SIZE OF CITY COUNCIL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27391, 17 May 1950, Page 6

SIZE OF CITY COUNCIL

Increase In Numbers May Be Considered Before the municipal elections are held in Dunedin on November 15 of this year, the City Council may consider whether the number of councillors to be elected should be increased. Twelve councillors were appointed to office at the elections three years ago. This is the minimum number provided in the Municipal Corporations Act for a borough such as Dunedin which has a population of more than 30,000. The Act also provides, however, that Dunedin may have not more than 21 councillors, exclusive of the mayor.

Should the City Council decide between now and November 15 to increase the number of councillors, no immediate election would be necessary to appoint the additional councillors. The council could resolve by means of a special# order that the vacancies created should not be filled until the municipal elections on November 15.

be dealt with satisfactorily by 12 men, with the Mayor as an ex officio member of all committees. At present the majority of councillors serve on six committees, as well as holding other offices on behalf of the council. The greater part of the work arises from the extensive operations of the trading departments, which make considerable demands on the time of councillors.

The Act provides that extraordinary vacancies occurring within 12 months of the date fixed for the next triennial election may be filled by the appointment by the council of an additional councillor or councillors, or by an election. Where extraordinary vacancies occur within six months of the date fixed for the next triennial election, however, the council may pass a resolution that the vacancies should not be filled until the next triennial election.

Apart from their duties on committees of the council, some councillors Serve on the Dunedin Drainage and Sewerage Board, the Art Gallery Society, the Dunedin Metropolitan Fire Board, the Metropolitan Milk Board, the Ocean Beach Domain Board, the Immigration Welfare Committee, the King Edward Technical College Board of Governors, the Otago Aero Club, the Aid for Britain Committee, the Otago Development Council, the Otago High Schools’ Board, the Otago Museum Board of Managers, the Otago University Council, the Tramways Appeal Board, and th 6 Metropolitan Licensing Authority. A city councillor said recently that he had had to attend 11 meetings in two days. The great majority of city councillors also have their own business to attend to, and as a result are overworked' at times. Supporters of the move to enlarge the council ooint out that other municipalities which have fewer and less extensive trading departments than Dunedin City have much larger councils than Dunedin has at present. One ratepayers’ association in Dunedin has already asked the City Council to consider increasing its numbers.

There is precedent for more than 12 city councillors in Dunedin. When the various new suburbs were being absorbed by the city, their elected representatives served with the city council for a time following the amalgamation. This resulted in some big councils. In 1911-12 there were 21 councillors, and in the following year there were 34, several of whom represented a new suburb. From 1913 to 1915 the number of councillors was 17, but from 1918 to 1921 the number remained at 18. The first year in which 12 councillors were elected was 1921, and the number has remained constant since.

Those who favour an increase in the number of city councillors claim that the undertakings of the council under present conditions are too great to