Invercargill City Council last night (Thursday 12 November 2020) unanimously accepted the findings of an independent governance review and will now present the details of a plan to address the matters raised to the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA).

Discussions with the DIA will take place over coming weeks and it is expected that the Council will be able to share its plans for the future with the community soon.

The governance review was carried out as part of the Council’s response to an 18 August 2020 letter from the DIA highlighting concerns about governance.

The DIA requested assurance the Council was taking proactive measures to address the concerns and set out a range of specific required actions – one of which was to carry out “an independent evaluation of the current standard of governance performance by elected representatives…”.

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

“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.

“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.”

Council last night unanimously agreed to adopt the report of the governance review and agreed a range of possible actions to address the issues it raised.

His Worship the Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt said everyone around the council table is committed to working together 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.”