NZ Local Government Magazine 1602 by Contrafed Publishing

NZ LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE VOL 53 • FEBRUARY 2016 • $8.95

ROADMAP 2016 YOUR GUIDE TO THE YEAR AHEAD p12

REPORTS

LEGAL

ALERTS

EVENTS

GO I AM WOMAN What makes women councillors effective? p20

IT’S THE PITS Pioneering days leave health and safety legacy p26

SPEED READ 7 ways to make the most of your libraries p22

A TENDER TOPIC How to pick the best procurement qualification p30

IN THIS ISSUE NZ LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

CONTENTS P22 IN THIS ISSUE REGULARS

FEATURES

2 Editor’s Letter 4 In Brief 11 Events 45 LGNZ

12 R OADMAP 2016 Your guide to the year ahead 20 I AM WOMAN What makes women councillors effective? 22 S PEED READ 7 ways to make the most of your libraries 26 IT’S THE PITS Pioneering days leave health and safety legacy 28 T EN YEARS ON Biodiversity offsetting in 2016 30 A TENDER TOPIC How to pick the best procurement qualification 32 T HE ROADS LESS TRAVELLED A new transport project is creating better options for people of all abilities 34 A DIGITAL FUTURE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT News from ALGIM’s annual conference 38 O MG It’s the end of the electronic age

COLUMNISTS

P34

40 Elizabeth Hughes: Local Government 101 41 Linda O’Reilly: On Legal Issues 42 Jeremy Elwood: On the Funny Stuff 43 Peter Silcock: From Civil Contractors New Zealand 44 Lawrence Yule: From LGNZ

ON THE COVER

Roadmap 2016: Your guide to the year ahead.

P12 TO KEY SIGNUST FOR LO O K O

EVENTS REPORTS

FEBRUARY

AP R I L

MA R C H

ALERTS

LEGAL FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

EDITOR’S LETTER NZ LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

Inventive times Welcome back to another year of local government. I’ve been intrigued by the huge range of activities that councils roll out over the summer break. Many of them are the fun part of local government. Christchurch City Council’s been organising free movies, kicking off with a screening of Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit. Who could resist? Nelson Public Libraries is hosting travelling workshops on game coding, design and marketing. Hamilton City Council’s animal education and control team have reunited Peaches the Maltese Bichon cross with her owners after nearly two years. And councils around the country have been busy banning mermaid tail togs in their pools. You can’t ask for much more variety than that. On the other, less fun, side of the coin, Waikato Regional Council has waded into concerns around smelly seaweed on the Coromandel Peninsula. (NIWA reckons it’s hairy basket weed.) Clutha District Council has put customers on rural water schemes on high alert for possible leaks at a time of peak demand and near capacity. And Southland District Council is promising action after dogs have been out killing kiwi on Stewart Island. A common thread among all these activities – both fun and otherwise – is that they are, by and large, focused on what’s happening right now. Which is why, as the country draws breath over the break and councils get a slight reprieve from their long-term thinking, we’ve been quietly gathering a list of what’s coming up in 2016. The resultant “Roadmap 2016” (see page 12 of this issue) is intended as a guide for us all on what to expect this year. And it’s shaping up to be a humdinger of a time. A new Minister for Local Government, new direction from the Local Government Commission, resource management legislation still high on the agenda, new responsibilities as the Health & Safety at Work Act kicks in, and local body elections. Those are just a few of the delights in store for us this year. Still, I guess it’s nothing that Wallace and Gromit couldn’t resolve with a bit of inventive thinking.

