Cameron Brewer says Auckland businesses don't know who they will deal with in future.
The future governance and role of Auckland's 41 town centre organisations remains a complete unknown. The Auckland Transition Agency's two recently released discussion documents on local councils and council controlled organisations shed little light.
As business associations we have no idea of who we'll be reporting to let alone the
nature of our relationship with the CCOs (Council Controlled Organisations), the new Auckland Council and local boards.
We don't even know who will be collecting the targeted rate that funds our very existence. It is outrageous, given we're six months out from local body elections and given the huge number of Auckland businesses we collectively represent.
Many community groups are concerned about direct access to the Super City council. So, too, are the region's business districts.
The Auckland Governance Legislation Committee received over 600 written submissions on the Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill - Parliament's third and final bill to establish the new Auckland Council.
In recent days the committee, sitting in Auckland, has also heard from many of the submitters - a wide range of community groups, as well as business representatives. For many this was seen as the last opportunity to have their say before the new governance structure is confirmed - the final throw of the dice.
The overwhelming theme has largely been concern around the enormous power the council controlled organisations are set to wield. The Government has already legislated for Auckland Transport, Watercare Services, and the Waterfront Development Agency. CCOs in the pipeline are Economic Development, Tourism and Events Agency, Property Holdings and Development, Major Regional Facilities, and Council Investments.
A lot of community groups have been calling on the MPs sitting on the select committee to ensure not too much power is not devolved to these seven non-elected CCOs.
Many community groups are unsurprisingly asking for the role and responsibilities of the 19 local boards to be amped up. Others, such as some in the liquor industry and hospitality sector, fear the decentralisation of liquor licensing and liquor laws for example. They worry a local board would be more likely to knee-jerk to a vocal minority who might not want, for instance, suburban bars to open late.
As the second-largest business association out of the 41 across the region, Newmarket's submission was about retaining our status quo relationship with the council.
We were not asking for anything more. We believe business associations should not report directly to their local council, or to a CCO, but rather have direct access with the Auckland Council itself.
Business associations, Mainstreets, or Business Improvement Districts should not be on the sideline. They actually represent a huge part of the private sector in the country's commercial capital and a region that is set to reach two million people by 2031.
Business associations play a critical role as a conduit between business and local government. Collectively they represent tens of thousands of Auckland businesses and commercial ratepayers, and arguably the most critically important economic parts of the region, including Auckland City's CBD.
Auckland's CBD will be largely protected because of its obvious strategic importance, it will be home to the new Auckland Council, and its waterfront has been singled out as deserving its own entity.
Auckland's many other business districts are in a vulnerable situation. They should have a governance relationship with the local boards. However, given their strategic and economic importance to the Auckland region, they should not merely be a functionary of local boards.
As is now, the geographically defined town centre targeted rate that funds business associations should be continued to be levied by the main municipal authority - the Auckland Council. After all, this targeted rate is tied to and proportional to base commercial rates which will remain the responsibility of the Auckland Council.
Targeted rates for business associations have already been mandated by their members through a voting process. There is the mechanism for town centres to disestablish them if they're failing. There is no need for local boards governed largely by local residents to start calling the shots.
Likewise, Auckland business communities should not be relegated to reporting to a low-level departmental official in a non-elected Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) charged with the region's wider economic development.
Town and city development is too complex for business communities to operate and report within just one silo of the new and far-reaching local government structure.
Auckland's business areas need and want to crossover the many facets that make up local government, including urban planning and design, resource consents, transport, and of course economic development.
Being able to actively engage with Auckland Council decision-makers will also help ensure communities retain their independence and unique social, cultural, geographic, and economic personalities.
The fact the region's many business districts are relatively independent and hence individual helps make Auckland so vibrant and diverse.
Having business associations sitting under a local board or inside a CCO at arms length from the elected council would be a negative for any meaningful engagement between Auckland's business community and its local government.
If Auckland is to reach its full potential economically and as a collection of successful and diverse communities, the region's key business districts deserve a direct relationship with the new Auckland Council.
A recent survey of commercial ratepayers in Auckland City's 17 town centres showed the current business association model is working well and is achieving results.
If it ain't broken then why try to fix it?
Cameron Brewer is the chief executive of the Newmarket Business Association and a board member of Towns & Cities New Zealand.
