For Wellington to rebuild its confidence, the public needs to have confidence in the Council. This will require the mayor to lead a serious culture change.

Andrew Little is proposing a series of reforms to make the Council more transparent, more democratic and more accountable to the people of Wellington.

The key commitments are:

• End the misuse of commercial confidentiality.
  
• Genuinely engage with the public on major decisions.
  
• Require Community Impact Statements for all major Council decisions.
  

The problem

Public confidence in the Council’s decision-making and performance is at rock bottom according to the WCC Residents Monitoring Survey.

Wellingtonians have lost trust in the consultation process and the Council is failing to listen. Often, the Council organisation has already completed their advice before consultation is complete. Good ideas are ignored.

Too often commercial confidentiality is used as an excuse to avoid public scrutiny. For example:

• Council committed to a 25-year lease for its new offices but refused to release the cost, citing commercial confidentiality.
  
• Currently, the Council is selling nine properties but refuses to tell the public which properties they are until after they are sold.
  
• During the airport sale Council management obtained legal advice, which Councillors were barred from seeing until public exposure forced a backdown.
  
• During the airport sale and Reading Cinemas debates, the use of closed-door meetings and commercial sensitivity prevented important information from being made public.
  

The Mayor and Council should not be afraid of scrutiny. The Council organisation must be accountable to elected members, who in turn must be accountable to the public. Too often this relationship has been inverted.

During this term, Council management proposed new Confidential Information Protocols which would mean elected members no longer had the right to request information about previous decisions. These protocols were abandoned after public criticism from the Minister of Local Government.

The Code of Conduct system is well-meaning but rather than improving relationships on Council it has become a source of division and rancour.

Victoria University of Wellington’s Dr Dean Knight notes Codes of Conduct tend to be hijacked by political actors and become weaponised. They have led to Councillors being “caught by a chilling effect because they were worried about being subject to complaints by engaging passionately on issues or taking matters to the public.”

The system needs reform. The Council needs to rebuild public trust. This will require a culture change led by the Mayor and genuine engagement with the community.

Policy proposals

End the misuse of commercial confidentiality. Only use it when strictly legally required or to protect the Council’s negotiating position and apply it for the minimum time possible.

Genuinely engage with the public on major decisions. End the culture of poor consultations and rushed Council decisions. Information must be made available to Councillors with reasonable time to consider it before making a decision. Where requested by the Mayor or Council, the Council organisation should obtain contestable advice.

Require Community Impact Statements for all major council decision papers. These will comprise: an accurate summary of consultation listing all affected communities and stakeholders as well as their feedback; costs and benefits of each option; how other Councils have dealt with similar issues; what other options were considered; cost of living impacts; impact on the Council’s relationship with mana whenua; and climate change and environmental impact.

End exclusion of the public from Council meetings. Any public exclusions strictly limited to agenda items where confidentiality is legally required or needed to protect the Council’s negotiating position.

Require all papers used to inform council recommendations and decisions to be made public within 30 days. Papers may be withheld or redacted only under the provisions of the LGOIMA.

Ensure the Council is delivering to a clear set of priorities by developing a Triennium Plan (aligned with the Long-Term Plan) that is tied to the Chief Executive’s performance indicators.

An annual Mayor’s Accountability Report updating the public on progress delivering on priorities.

Replace the Code of Conduct with the LGNZ template code, in advance of the Local Government Commission’s upcoming recommendations.

Require Council officers to provide Councillors with all financial information relevant to the decisions they are being asked to make, including how it fits into the Council’s financial strategy, within a reasonable time in advance of the vote. For major financial decisions such as the Town Hall this should be signposted at least three months in advance.

Give Councillors the ability to test the Council’s legal advice through a $50,000 per annum contestable legal advice fund.

Ensure all responses to LGOIMA requests are published on the Council website.

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