Ruth Le Pla, editor, ruth@localgovernmentmag.co.nz

PUBLISHER Contrafed Publishing Co. Ltd, Suite 2.1, 93 Dominion Rd, Mount Eden, Auckland 1024 PO Box 112 357, Penrose, Auckland 1642 Phone: 09 636 5715, Fax: 09 636 5716 www.localgovernmentmag.co.nz GENERAL MANAGER Kevin Lawrence DDI: 09 636 5710 Mobile: 021 512 800 kevin@contrafed.co.nz EDITOR Ruth Le Pla Mobile: 021 266 3978 ruth@localgovernmentmag.co.nz BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Peter Corcoran DDI: 07 825 7557 Mobile: 021 272 7227 peter@contrafed.co.nz CONTRIBUTORS Tim Antric, Caroline Boot, Brendon Burns, Bill Conroy, Jeremy Elwood, Elizabeth Hughes, Linda O’Reilly, Jemma Penelope, Peter Silcock, Louise Tester, Lawrence Yule ADMINISTRATION/SUBSCRIPTIONS admin@contrafed.co.nz DDI: 09 636 5715 PRODUCTION Design: Jonathan Whittaker studio@contrafed.co.nz Printing: PMP MAXUM CONTRIBUTIONS WELCOME Please contact the editor before sending them in. Articles in Local Government Magazine are copyright and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the permission of the publisher. DISCLAIMER Local Government Magazine is an independent publication owned and produced by Contrafed Publishing. The views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of any of its shareholding organisations.

www.linkedin.com/contrafedpublishing @nzlgmagazine

ISSN 0028-8403

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We hear you

At McConnell Dowell, ‘Home without Harm’ is our mantra. So when it comes to Safety, you can be assured we’ll be following the regulations and upholding standards. We’ll also collaborate with you to deliver customised solutions for your organisation. From 4 April the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 adds significant duty of care responsibilities to your project delivery. Talk to us about how we can help. We’ll listen. www.mcconnelldowell.com

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IN BRIEF

JOIN UP FOR

NEIGHBOURS DAY

There’s still time for councils to get involved in this year’s Neighbours Day Aotearoa. The country’s sixth annual Neighbours Day, on the weekend of March 19-20, is expected to involve thousands of individuals from streets, apartment blocks and communities doing anything from baking for a neighbour to organising street BBQs. The nationwide campaign is led by a steering team of five NGOs that work with many other groups around the country. Last year 12 local councils were among the 132 organisations helping support and promote the event. Wellington City Council has created various themes to help promote Neighbours Day Aotearoa each year, including “bee friendly” and a focus on celebrating ethnic communities that saw Wellington’s Neighbours Day Aotearoa posters translated into several languages. This year it is running with a Growing Neighbourhoods theme. Veggie mix seed packets are being handed out at festivals in the capital over the summer and during the city’s annual Local Food Week as part of the programme. “There’s an easy cross-pollination between urban agriculture and Neighbours Day,” says Wellington City Council community and neighbourhood advisor Sarah Adams. “It gives community gardens a chance to tie in events and advertise to a different audience, and having a theme gives people a focus and nice achievable things to do for Neighbours Day,” she says. Wellington City Council neighbourhood development coordinator Angela Rampton says benefits from Neighbours Day include improving resilience, a positive impact on wellbeing, encouraging people to take pride in their city, and helping connect vulnerable people into the community. For this year’s Neighbours Day the council is also encouraging community organisations to get involved, developing neighbours

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contact detail cards, and offering $500 grants to support community groups’ celebrations. Mayor Celia Wade-Brown says encouraging neighbours to become acquainted is the foundation of community resilience. “Wellington is a member of the international 100 Resilient Cities network and neighbours will be the first point of support in an emergency. “Streets where the neighbours are friendly to each other will be safe streets,” she says. Neighhours Day Aotearoa is led by Lifewise, Inspiring Communities, the Mental Health Foundation, Neighbourhood Support NZ and Public Libraries of New Zealand. If your council is interested in taking part, email kiaora@ neighboursday.org.nz or contact national project manager Ashlee Gross, 027 262 612 or ashleeg@neighboursday.org.nz. More details: neighboursday.org.nz

Big Belly bins bring benefits Councils and contractors have been making operational savings, reducing their carbon footprints and paring back their environmental impacts since the introduction of Big Belly solarpowered compaction rubbish bins in the middle of last year. The bins are supplied by Manco Environmental (Manco), the country’s largest manufacturer and supplier of recycling and waste equipment, and the exclusive distributor of the Big Belly bins in New Zealand. The bins have been installed in North Island locations including in the Hauraki area, Taupo and Raglan. The average New Zealand public rubbish bin holds between 60 and 120 litres. Most councils and contractors operate on a weekly routine working on the assumption their bins are full.

