Council vote plan 'open to abuse'

Lazy councillors rejoice - some will not need to attend meetings and may be allowed to vote by phone or videocall under a proposal being investigated.

There are fears that the plan, designed for rural councillors forced to travel long distances, could also be a boon for lazy or errant councillors.

The idea, proposed by the South Island's Mackenzie District Council, received near-unanimous support at a Local Government New Zealand conference. Delegates passed a motion calling for a law change to allow elected officials "to participate in and vote on issues at local authority meetings by way of video or teleconference".

Local Government NZ governance manager Mike Reid said the plan was promoted by councils with sparsely populated large districts.

"It's basically the cost of councillors travelling to meetings and back again." The detail of such a proposal - including limits on when and where it could be used - would need to be fleshed out by central government after the election, he said. "If you're a member of the public, how do you know that they've read things, listened to the debate, approached it with an open mind?"

It would be drawing a "very long bow" to predict ordinary council meetings turning into conference calls.

Wellington region mayors were mixed in their views on the proposal, though most thought it would not apply to their councils very often.

Acting Wellington mayor Ian McKinnon said he would oppose its use. "Obviously councils have to keep up to date with modern technology, but there is a convention that you can vote only if you're actually present."

Councillors voting by remote would miss key elements of debates and be more likely to have a closed mind, he s said.

Lower Hutt Mayor David Ogden said he supported the plan for rural councils, and for occasional use by city councillors overseas, but some could misuse it by regularly failing to show up.

Greater Wellington regional council chairwoman Fran Wilde said criteria would be needed.

"You'd have to make sure it wasn't abused and it wasn't a way that people could not attend meetings."

- © Fairfax NZ News

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Reg Moore   #1   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

When they replaced attendance payments with a flat (large) salary for councillors, I though it would not be long before the greedy bastards came up with a device whereby they could get that salary by just making a phone call to record a vote. Can I take it this would include the vote to increase their salaries?

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