Rotorua councillors have expressed their desire to have free Wi-Fi in public areas in order to live up to being a "modern city".
The idea was floated during today's Rotorua Lakes Council strategy, policy and finance committee meeting as councillors approved a draft digital strategic plan.
The strategy vision is "digital technologies help people to stay connected to each other, to learn and access the opportunities of a growing digital economy" and there are five key objectives and proposed actions to help achieve each one.
The objectives are a world class broadband network, a digitally confident community, digitally savvy businesses and organisation, a vibrant and innovative digital sector and ensuring local culture and stories are digitally available.
Chairwoman Merepeka Raukawa-Tait questioned how much it would cost to install free Wifi city-wide.
"It has always rather bugged me that it is not... As a modern city we should be, so is it that expensive to bring that together?"
Group manager strategy and partnerships Jean-Paul Gaston said he did not have definite figures around cost.
"It is one of these situations where yes, a number of cities have gone down that route and supported the introduction of free Wi-Fi. In many cases it's done in partnership and commercial operations.
"We have Wi-Fi in the iSite and library so we do provide limited free Wi-Fi in the city and if you go into most cafes or McDonald's, they also provide that free Wi-Fi.
"The value proposition needs to be teased out whether that's something council should be leading or we should be facilitating others to deliver it... those need to be investigated through the strategy."
Councillors also voted to ditch the Youth Council in favour of a new youth engagement model.
The model aims to encourage more engagement for a wider faction of Rotorua youth, spanning from 12 to 24.
Councillor Tania Tapsell said while the youth council was "very dear to us" it was time to change.
"It is the youth calling for this change so we are looking at ways to expand the horizon and opportunities for youth engagement in our city."
Mrs Raukawa-Tait said the new model showed "we are serious about our young people and their views".
She said it was also a good opportunity to have their input on issues at an earlier time.
Councillor Trevor Maxwell said he "wholeheartedly" supported the new model.
"Councillor Tapsell really hits the nail on the head. We've got to do a lot of listening to our youth and listening to a wider collection of our youth."
Mayor Steve Chadwick said she was "incredibly excited".
"It's very common for mayors to say we have a youth council - big tick, but they are our children, not the children who are disinterested, disconnected and disengaged.
"This new approach is more modern, innovative and different and I'm very excited to present this to Local Government New Zealand."