The Big Belly bins connect to a cloud-based asset management programme that provides live data and analytical reports on how full they are, when they need to be collected and the efficiency of the council’s or contractor’s operation. Each 120 litre solar-powered container compacts to at least a five-to-one ratio, providing a realistic compacted capacity of 600 litres of loose rubbish while remaining completely sealed. The bins lock once full. Council and / or the contractor can view how full the bins are via a phone app or online. Manco says the system helps councils gain a good understanding of how their assets are operating and how much their waste operations are costing them, allowing for future planning.

Manukau and Onehunga get the nod

TechnologyOne investment plans

The Auckland Development Committee has approved a list of 19 urban locations from Whangaparaoa in the north to Pukekohe in the south of the city recommended by Panuku Development Auckland. Manukau and Onehunga have been approved as flagship projects. They will undergo a transformation similar in scale to the regeneration of the Wynyard Quarter in downtown Auckland.

Enterprise software provider TechnologyOne is investing some A$41 million in its research and development programme this year. This equates to about 19 percent of its revenue. Over the next 18 months, the company will focus on bringing all its remaining products onto its new Ci Anywhere platform.

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FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

IN BRIEF Flying flags in communities Waikato District Council is flying both the current flag and the proposed alternate Kyle Lockwood-designed silver fern flag outside its Ngaruawahia office. They are on display as part of the nationwide flag consideration project and in the lead up to next month’s final referendum. District Council chief executive Gavin Ion says the council does not have a view on the issue but flying the flags is an important part of the overall democratic process for the general public. “Up until now the proposed options have been largely paper-based and one-dimensional for the public. Flying the flags means members of our communities can see them and make an informed choice.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN MEGAHAN, PLOS BIOLOGY

Moa diet fits the bill Researchers have used software previously employed to assess building strength after the Canterbury earthquakes to reveal new information about the diet of the now-extinct New Zealand moa. Researchers from Canterbury Museum, the University of Auckland, Flinders University, the University of New England (Australia) and UNSW Australia have discovered that nine species of moa were able to co-exist because differences in the structure and strength of each species’ bills influenced or dictated diet. The extinct giant Haast’s Eagle attacking Little Bush moa.

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Communications trends for 2016 Virtual reality comms, the primacy of third-party channels, and campaigns that are actually useful. These are some of the communications trends over the next 12 months, according to PR agency Hotwire in its newly-released report Communications Trends 2016. Hotwire says virtual reality (VR) will become a key trend this year as people demand a “perfect marriage” between experience and data. “VR lends itself perfectly to brands looking to bridge emotion and fact.” The agency also reckons brands will increasingly be forced to relinquish their tight

control over their content. “There will be a growing willingness to hand over distribution to third parties, as campaigns live and breathe on the channels they’re designed for and we begin to see the end of clumsy calls to action or forced visits to external websites.” Hotwire also predicts brands will go a step further, “focusing far less on selling a product or service, and instead connecting with audiences through experiences that bring real benefit to them”. Download the full report for free from: www.hotwirepr.co.nz/trends/

EDS calls for more work on Marine Protected Areas proposals EDS policy director Raewyn Peart says the government’s recently-released consultation document on a new Marine Protected Areas Act is welcome but its suggestions don’t go far enough. “The really disappointing aspect is that the proposals only apply to a small fraction of New Zealand’s marine realm – the 12 nautical

mile strip of sea around the coastline. The legislation won’t apply to the bulk of our marine environment, which lies within the Exclusive Economic Zone, from 12 to 200 nautical miles, and contains much of our marine biodiversity.” Raewyn says this “grossly inadequate” approach to marine conservation puts New

