Section 6: Council Activities

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Civic and Democracy Services

Responsibility

Barry Rollo (Manager Secretariat)

Description of service

This activity provides the support systems for the democratic local decision-making processes necessary for the Council to achieve the community’s goals.

The Council and community boards are elected to provide community leadership and representation of the district’s citizens and to make decisions on their behalf. Civic and Democracy Services assists this by managing local elections and providing secretarial services and decision-making support to the Council, community boards, committees and working parties.

Scale of service

This describes and size and scope of the activity.

Provision of administrative services and support for the Mayor, 14 councillors and 16 community board members.
Provision of secretarial and administrative services to the Council, committees, community boards and the hearings commission.
Supporting the democratic engagement of Māori through the Iwi Forum and Iwi Liaison Subcommittee.
Delivery of requirements specified in the Local Government Act 2002, Local Electoral Act 2001 and the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.

Rationale for activity

Councils provide a wide variety of services for their community’s from providing cultural events, to providing infrastructure and services, through to establishing and enforcing rules to protect the built and natural environments. The activity contributes to the social well-being of the community. To ensure this is done effectively, communities elect representatives onto the council and community boards to make decisions on the community’s behalf, often only after extensive consultation. There are a number of legislative requirements governing the Council’s operations. This activity enables the Council to meet all of its statutory requirements in an accountable and transparent manner.

Contribution to Community Outcomes

Civic and Democracy Services contributes to most of the Community Outcomes as the Council is the decision-making body that directs all council effort in achieving the community’s aspirations. The Secretariat Team which supports the Council’s decision-making also ensures that the Council operates, makes decisions and allocates resources in an open and transparent manner in line with its statutory obligations, Council policies and procedures and the results of any consultation.

The activity primarily contributes to the Together Community Outcome by providing secretarial services and assisting with access to council decision-making processes for the Iwi Liaison Subcommittee, Disability Issues Working Party and Youth Subcommittee.

Negative impacts on community well-being

Democratic decision-making can sometimes be a complex and lengthy process with implementation of decisions sometimes taking longer than the community would like to see. The mitigation of this impact will be managed by having in place clear, concise and comprehensive policies and procedures for decision-making. These include ensuring that all parties are familiar with the procedures and timetables for all the various processes.Return to top

Facing the challenges – assumptions and risks

Assumptions

It is assumed there will be no major legislative change.
It is assumed that there will be no major changes in either the governance structure of the organisation or the representation of the council and that although representation may be reviewed, the number of councillors will essentially remain the same.

Risks

The biggest risk to the delivery of Civic and Democracy Services is the failure of information technology, which could affect the production of agendas and minutes, and the completion of elections.

Managing risks

These risks can be managed by ensuring that all technology is up to date, that the Council has back-up systems such as the ability to outsource copying agendas and that electoral systems and process are tested before implementation. While the risk is high the impact on the council and community is low requiring some minimal additional costs and resulting in minor delays in delivery of service.

Levels of service and performance measures

The following levels of service and performance measures outline the objectives we will set and how we will measure our progress.

Levels of service and performance measures

* No elections in this year.

Asset information

Assets required

There are no assets utilised specifically by this activity.

Managing improved and/or expanded services

Improved and/or expanded services in this activity could result from a representation review or, at any time, a change in the governance structure of the Council. Neither of these events can be planned and would be managed through increased resources.