Rotorua Lakes Council temporarily closing meetings to public 'sends the wrong signal'

Rotorua district councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait. Photo / File

Some Rotorua district councillors say a move to temporarily close its meetings to the public due to Covid-19 fears "sends the wrong signal" and "excite cynicism".

However, others support the "cautious approach".

On Tuesday, following questions from Local Democracy Reporting, Rotorua Lakes Council issued a statement on its website that council and committee meetings would be temporarily closed to the public.

The meetings would still be livestreamed and the recordings of the livestreams available on the council's Youtube page.

In the statement, council chief executive Geoff Williams said the council was "erring on the side of caution" and would "monitor and review the situation as required."

Elected members had the option of appearing in person or via video conference, and a "provision" had been allowed for media attendance.

It meant Thursday's Operations and Monitoring Committee meeting – and all future meetings until further notice – would be closed to the public, except for members of the media, which holds no special status in terms of local government meetings.

However, on Wednesday, councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait said she would not have banned the public from attending council meetings at the current alert level 2.

She said she understood the need to be vigilant and to keep strictly to social distancing guidelines but there were "rarely" more than two or three members of the public in the gallery for meetings.

Raukawa-Tait suggested if people came to the meetings they be advised livestreaming was an option "but they are welcome to come in".

"Especially as we are making an exception for members of the press.

"It is better to try to be accommodating and inclusive rather than exclusive. Otherwise [it] sends the wrong signal."

Councillor Reynold Macpherson said as, in his opinion, the council had an "uneven record on transparency" it would "excite cynicism if the public are locked out" while elected members could still attend in person.

"If the safety justification is sound then the same rules should apply to elected members and their constituents."

Rotorua district councillor Reynold Macpherson. Photo / File

Councillor Peter Bentley said he also did not agree with what he called a "super conservative approach".

Regular council meeting attendee and Rotorua resident Justin Adams called the approach "overzealous" and "completely unnecessary".

"It's not in the spirit of democracy.

"There are no cases in Rotorua. It's a huge overkill. It just smells wrong."

He said the experience of viewing a council meeting via livestream was "totally different".

"There's a higher level of accountability when the people whose lives you're affecting are sitting right in front of you."

Last week, the council apologised to Adams for mistakenly shutting him out of a meeting which, at the time, had meant to be open to the public.

However, some councillors were comfortable with the idea.

Operations and Monitoring Committee chairwoman and councillor Tania Tapsell said she supported the "cautious approach".

"Because we are a large organisation, we have limited the capacity within our building.

"We have restrictions of only 50 people per floor and regular cleaning to ensure that we minimise the risk of any potential transmission if Covid finds its way in. We are doing what we can to protect our community."

She said the customer centre was still open to anyone who needed to visit the council.

"Like most other local organisations and businesses public access is restricted to certain areas for health and safety reasons. This is important as Covid has become present outside of Auckland.

Rotorua district councillor Tania Tapsell. Photo / File

"Transparency of our decisions is still of utmost importance so council meetings are all livestreamed and media are still able to attend to provide independent reporting on discussions."

Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick was on leave but deputy mayor Dave Donaldson provided his view, stating it was the chief executive Geoff Williams' operational decision.

"It won't limit people's access to meetings which council has been livestreaming for several years now with recordings also available afterwards."

The council was approached for response but declined to comment further.

Under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, every meeting of a local authority should be open to the public.

However, a modification in the Act allows a meeting to be considered open to the public if the local authority provides a livestream or makes an audio, video or written summary of the meeting available as soon as practicable after the meeting.

That modification will remain in place until the gazetted Epidemic Preparedness (Covid-19) Notice expires or is revoked. The notice has been in place and renewed every three months since March 25 last year.

Covid-19 alert level 2 rules, as of October 6, state there are no restrictions on the number of people that can attend an event or venue, as long as everyone can safely stay one metre apart. Face coverings are also strongly recommended, according to government advice.