Council chambers, like Whanganui's, will be out of bounds until the Covid-10 crisis is over. Picture / Whanganui Chronicle
A full recording of the Far North District Council's first ordinary meeting held online can now be viewed at the FNDC website (www.fndc.govt.nz)
Covid-19 Level 4 restrictions prohibit physical meetings, effectively halting normal decision-making processes for local authorities across the country. To address the problem, the government passed the COVID-19
Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Act 2020 last month, allowing local authorities to hold virtual meetings instead.
Far North District councillors are now meeting every two weeks to make any urgent decisions required. Their first general meeting, on Thursday last week, was held using Microsoft Teams, a collaboration tool the council was already rolling out across the organisation before the pandemic lockdown.
Mayor John Carter said all Council meetings held during Level 4 restrictions would be online, with full recordings, except those parts held in public exclusion, being publicly available within three working days.
The next council meeting, on Thursday next week, would also be recorded and posted to the website. All committee meetings scheduled or April and May had been cancelled.