Zealand well behind other developed nations. “It is something that needs to be rectified during the consultation process.” EDS asks everyone with an interest in the marine environment to obtain a copy of the consultation document and to make a submission. The last date for submissions is March 11. www.mfe.govt.nz/consultation/mpa

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FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

IN BRIEF DATES FOR YOUR DIARY FEBRUARY 17 Health & Safety Roadshow. Distinction Hotel Palmerston North tinyurl.com/SOLGM-HealthSafety-PalmNorth 22 – 23 Freshwater Management & Infrastructure Forum. Rydges Hotel, Wellington tinyurl.com/FreshwaterInfrastructureForum 23 – 24 Risk Management Forum. Cliftons Wellington, Majestic Centre, Wellington tinyurl.com/SOLGM-RiskManagement

MARCH 1 Health & Safety Roadshow. Scenic Hotel Southern Cross, Dunedin tinyurl.com/SOLGM-HealthSafety-Dunedin 5 – 13 Parks Week. The New Zealand Recreation Association and Parks and Leisure Australia www.parks-week.org 7–8 2016 SOLGM Strategic Finance Forum. Mac’s Function Centre, Wellington tinyurl.com/SOLGM-StrategicFinance

14 – 15 Safety Leaders’ Summit 2016. SkyCity, Auckland tinyurl.com/conferenz-safetyleaders 14 – 15 Australasian Management Challenge: New Zealand leg. Upper Hutt tinyurl.com/SOLGM-ManagementChallenge 16 – 17 Changeology: The practice of project design for change. Crowne Plaza Hotel, Auckland tinyurl.com/wasteminz-changeology 16 – 18 New Zealand Land Treatment Collective Annual Conference 2016. Gisborne tinyurl.com/LandTreatmentConference 17 Land Development & Engineering Group Forum. Copthorne Airport Hotel, Christchurch tinyurl.com/LandDevelopmentEngineering 21 – 22 2016 ALGIM Infrastructure Symposium. Holiday Inn, Auckland tinyurl.com/ALGIM-InfrastructureSymposium

APRIL

10 Road Infrastructure Management Forum 2016. Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre, Rotorua conferenceteam.co.nz/rims2016

14 2016 SOLGM Local Government Excellence Awards, Gala Dinner & The Marketplace. Mac’s Function Centre, Wellington tinyurl.com/SOLGM-AnnualDinner

14 – 15 Occupational Health Conference 2016. Auckland tinyurl.com/Conferenz-OccHealth

15 Financial Governance 201 (LGNZ). LGNZ Wellington www.lgnz.co.nz Would you like us to include your event in this calendar? Please email details to ruth@localgovernmentmag.co.nz

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Upper Hutt goes picturesque Upper Hutt City Council, local artist Daniel Mills, and students from Fraser Crescent School have transformed the Fraser Crescent to Bonnie Glen Crescent pedestrian accessway by installing a mural which depicts Upper Hutt’s scenic playground by day and night. Special mentions go out to Fraser Crescent School deputy principal Michelle Picard and students Emily Blitz, Tahlia Carson, Leneith Labuschangne, Lily Masseurs, Aiden O’Brien, Riley O’Brien, Nathaniel Rowe, Bhavika Sharma, India-Rose Stent, Samuel Vosalevu, Chai Waihi and Ezra Wilson for their collaboration on the project.

The completed mural between Fraser and Bonnie Glen Crescents brings a colourful change to the accessway.

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Fergus Gammie has been appointed the new chief executive of the NZ Transport Agency, with effect from next month. He will replace Geoff Dangerfield, who announced his intention to leave the role late last year. Fergus is a former chief executive of Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA), chief operating officer of Auckland Transport, and deputy director general transport services at Transport for New South Wales, where he is currently deputy secretary infrastructure and services. A Kiwi, Fergus is returning home, and holds a BA from Victoria University in Wellington and a Certificate in Management from Henley Management College.

