Meeting to focus on how next council gets elected

Rotorua district councillors will meet for the first time this year to discuss, among other things, how they will be elected at the next election.

The council's Strategy, Policy and Finance committee will meet at 9.30am today in the council chamber to debate the appointment of a working party to "lead the community engagement process of the representation review, to access feedback and then recommend to council options for consideration in terms of representation".

According to a report by the council's senior governance adviser Rick Dunn the council must carry out a representation review every six years. The last one was done in 2009 for the 2010 and 2013 elections.

The review is a three-step process.

The first step was taken when councillors confirmed their preferred voting system - first past the post - in September last year.

The second step - to consider establishment of Maori wards - was completed in October last year when councillors decided not to introduce them.

The final step involves the determination of the number of councillors, the establishment of community boards, and whether councillors will be elected by wards, at large, or by a combination of both.

"There is an opportunity to undertake a thorough review utilising the council's commitment to community-led development in order to undertake this review," Mr Dunn said in his report.

"The Representation Review is an opportunity to raise the awareness around the council and its elected bodies, engage with the community to better understand the communities of interest within the district, [and] if done well, may encourage more people to be actively engaged and raise voter turn-out in the 2016 elections," he said.

Councillors will also discuss the endorsement of the Bay of Plenty Tertiary Intentions Strategy, a Lake Rotorua land use rules consultation update and a review of rates remission and rates postponement policies.

The meeting is open to the public.