Tauranga commissioners want to know how residents want their councillors to be elected

Commission chairwoman Anne Tolley (centre). Photo / File

More than 500 people have had their say on how Tauranga city's future councillors should be elected in the future.

The survey opened on July 16 and will close at 5pm this Friday, August 13. Following analysis of the results, the council will meet on August 23 to consider feedback.

Commission chairwoman Anne Tolley said the commissioners want to hear from as many residents as possible before presenting a preferred option to the community for feedback.

"Tauranga's current representation arrangements have been in place for more than a decade," Tolley said.

"We want to ensure we have a model for the next local election that provides fair and effective representation for all our residents and communities."

Democracy Services manager Coral Hair said the survey asks residents to select their preference from four broad options for electing council representatives or they can offer alternative views.

"We are looking to determine how many councillors Tauranga needs and whether our communities want to vote based on wards or a mixture of wards and at large [city-wide] representation," Hair said.

"We are also interested in whether residents would like to see community boards established.

"It's really important that people express their views on how they want to be represented."

An initial proposal will then be adopted and put to the public for feedback in the coming weeks.