public's satisfaction with the council.
Chief financial officer Thomas Colle said there were some disappointing results and that further analysis of the results found the survey was skewed quite heavily towards people in the 50+ and affluent bracket.
He said the Green Corridor, the planned children's health hub and the City Focus had a significant impact on the survey results; that people who had an issue with these projects had low satisfaction levels with council services in general and those who did not had high levels of satisfaction with council services.
Mr Sturt pointed out that most of those aged 45 and below no longer had landlines.
Tania Tapsell added to this saying, "I think we need to take feedback through Facebook," she suggested.
Councillor Karen Hunt added to that by saying the council needed to utilise technology in order to communicate with the public.
"It would be good if we could add a 'frequently asked questions' drop down to the website beside the annual report to make it more user friendly."
Mayor Steve Chadwick agreed and said "we need to move into a better use of electronic space".
The meeting then went into a closed session and the public were asked to leave.
Mrs Chadwick told the Rotorua Daily Post after the meeting the council had "started the term with clarity".
"There were some really good questions and good discussions as we try to establish the same level of knowledge so we can go forward in the next three years.
"We had free and frank discussion and it was really good, through the process of signing off the annual report, to get clarity around the council's long-term financial sustainability.
"It was great to have auditors from Audit New Zealand present so we could ask questions and it was very pleasing to hear that they are happy and confident about our financial position," she said.
Speaking after the meeting, new councillor Raj Kumar said he enjoyed his first meeting.
"It was pretty good. I think it moved very quickly, it looks like some lessons have been learned from last term.
"I raised some issues and I felt comfortable, I just have to settle in and get the hang of things," he said.