Taupō District Council has asked the Government to give three of its committees an exemption from a recent law change.
Before the election, the Government amended the Local Government Act, removing the voting rights of any non-elected member of a council committee.
The changes will come into effect on March 18, 2027.
The amendments affect 19 non-elected members in eight Taupō council committees.
Councils have until November 18 to request an exception.
Taupō District Council sent its letter on November 11, making a formal request for non-elected members on the Taupō District Water Services Committee, Risk and Assurance Committee and Tūrangi Co-Governance Committee to be exempt from the new law and thus retain their voting rights.
Water services chairman ‘very’ concerned
The council met on October 27 to decide how many committees needed an exemption, as the Government said exemptions should be rare if at all.
The elected members considered if the Taupō District Water Services Committee, Risk and Assurance Committee and Tūrangi Co-Governance Committee could continue to function under the new law.
Brian Hanna, independent chairman of the Taupō District Council Water Services Committee, made a written statement to the council.
He found it “very concerning” the same Government that established his position now wanted to take away his voting rights.
Hanna said taking away his ability to vote would make it “difficult” to carry out his duties as independent chairman.
Meanwhile, the Tūrangi Co-Governance Committee was established in 2022.
Four of its members are elected council members, the other four are representatives from Ngāti Tūrangitukua, the local mana whenua of the township and surrounding areas.
Together, they take care of 12 reserves.
Tūrangitukua said the committee sent a letter to the council requesting that its representatives on the committee retain their voting rights.
On social media, Taupō District Mayor John Funnell said he believed democracy worked best when final spending and policy decisions were made by the representatives people voted for and ”hold accountable at the ballot box”.
At the meeting, Te Papamārearea ward councillor Wahine Murch said some people were under the false impression that unelected committee members were making council decisions.
“The fact is the majority of those committees don’t actually make decisions. They make recommendations which come back to full council.”
Tūrangi-Tongariro ward councillor Sandra Greenslade said the current situation was of the council’s own making. She recalled a time when local boards of elected members performed the functions currently undertaken by these committees.
In the end, the council voted 8-5 in favour of requesting the exemptions.
Those in favour were councillors Rachel Cameron, Nicola de Latour, Ngahuia Foreman, Sandra Greenslade, Steve Mananui, Wahine Murch, Kevin Taylor and Yvonne Westerman.
Those against were Mayor Funnell and councillors Duncan Campbell, Kylie Leonard, Christine Rankin and Hope Woodward.
Bronson Perich is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist for Taupō and South Waikato based at the Waikato Herald.
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.