Democratic Decisions

Purpose:

According to the Local Government Act, the purpose of local government is:

• to enable democratic local decision-making and action by, and on behalf of communities; and

• to promote the social, economic, environmental, and cultural well-being of communities in the present and for the future.

The 'and' between the two clauses means that ignoring democracy is, effectively, a breach of the Act.

However, too often, Tauranga's Council ignores the democratic imperative in the first clause in pursuit of some ideologically driven outcome in a particular 'well-being'.

On other occasions, particularly during recent 'consultations', the Council 'machine' (and the Commission) have been selective in their application of 'democracy', choosing to treat the tallies of submissions as a 'conclusive' when the majority of submissions favoured their 'preferred' decision, but merely a 'factor to be considered' when the numbers were against them.

This reached farcical levels when a clearly expressed view of a majority of submitters was dismissed on a technicality (in the case of boat ramp charges), or worse, just simple prejudice, as was done recently by Commissioner Selwood in response to submissions from the Papamoa ward.

We will only know we really have democracy back in Tauranga when we see the consistent application of democratic principles in practice.

An informed community:

For democracy to work, the community requires access to quality information about the performance, plans, and proposals of Council.

Without this information, the community is blind, and consultations and elections become lotteries with outcomes more often reflecting the spin of staff, or the size of cheque-books, than the will of the community.

Sadly, key documents such as annual reports, annual and long-term plans, and Council agendas and reports, have become increasing obscure over recent years, with some information buried in Orwellian double-speak ('debt-retirement' levies that increase debt), while other information has disappeared completely (the cost of our libraries).

An informed Council:

Democracy also requires the Chief Executive to ensure that all the necessary information is made available and accessible to Councillors to enable quality decision-making.

This information should include a clear understanding of the will of an informed community.

To be clear: Poorly written, two-hundred-page agendas, with two working days' notice, does not make for an informed Council.

The right Mayor, not another 'Night-Mayor':

A critical factor in a high-functioning democratic Council is a Mayor who is familiar with, and, more importantly, comfortable with, their role as defined by the Local Government Act.

Specifically, they must accept the fact that the Mayor of Tauranga has no 'executive' powers - all decisions require the support of a majority of Councillors.

Therefore, to be successful, the Mayor must facilitate an inclusive approach to decision making - not least because the Mayor is bound to represent and advocate for the democratic decisions of the Council, whether they voted for them or not!

In summary:  "A Mayor that is dictatorial, distant, or divisive in nature will not be able to do this" [LGNZ]