Elected councillors are accountable for council decisions, but how much control do they really have over the officials and information behind them? Nick Clark argues that councillors can be denied crucial legal and operational advice by their own bureaucracies. A proposed law would clarify that chief executives are subject to elected councils and give councillors greater access to independent advice, strengthening democratic accountability at local government level.
Picture a councillor about to vote on whether her council should sell its shares in the local airport. Management tells her that voting one way could expose the council to legal risk.
She asks to see the legal advice behind that warning, which her council commissioned and ratepayers paid for. She is refused.
According to MP Stuart Smith, this actually happened at Wellington City Council. He opened the first-reading debate on his Local Government (Management of Local Authorities) Amendment Bill with the example.
This week I lodged the Initiative’s submission supporting the Bill.
The current problem is that elected members are accountable for what their councils do but the Local Government Act does not expressly make council management subject to their direction and supervision.
Too often, information is withheld from councillors on the grounds that it is 'operational’ or ‘commercially sensitive’. Alternatively, it is buried in dense reports with inadequate time for digestion and discussion. Absurdly, councillors around the country have resorted to official information requests to prise information from their own councils.
The Bill would make it clear that the chief executive is subject to direction and supervision of the elected council. It would also allow councillors to seek advice from outside their own bureaucracy.
These are hardly radical ideas. A company board, school board or charitable trust would take them for granted.
The Initiative’s submission supports the Bill while proposing amendments to make sure it has effect in practice.
While elected members should govern the council, decisions on individual consents and enforcement should remain with independent decisionmakers. The ability to commission external advice should be subject to a policy and a budget so it is not treated as a blank cheque. Mechanisms are also needed for when councillor information requests are declined (in full or in part) or are not responded to in a timely manner.
The Bill has received broad political support. It should be a first step towards giving elected representatives greater ability to govern their councils and represent their communities effectively.
Local election turnout last year was a miserable 39 percent. A system in which the people you elect cannot get straight answers from the organisations they supposedly govern gives voters one more reason to stay home.
The Initiative’s submission on the Local Government (Management of Local Authorities) Amendment Bill can be found here.
Source
Nick Clark | Senior Fellow | The New Zealand Initiative
Who is really in charge at your council
Original opinion supplied by The New Zealand Initiative.