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Governing Body
10 February
2023
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Provision
for decision-making continuity by Governing Body in periods of emergency
File No.: CP2023/00826
Te take mō te
pūrongo
Purpose of the report
1. To
enable continuity of decision making by the Governing Body and its committees
during periods of a declared State of Emergency, or other exceptional
circumstances where achieving an in-person quorum would be impossible or
unsafe.
Whakarāpopototanga matua
Executive summary
2. Forecast
upcoming extreme weather is likely to impact necessary decision making by the
governing body and its committees. Tight decision-making timelines have already
been exacerbated by the unprecedented weather events and recovery over the last
two weeks.
3. Currently, the law does not allow for all members to attend
governing body meetings electronically. The quorum is half the membership
physically present.
4. The terms of reference for other committees also require that members
are present in person to contribute to the quorum.
5. Any change to a committee’s quorum or the establishment of a
new committee with a lower quorum would require a meeting of the governing body
to pass a resolution to do so.
6. This
report and recommendations ensure that meetings of both the governing body and
its committees can continue throughout a declared State of Emergency or other
significant extreme event where meeting in person (and travelling to do so)
would be impossible or unsafe for staff or members.
7. To
ensure ongoing decision making by the governing body where a physical quorum
cannot be reached, the formation of a temporary Emergency Committee with a
reduced quorum of two members is recommended.
8. For
other committees this can be addressed by an amendment to the terms of
reference to reduce listed quorums to two members.
9. All
other members can attend electronically (and whilst not counted in the quorum),
can vote normally as provided for currently.
10. The proposal
for a temporary Emergency Committee is not the same as the committee of the
same name that was in place during the Covid-19 pandemic. That committee
was in place to deal with longer term reconsideration of committee wide work
programmes. This Emergency Committee is proposed purely to provide for
Governing Body decision making with a reduced quorum where meeting in person
might be unachievable.
Background
11. A
meeting is duly constituted if a quorum is present, whether or not all
of the members are voting or entitled to vote (clause 23(1) of Schedule 7 of
the Local Government Act 2002). Present is not defined, but in terms of the history of local government
decision-making and the context of Schedule 7, it means physically present.
12. The
modification of these requirements made for Covid-19 (which allowed a member
attending by electronic link to be treated as present) expired on 20 October
2022 and is therefore no longer available for use in emergencies such as this.
13. The quorum for the Governing Body is 11 members as required by
legislation and this cannot be altered by resolution.
14. The Governing Body has also determined that its committees will have
a similar quorum, however can amend or set the quorum however it deems
appropriate.
15. Members of a local authority can attend a meeting by audio link or
audiovisual link if a local authority’s standing orders permit such
attendance (clause 25A(1) of the Local Government Act
2002). However, a member not physically present
at a meeting is not to be counted as present for the purposes of assessing
whether there is a quorum (clause 25A(4)).
16. In
order to ensure that decision making can continue, and that staff and members
are not required to travel into the CBD and be physically present, two aspects
need to be addressed.
17. The
first is to ensure that where a quorum of the Governing Body cannot be reached
that a temporary Emergency Committee with all of the functions and powers of
the Governing Body be formed (aside from those that cannot be legally
delegated).
18. A
lowered quorum of two members physically present in the room (proposed to be
the mayor as chairperson, and another councillor) will enable the meeting to
occur and most decision-making to continue.
19. All
other members can attend electronically, and votes be counted as provided for
by existing provisions in the terms of reference.
20. The
Emergency Committee will take the place of the governing body temporarily in
emergency situations only, and deal with the business included on its agenda or
as scheduled. However, it cannot make decisions that are not able to be
delegated as listed in the Local
Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009), such as approving the budget.
21. The second
action required is for all other committees (other than Governing Body) where
currently a quorum is listed in the terms of reference. This is typically
at least half of the membership.
22. In this
regard, an amendment to the Terms of Reference is proposed to lower the quorum
to two members during the same State of Emergency circumstances. All other members can attend electronically, and votes be counted,
as provided for by existing provisions in the terms of reference.
Ngā tūtohunga
Recommendation/s
That the Governing Body:
a) whakaae / agree to establish an Emergency Committee of the whole of
the governing body, to assume the additional responsibilities retained by the
governing body at section 2(h) to (r) of the Governing Body Terms of Reference.
b) whakaae / agree that the Terms of Reference for the Emergency
Committee will include the following:
i) all
councillors will be members
ii) the
quorum will comprise two members of the governing body. All of the
governing body may participate in the meeting by audio or audio-visual link
iii) the
Mayor and Deputy Mayor will be the chair and deputy chair of the committee
respectively
iv) that
meetings of the Emergency Committee will be held only at the discretion of the
Mayor and Chief Executive in emergency or exceptional circumstances (and where
they consider transport, travel or attendance may be dangerous, unsafe or
impractical)
v) the
Independent Māori Statutory Board may appoint up to two members to sit on
the temporary Emergency Committee
c) whakaae / agree that the Emergency Committee be established
immediately.
d) whakaae / agree that the committee will only be convened on a temporary
basis in the event of a:
i) State
of Emergency; or
ii) another
exceptional circumstance as agreed by the Mayor and Chief Executive where
transport, travel or attendance may be dangerous, unsafe or impractical and
where a quorum cannot be achieved
e) tautapa / delegate the decision to convene a meeting of the
Emergency Committee to the Mayor and Chief Executive in emergency or
exceptional circumstances and where they consider transport, travel or
attendance may be dangerous, unsafe or impractical
f) tautapa / delegate all of the additional responsibilities retained
by the governing body at section 2(h) to (r) of the Governing Body Terms of
Reference
g) whakamana / authorise the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, on recommendation
of the Chief Executive, to decide when the emergency or other circumstances no
longer require Emergency Committee to be convened
h) whakaae
/ agree that the addition of the following words to the Governing Body Terms of
Reference to section 1.2 Quorum:
i) when
a committee is held during a declared State of Emergency or another exceptional
circumstance (as agreed by the Mayor and Chief Executive) the quorum is two
members physically present. For the avoidance of doubt, this clause will
override the listed quorum requirements of each committee in these
circumstances and all other members may attend online.
Ngā tāpirihanga
Attachments
There are no attachments for
this report.
Ngā kaihaina
Signatories
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Author
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Steve van Kampen - Governance Support Manager
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Authorisers
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Phil Wilson - Director, Governance & CCO
Partnerships
Jim Stabback - Tumu Whakarae / Chief Executive
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