COUNCIL LOOKS TO ITS IMAGE

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32378, 18 August 1970, Page 18

COUNCIL LOOKS TO ITS IMAGE

Christchurch city councillors may be given identification badges, the council may have “we are here to help you” messages displayed in offices, and Christchurch may have a booklet designed to encourage benefactors to think of the city.

These were suggestions by the cultural committee to the council last evening, and the council agreed that the desirability and cost should be Investigated. The suggestions arose from a speech by the retiring president of the Municipal Association (Mr P. Tait) at the association’s conference.

He suggested prayers to open council meetings—this

has been done in Christchurch since the last election —an honours board with the names of serving councillors as well as mayors, and certificates for councillors when they retired. In Napier, he had a card in his office saying: "We are here to help you.” This was the spirit local government must have, he said. Its image was one of restriction.

Napier had been blessed by the number of donations and bequests made to the city, Mr Tait said. He had suggested to various mayors that they should give a party for solicitors in their district to acquaint them with current projects so they could advise their clients in the distribution of their estates. This worked, he said. Mr Tait cited Gisborne as producing a good booklet on endowment, which indicated how a city and district could be improved, and said Napier also had a motto: “Give while you live.”