Team set up for Far North council's CEO performance review

Far North District Council CEO Shaun Clarke, right, and Ngati Hine Festival organising committee member Pita Tipene at Te Ahuareka o Ngati Hine Festival outside Otiria Marae's wharenui.

A five-person team of Far North District Council councillors has been set up for chief executive Shaun Clarke's performance management.

The council has set up the executive review committee comprising Deputy Mayor Ann Court as chair along with councillors Rachel Smith, Felicity Foy, John Vujcich and Kelly Stratford. Mayor John Carter said he would also be involved.

Court and Councillor John Vujcich at the council's December meeting moved to set up the committee and appoint elected representatives to it as part of the incoming 2019 Far North District Council governance structure.

At its last meeting the council amended the executive review committee's terms of reference to include authority to also pay for professional services to "ensure expedient resolution of matters before the committee".

The terms of reference for the committee were adopted on December 19. But the aspect of being able to employ professional services as and when required as part of chief executive performance was discussed and adopted this week.

An item in meeting agenda in support of procuring these services sought to include delegated authority to do so.

The FNDC annual plan process includes a $25,000 a year budget for executive performance review starting from July this year, the start of the 2020-2021 financial year.

The committee has already spent unbudgeted money on external services for the chief executive's performance assessment.

"At the time of writing this report, any unbudgeted expenditure required to fulfil the responsibilities of the committee in 2019-2020 will be met from the elected members' external services budget which currently has $13,228 available," William Taylor, FNDC general manager corporate services.

Meanwhile, FNDC elected members external services budget.

It recommended the executive review committee be authorised to spend up to $15,000 for any single professional services procurement, any single spend higher than that would need to be signed off by council.

"The nature of the committee's responsibilities requires independent specialist advice to effect the business of the committee," Taylor's agenda item said.

"Different specialists will be required to assist the committee at different stages of the chief executive officer (CE) performance lifecycle," Taylor said.

"Allowing the committee to procure professional services enables expediency in managing CE performance."

The review committee reviews the chief executive's performance, annually considers CE remuneration, supervises any recruitment and selection process for the position and considers any issues regarding the chief executive's employment.