The Rotorua Lakes Council has voted 8-5 to adopt the modified Te Arawa partnership model.
The crowd gathered for today's meeting applauded when the decision was made.
Councillors voting for the model were Steve Chadwick, David Donaldson, Karen Hunt, Trevor Maxwell, Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, Charles Sturt, Tania Tapsell and Janet Wepa.
Those voting against it were Peter Bentley, Mark Gould, Rob Kent, Glenys Searancke and Mike McVicker.
The issue of Maori representation has been a controversial one, especially over the past year.
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The Rotorua Lakes Council in December approved in principle a proposal to allow the establishment of a Te Arawa board, from which members would sit with voting rights on key council committees.
This week the council put forward a modified version of the proposal, with two changes.
The first change would see the removal of the authority for the council's two main governance committees - Strategy Policy & Finance and Operations & Monitoring - to make binding resolutions on behalf of the council. The committees would only be allowed to make recommendations to the council, which would then make the final decision.
The second major change would see Te Arawa elect, instead of appoint, its own board which would then nominate two people to sit on each of the council's two main committees. The council would be able to veto those nominations if it did not think the nominees would be suitable for their positions.
Previously, the proposal would have seen Te Arawa appoint its own board of up to 14 members and have two of those members sit, with full voting rights, on the council's two main committees.
Councillors have been given five minutes each to discuss each section of the proposal. They have a maximum of 30 minutes and have been allowed to refer to notes.
Councillor Charles Sturt supported option two. He said the democratic process to discuss this proposal has woken two sleeping giants.
"The first giant is the sadness of a minority not seeing a need of another minority being involved in the decision making processes of this council as required by legislation and the double sadness at the 11th hour wanting Maori Wards."
Earlier today
It is standing room only in the Rotorua Lakes Council chamber this morning as councillors decide on the Te Arawa Partnership.
Seats have been set up in nearby committee rooms to watch the live stream of this morning's meeting to accommodate the crowd.
