Community to have greater council input

Press, 1 June 1989, Page 9

Community to have greater council input

By

KAY FORRESTER

Elected community members will outnumber appointed councillors on the community boards of the new Christchurch City Council.

Local Government legislation passed last week opts for community boards of up to 12 people to provide community input into local government, rather than the ward committees previously proposed. The Local Government Reform Act provides for boards of at least six elected members from the community and not more than four appointed members (councillors). That allows for community members to outnumber by two to one the city councillors appointed to the board in their ward.

Christchurch City will probably have six community boards for 12 wards.

The potential for community members to dominate the new boards, which will not be standing committees of the council, could put the boards in conflict with the council, says Cr David Close.

He favours the community majority. “It certainly means councillor heavies won’t be able to dominate.” Had the boards been

committees of the council, the relationship would have been clearer, he said.

Cr Close is confident that local councillors can establish a working relationship with community representatives spurred by a common interest in advancing the local community. The community had expressed an interest in serving on the boards, he said.

The act gives to the boards specific functions to deal with matters referred to them by the council; an overview of water supply, sewage, stormwater, parks, recreational facilities, traffic management and commijpity activities; liaison

with community interests; and a contribution to the annual budget process. Community boards will not be able to levy rates or charges, make by-laws, sign contracts, hold property or hire, suspend or fire staff, the act says. The powers given the boards are not as wide as the City Council had recommended for ward committees. One function excluded from the boards, sought for the ward committees, is the ability to act as a town-planning hearing panel. The act also provides for the boards to have such functions as the council delegates to them. This will mean that, in practice, the boards will run much as the ward committees were envisaged, Cr Close believes. What areas specific boards will cover and ward boundaries will be made clear in the final reform scheme for Christchurch.

Final schemes will be released mid-June but not before the Local Government Association conference as hoped. The chief executive of the Local Government Commission, Mr Bill Hudson, said yesterday the commission would not meet the target it had set for itself of releasing the schemes before the conference in Rotorua which will begin on June 11.

Mr Hudson said the schemes should be ready by mid-June. so