Recall has already achieved ISO 27001 globally,

Works begin on Airfields housing site Enabling infrastructure works have started on an Auckland Councilowned site in Hobsonville Point in advance of the over 400 homes to be built there. The 20 hectare site which was formerly part of the Hobsonville Airforce Base was purchased by Waitakere City Council over a decade ago with the intention for it to become a marine industry precinct. After a lack of market interest and a recent unsuccessful bid for it to be a film precinct, Auckland Council adopted a masterplan that will see the area used primarily for housing. The Airfields master plan, as it’s known, has been developed by Panuku Development Auckland in conjunction with the government-owned Hobsonville Land Company. It will provide a diverse residential community with a minimum of 10 percent being affordable housing. The plan also incorporates an up to six hectare mixed use zone while retaining an existing New Zealand Airforce hangar which is being refurbished over the next six months.

the first information management company to do so. Recall is also Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) certified for our Document Management, Data Protection and Secure Destruction Services. And this year, Recall has undergone a PCI DSS audit of our Digital Services, to provide our customers with the assurance that we process, transmit and store customer data, specific to credit card payments, in a secure and managed environment.

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IN BRIEF PNCC trials pre-approved housing consents A collaborative pilot between Palmerston North City Council, the building industry and central government aims to speed up and simplify processes for housing development. Palmerston North is only the second city in New Zealand to try out a pre-approval approach to consenting developed by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). This is the first time the approach is being applied to pre-built homes. The initiative is a version of MBIE’s existing MultiProof scheme, where one set of designs is pre-approved by MBIE, allowing them to be used for multiple building consents without having to undergo the full council checks each time. To date, MultiProof approvals required all possible design variations to be known when someone applies for the MultiProof. The approach being piloted will allow much more flexibility and scope for builders and developers to vary their designs across multiple consents / projects without needing to know those variations upfront. Brad Hislop, senior adviser in MBIE’s consenting team, says the initiative has the potential to greatly speed up turnaround times for processing and issuing building consents and give builders and developers more certainty. “Our first pilot in Christchurch with Generation Homes proved it can work, cutting consent approval time down from 30 days to fewer than five days. Running it in Palmerston North will allow us to refine the approach to suit pre-built homes, and confirm that similar benefits can be achieved for industry.”

Presidential Building’s Shane McEldowney sees the benefits for the work his team carries out. His firm has been producing at its factory in Jasper Place ready-built homes which are then trucked to site and put on foundations. Without a MultiProof approval each building would require a full consent check by council despite similarities in design. Under the MultiProof most of the design will be pre-approved meaning the council will need to do far fewer checks. The pilot will run until April this year, involving MBIE, Monika Puri from 242am Architects, Presidential Building and PNCC building services staff. If the pilot is successful, other builders and developers will be able to adopt the same approach and utilise its benefits. PNCC general manager customer services Peter Eathorne says the initiative is a great example of how council is working with government and industry to unlock the city’s future prosperity. “We want to make the consent process as simple and as easy as possible to encourage more investment.”

Partnership to boost Nelson Nature Nelson City Council and the Department of Conservation (DOC) have joined forces to deliver council’s multimillion-dollar project to improve Nelson’s biodiversity. Nelson Nature targets $6 million over 10 years to protect and restore the area’s natural environment. DOC will help project manage Nelson Nature for the next three years. This year, the work programme for Nelson Nature includes managing pest animals in the city’s backdrop and inland hill country to allow

native birds to thrive, boosting weed control in key areas to give Nelson’s native forests a better chance of survival, and improving water quality across the area’s waterways. Nelson mayor Rachel Reese says the project supports Nelson’s reputation as a holiday hot spot and a centre for ecotourism, where residents and visitors can experience nature right on the city’s doorstep.

