Transparency, accountability and decision making based on democratic principles
During the last Motueka Community Board meeting there was a discussion about workshops and that they are held behind closed doors. Board member Hutt shared the view that she “felt more comfortable if it [a workshop] was held in a private settings”. Because in workshops behind closed doors she could speak freely.
Sometimes people come in contact with so-called warranted officers. The classic example is the Enforcement Officer of the Local Authority (in our area the Tasman District Council) who wants to visit your private property. In those instances you will see 2 different documents.
I guess, everybody knows what persistence is. Children want their ice creams, a dog or whatever it may be. They will remind us vigorously about the fact that they really want this or that, that we had promised to go to the pools, get the dog, but not kept to the promise. They may have done their share of the bargain or not.
There seems to be certain pattern of persistence when it comes to Council decisions.
As some of you may know, there is currently the consultation open on the Tasman Long Term Plan proposal. I simply wanted to reiterate that anybody is free to provide their submission in the form they choose, irrespective of TDC's tick the box approach.
We are currently preparing a complaint to the Ombudsman regarding TDC's position not following Ombudsman recommendation to hold Council Workshops open by default to the public, unless there are good reasons not to.
In June 2023, former Tasman District Council Chief Executive Janine Dowding laid a Code of Conduct complaint against Motueka Community Board member Nick Hughes. However, no Code of Conduct policy was presented to or voted on by any member of the current board by then. Nor was the policy document in question provided when the complaint was presented to Mr Hughes. This is where this story should have stopped. But it didn’t.