Tauranga City Hall Dysfunction: Crown Review Team Could Cost Taxpayers $ 350,000

Bringing in a Crown review and observation team to monitor the Tauranga City Council could cost taxpayers up to $ 350,000.

The council under fire voted in a public meeting this morning to approve the budget and terms of reference for the review.

He also appointed Peter Winder to chair the team. You can name up to two other people. Winder has previously been the Crown Director of the Kaipara District Council and is a former Executive Director of the New Zealand Local Government.

The budget estimate prepared by the staff was based on the Crown team being with the council through June 30 – 10 months, approximately the length of time this council group has been around.

The council’s chief executive, Marty Grenfell, said the council could vote to end the process at any time as it was entering it voluntarily.

The council voted to give itself an “exit ramp,” an option to finish the process, after four to six weeks.

At that time, the team was expected to have produced its first report on the council’s issues and a set of recommendations.

Some elected members were confident that the council could act together by then, but others doubted this and hoped that independent monitoring was still needed.

According to the terms of reference, the team’s job will be to provide advice on governance to council members and to investigate and report on the “extent of the problem of dysfunctional governance within the council.”

Team members can attend council and committee meetings, as well as informal meetings, workshops, and information sessions.

Under the terms, they could also “monitor and review the participation of elected members with the media and social media on council-related issues” and could receive “correspondence between elected members and[e] advice on their suitability “.

The council voted unanimously last Friday to join the review team after the Department of Home Affairs raised concerns after months of reports of clashes and tensions among elected members.