The representation review is out for consultation now. Photo / Unsplash
Under the Local Electoral Act 2001, all councils have to review their representation arrangements at least once every six years. This is called the representation review.
The last representation review for the Stratford District Council (SDC) was carried out in 2018. However, due to the council voting to establish a Māori ward in May this year, a representation review has been triggered and will apply for the 2022 and 2025 local elections.
The representation review is comprehensive and the council must determine:
· The number of councillors to be elected;
· Whether councillors are elected by wards, at large, or a mix of wards and at large;
· The proposed number, names, and boundaries of wards and the number of councillors that will represent them;
· Whether to have community boards, and if so, the details of those boards.
There are three key principles that have to be considered: identifying communities of interest, effective representation and fair representation. How these are best achieved is not an exact science and can be quite a subjective decision. This matter has recently been debated by elected members and our initial proposal will be released for public consultation this week.
In attempting to ensure that everyone feels they are receiving fair and effective representation, any mix of the ward voting system, community boards and the at large voting system can be used to elect councillors. By law the district mayor is elected at large and there is no ability to change that. At present the council does not have any community boards and none are proposed in the current review.
Historically the Stratford District Council has been elected via a two-ward system, a rural ward and an urban ward. These have been formed on the basis of communities of interest. At a glance, most would say that it is easy to understand, it's easy to engage with your elected members and it has served us well for 30 years.
But has it? For example, if you judge success by looking at the diversity of people elected under the present system, the status quo is hardly a success story. By numbers elected; women, young people and Māori have been poorly represented. During my 21 years there have been 68 elected positions filled, of which only 11 were filled by women, two by young people (under 40) and none by Māori.
This was one of the reasons behind the council's earlier decision to establish a Māori ward for the next election. The new ward ticks the box for diversity, inclusion and fair representation and as a result there will be one councillor from the Māori ward at the council table after the next election. People who are on the general roll can vote either urban or rural in the council elections, while those who are registered on the Māori roll can vote in the Māori ward only. This ensures that everyone has only one vote per person. Every voter of course, has a vote in the mayoral election.
In the representation review we are also proposing some minor changes to the urban and rural ward boundaries to better reflect the alignment of the area. It's proposed the Mercade Estate will transfer into the urban area and a stretch of Pembroke West near the present urban boundary will also be included.
The number and distribution of councillors across urban and rural wards is not proposed to change, although the addition of one new Māori ward councillor will increase the total to 11. For those thinking of the cost, rest easy. The pool system of remuneration to pay councillors is set independently by the Remuneration Authority. Changes to our representation arrangements will not change the remuneration pool. Reducing or increasing the number of councillors simply changes the way the remuneration pool is divvied up. For the 2020/21 financial year, the pool available to Stratford district councillors was $264,396. Presently it is divided among 10 councillors, but in the future by 11 councillors.
Please look out for the consultation document to be released this week.