Tauranga representation review sparks flurry of response from former mayors and fellow councillors

Former Tauranga mayor Jan Beange suggests the notion of a citizen's assembly to help encourage community input in council. Photo / George Novak

Two former Tauranga mayors and the regional council are among those urging the city's commissioners to reconsider their initial proposal for the structure of future elected councils.

Greg Brownless and Jan Beange were among 14 people who yesterday spoke to their submissions in a meeting about Tauranga City Council's representation review.

The review sets out the structure of the next elected council, considering questions such as how many councillors there should be and how the community will elect them.

In August, the commissioners agreed an initial proposal to reduce the council to 10 elected members, including the mayor.

Eight councillors would be elected from suburb-based general wards and one by voters on the Māori roll. The mayor would be elected by the whole city.

The proposed representation model was released for feedback, attracting 139 submissions. Of these, 71 (51 per cent) agreed with the proposal, 67 (48 per cent) disagreed, and one (1 per cent) did not state if they agreed or disagreed.

Brownless, who served as mayor from 2016 to 2019, told commissioners that a mix of ward councillors and those elected at large was likely to be the best solution for the city.

Concerns that such a model contributed to the council's unravelling last year, prompting the appointment of the commissioners, were not valid, in his view.

Former Tauranga mayor Greg Brownless says a mixed model of having election candidates selected via wards and at-large has merit. Photo / George Novak

"It seems to me that the major changes were in response to the bitter interpersonal problems experienced here in this triennium," he said.

"The fact is those same problems did not exist during my, or other, times."

Brownless said people in general seemed to believe the mayor had greater power than he or she actually did.

"The mayor is not an executive type of mayor. If they can't get a majority [of council votes], they can't do much."

Brownless said the mayor could, at times, have the casting vote when needed but he hoped the future mayor would not need to resort to using it. He recommended there be an odd number of elected members to help reduce the need for such voting.

Beange suggested the notion of a citizen's assembly, which she said had been used successfully in Australia.

She explained an assembly, also known as a citizen's jury, involves a group of randomly selected people to be representative of the community which explores the issues and hears expert advice and opinions.

A Te Tiriti o Waitangi-based assembly here could then make recommendations to the council which would choose whether to adopt them or not.

Beange said such a move would enrich the quality of representation in Tauranga.

"

This is a democratically balanced election where people get to speak in a calm, considered way."

Citizens' Advocacy Tauranga chairman Rob Paterson told commissioners their proposal for nine wards was fatuous and "without any merit whatsoever".

Former Tauranga mayor Jan Beange suggests the notion of a citizen's assembly to help encourage community input in council. Photo / George Novak

"The nine-ward system is wrong, no one likes it. Tauranga city across the spectrum needs greater transparency and greater participation at a local level."

Paterson said he preferred a mixed option, which he believed was fair, equitable and more effective by giving electors the right to select 11 or seven candidates to represent them.

Paterson also supported the notion of community boards.

Commissioner Bill Wasley referred to the city's "active" ratepayer representative groups and asked Paterson whether he could see these groups potentially taking on some of the potential role of a community board.

Paterson replied: "This would give them direct access to council, if you like. It would be a better system from that point of view - if the community board was run properly and was an empowered community board and not some figurehead."

Graham Cooney suggested that an appointment committee oversee candidates to ensure they were suitable for the role. He also said he would prefer to see that a mayor was not elected but appointed by councillors instead.

"Good governance suggest the best people to pick the chairman are the people around the table. Even National politics have worked that one out," he said.

Commission chairwoman Anne Tolley said Cooney offered plenty of "food for thought".

"[The mayoralty] actually requires a particular type of person, with a particular type of experience, and particular knowledge of local government," Tolley said.

"Unfortunately, our hands are tied by the legislative process. However, I think you've made some really good points."

Councillor John Robson, a member of the council replaced by the commission, urged commissioners to move towards having more at-large positions because dividing the city into different communities "doesn't make sense".

Barry Scott echoed Robson's sentiment, saying electing ward councillors limited options.

"You might have a couple of dunderheads standing [for candicacy] over here and a couple of real pearlers standing over here. You're going to end up with a dunderhead."

In an "unusual" move, Tauranga-based Bay of Plenty Regional Council councillors Andrew von Dadelszen and David Love spoke to the council's submission opposing the initial proposal, suggesting a move to 11 elected members at-large rather than nine via wards.

Bay of Plenty Region Council elected member Andrew von Dadelszen says parochialism has to go in governance. Photo / George Novak

Von Dadelszen said the council fully supported the Māori ward but did not support the general ward seats.

"In regional council, we take care of the whole region. We can't be parochial about our own region. We are in governance," von Dadelszen said.

"The entertainment of parochial ideas has to go. It's been damaging to previous councils - at least three trienniums. Parochialism gets in the way of good governance.

"We've got poor participation now. I think it will get a lot poorer [with ward voting]."

Tolley responded, saying: "It's quite unusual for regional council to make a submission.

"That also means you've had a lot of thought and discussion about this," she said.

Tolley said that ultimately the city's representation came down to the quality of the people who will stand in the next election.

"It's not about whether you come from a ward or not. The key bit is where we get these quality people that are needed."

The commissioners accepted the submissions and will meet again on November 8 in a council meeting to deliberate on the feedback and make a final proposal, which will go out for appeals or objections.