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EVENTS ALGIM CONFERENCE 2015

1. Andrea Houlihan (Waipa District Council), Andy Fenton (Desktop Imaging), Duncan Blair (South Waikato District Council) & Jacqueline Davidson (Auckland Council). 2. Andrew Leusink, Georgiana Johnson (both from Datacom), Jane Carroll (Environment Southland) & Tom Elledge (Datacom). 3. Joanne Proffit, Donna Shaw & Jenine Ritchie (all from Gisborne District Council). 4. Jane McLeod, Jackie Bennion (both from Nelson City Council) & David Kamper (MagiQ Software).

5. Laura Manley (Center for Open Data Enterprise) & Mike Manson (ALGIM).

6. Paul and Briony Davidson (Sedgemoor District Council). 7. Ross Dingle (Tenderlink), Zabeen Hussain & Josephine McGillivray (both from TIMG). 8. Carl Wezel (Digital Mapping Solutions), Ari Houshangi (Whanganui District Council), Tony Krzyzewski (Kaon SecurITy – MPA New Zealand), Simon Nitz (Digital Mapping Solutions) & Ian Tidy (Napier City Council). 9. Ewen Church (Palmerston North City Council), Jamie Fitzgerald (motivational speaker), Jim Higgins – ALGIM life member & Linda Lindeman (Palmerston North City Council).

10. David Gunn (Hamilton City Council), Sharlene Dawson, Andrew Stubbins (LeapThought NZ), Jason Dawson (conference MC) & Pieter Bronkhorst (Hamilton City Council).

FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

ROADMAP 2016 YOUR GUIDE TO THE YEAR AHEAD

elcome to local government year 2016. By all accounts this one is shaping up to be, as the Chinese say, an ‘interesting’ one. And there’s so much going on. So in the interests of keeping track of upcoming events and forward planning, we’ve collated this roadmap to help guide us through the coming months. It comes with a proviso. Read the dates as indicative rather than definitive. Real life often gets in the way of the best of plans, timeframes slip and other imperatives take over. The local government sector is hugely consultative: which often leads to rethinks on schedules as new ideas are taken on board and additional groups consulted and included. Second, we acknowledge there are plenty of other initiatives that we could have included but as no indicative dates are yet available we’re simply keeping a keen watchful eye on them. We expect this year, for example, to see some significant progress on the 3 Waters initiative and work on alternative funding models for local government.

FEBRUARY: Local Government Commission starts regional conversations programme

Y R A U R FEB

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The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is reviewing legislation that affects local government in terms of public registers, contradictory requirements from different Acts and how councils can approach the tricky issue of releasing property data. The National Policy Statement (NPS) on Freshwater Management 2014 will be reviewed this year and some also hold out hopes of an NPS on biodiversity getting some traction. And possible legal action between the Wellington Chamber of Commerce and Wellington City Council may challenge thinking around how councils can apply living wage decisions. All of this is set against a backdrop of local body elections. By the time we reach the end of this collective roadmap for 2016 we will all be in need of a nice cup of tea and a well-deserved lie down.

17 FEBRUARY 17: Submissions close on changes to the Land Transport Rule: Vehicle Dimensions and Mass 2002 (the VDAM Rule)

19 FEBRUARY 19: Last day for submissions on LGNZ’s ‘blue skies’ review of the resource management system; final report to be published later in 2016

FIRST QUARTER Government Commission and ➔ Local Wellington Region Mayoral Forum

EARLY MARCH

consults public on transport and spatial planning options. Definitive decision by mid-year

EARLY MARCH: LGNZ EXCELLENCE Awards entries open

announces which ➔ Government communities will get urban fibre in UFB2 programme

5 – 13

MARCH 5 – 13: Parks Week. The New Zealand Recreation Association and Parks and Leisure Australia

Contractors NZ rolls out its ➔ Civil Civil Trades Regime

14 – 15

MARCH 9: Last day for comments on the Productivity Commission’s Better Urban Planning issues paper

MARCH 11: Submissions close on proposed new Marine Protected Areas Act

H C R A M

MARCH 14: Final day for submissions on the Resource Legislation Amendment Bill 2015

MARCH 14 – 15: New Zealand leg of the Australasian Management Challenge: Upper Hutt

