Invercargill city councillors have unanimously accepted the findings of an independent governance review and will now present its findings to Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) outlining how it plans to rectify the issues raised by the DIA. 

The council met last night (Thursday 12 November) for over three hours at an extraordinary meeting of council to discuss the findings of the report and agree upon a range of possible next steps.

The meeting was held in public excluded.

This morning the ICC issued a statement stating discussions with the DIA will take place over coming weeks ahead of the council releasing any findings of the report to the community. 

Independent evaluator Richard Thomson, ICC independent governance advisor Bruce Robertson and advisor Jane Parfitt at the council meeting yesterday evening.

ICC Chief Executive Clare Hadley acknowledged the community’s “strong interest” in the outcome of the review process.

“I know the community is eager to find out more about the review process and how the council intends to respond to it. However, it is important that we follow the process through, working with the DIA to discuss how we put a plan in place for the future and offering the assurance they need that the council is addressing the concerns raised.”

“We are acting with urgency to address the issues raised and agree a pathway forward that will restore the community’s confidence.”

“This is a top priority for myself, the mayor and councillors and we are all working together to make the right decisions for the city,” Mrs Hadley said.

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The governance review was requested by the Department of Internal Affairs, after reports of “significant conflict” between elected members and the Chief Executive surfaced in the media. 

The DIA requested assurance the council was taking proactive measures to address the concerns and - among other things – requested a “independent evaluation of the current standard of governance performance by elected representatives…”.

It is expected that the ICC will be able to share its plans outlined in the DIA report with the community soon.

Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt added that all councillors are working collaboratively to “maintain the confidence of the community.”

 “There’s no doubt that this process is raising some challenging issues for our council to address, but we are up to the task. We’ve got some good ideas about how to move forward and, once we’ve worked through these with the DIA, I’m looking forward to sharing our pathway forward with the community and getting on with the task at hand,” he said.