No final decision on governance structure - Chadwick

Rotorua's recently elected council. Photo/File

Rotorua's recently elected council and community board members have been going through an intensive induction process as they start a new term, but no decisions on the council's committee structure have been made.

According to the Rotorua Lakes Council, the induction process included workshops, tours of various locations and council facilities, and training through Local Government New Zealand.

Workshops and training started on October 20 and will continue through to early December.

Full council meetings are scheduled for December 1 and 15, and a committee meeting is scheduled for December 8.

In the previous term, the council had two committees - Operations and Monitoring, and Strategy, Policy and Finance - along with seven councillor-led portfolios.

Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick said the induction process was very important.

"We need to make sure all elected members have a good understanding of council's business, relevant legislation and their roles, and of the operational side of council, processes and key work and projects that are planned and/or under way.

"Part of this process is considering and setting the direction this particular council wants to take and looking at what our governance structures, such as committees and portfolios, need to be to support that direction," she said.

"That's something the council will start discussing in a workshop today but it won't be finalised until the first full council meeting on December 1."

Mrs Chadwick said as yet no final decisions had been made about governance structures or appointments to various committees and other entities.

"I do have a view about what I consider the right way to move forward and will be sharing that with councillors but I want full and open discussion with councillors to try to get consensus on these matters so we can work together as a team."

The governance and committee structures will be formally adopted as part of the first full council meeting and the agenda for the December 15 meeting will include adopting council representation on community boards, adopting the meeting schedule for 2017 and adopting council representation on other entities such as trusts, community organisations and protocol committees.