New committee structure for Council
Published on 17 February 2017
17 February 2017
A new Whanganui District Council governance structure put in place by Mayor Hamish McDouall aims to provide improved and more streamlined decision-making.
Three new committees – Strategy and Finance, Property and Community Services and Infrastructure and Special Projects - have been established as a forum for all councillors to discuss issues and make recommendations to the full Council meetings held each month.
“The idea behind the committee structure is to separate the Council’s strategic and operational functions and support the decision-making process. The new structure should ultimately make full Council meetings shorter and reduce debate at that level, because issues will already have been talked about and recommendations made at the committee level,” says Mayor McDouall.
Previous committees Audit and Risk, Youth, Statutory Management and the Forestry Joint Committee remain.
The first committee meeting, Property and Community Services, was chaired by Cr Helen Craig on Tuesday, February 14.
“The first committee meeting was well-attended by Councillors with healthy, robust debate and decision-making about the issues which affect our community. Everything from public toilets to animal welfare to tourism numbers and bike tracks was discussed, “says Mayor McDouall.
Committees are able to make recommendations which will be considered for adoption at the monthly Council meeting.
Full Council meetings will continued to be live-streamed at www.facebook.com/whanganuidistrictcouncil
“Live-streaming the meetings gives the public of Whanganui and further afield the chance to engage in the decisions we are making and get a better understanding of how local government works. And because Whanganui has been recognised globally as a digital leader, it's essential we have this technology in place."
Committee meetings will be held every six weeks and are open to the public. For an agenda and meeting calendar, please visit www.whanganui.govt.nz/agendas.