GO EVENTS TO S N G I S Y E K FO R LO O K O U T

LEGAL

REPORTS

ALERTS

FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

REPORTS APRIL: Water New Zealand releases results of 2014/2015 national performance review

APRIL: Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) is dismantled; many of its responsibilities pass to new joint crown-council entity Regenerate Christchurch

APRIL 4: Health & Safety at Work Act 2015 takes effect

MAY: Preparatory work starts on Aucklandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Central Rail Link

EARLY MAY

MAY

AP R I L

APRIL 4: Construction Safety Council launches ConstructSafe competency framework and assessment tool

4 APRIL 4: National licensing system for asbestos removal is introduced

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GO 14 APRIL 14: SOLGM Local Government Excellence Awards, Gala Dinner & The Marketplace: Wellington

EARLY MAY: Entries close for LGNZ EXCELLENCE Awards

SECOND QUARTER publishes report on local ➔ OAG authorities’ 2014/15 audits

EARLY JUNE

22 – 25

EARLY JUNE: LGNZ EXCELLENCE Awards finalists are announced MAY 18: EECA Awards 2016: Auckland

JUNE

JUNE 22 – 25: 2016 IPWEA NZ conference: Auckland

LATE JUNE LATE JUNE: Australasian Management Challenge finals: Australia

18 – 20

30 MAY 18 – 20: Water New Zealand stormwater conference: Nelson

JUNE 30: Local government financial year ends

FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

! JULY: Communication protocols in the three months before local body elections take effect

3–6

AUGUST 3 – 6: Civil Contractors NZ conference 2016: Auckland

! JULY: OAG adopts 'information' as its theme for the 2016/17 year

JULY

T S U G AU

15 JULY 15 [TO AUGUST 12]: Local body candidate nominations open

25 – 26 JULY 25 – 26: LGNZ conference and EXCELLENCE Awards: Dunedin

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THIRD QUARTER publishes review of Auckland ➔ OAG Council’s service performance / complaints management

10 – 11

S E P TE M B E R AUGUST 10 – 11: EDS Wild Places Conference: Auckland

13 SEPTEMBER 13 [TO OCTOBER 5]: Special voting period for local body elections

GO 21 – 23

17 AUGUST 17: Public notice of candidates’ names for local body elections

SEPTEMBER 21 – 23: 2016 SOLGM Annual Summit: Auckland

FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

8 OCTOBER 8: Local body elections with eight councils trialling online voting for first time – preliminary results

21 – 23

NOVEMBER 21 – 23: Annual ALGIM Conference: Auckland

13 – 19 OCTOBER 13 – 19: Final local body election results declared

R E B M E NOV

OCTO BE R

GO 19 – 21 OCTOBER 19 – 21: Water New Zealand annual conference: Rotorua

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FOURTH QUARTER provides training and guidance â&#x17E;&#x201D; OAG to newly-elected members on matters relating to the Office

D EC E M B E R

DECEMBER: The Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) wraps up its programme

STOP

GO LEGAL

DECEMBER: New competency requirements about to come into force under the amended Health and Safety in Employment (Mining Operations and Quarrying Operations) Regulations 2013

FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

ELECTED MEMBERS

I AM WOMAN WHAT MAKES WOMEN COUNCILLORS EFFECTIVE?

When Louise Tester wanted to understand what it meant to women councillors to be effective in local government she embarked on a three-year study of the perceptions of 25 women councillors from 20 North Island councils. She shares some of her findings.

ouncillors’ effectiveness is incredibly complex, different and gendered. My study shows that women councillors matter and their contribution to New Zealand local government is important. Yet women councillors in New Zealand are still a minority. Despite in 1894 being one of the first countries to grant universal suffrage, in 2014 in New Zealand less than one third of our elected councillors were women. There are many reasons for this difference. The local government system created by men still reflects masculinist values. Women continue to dominate as households’ primary caregivers and face increasing pressures to achieve in their careers and professions. These enduring barriers influence women’s decisions to stand for local elected office and how they perform once in office. Across the globe local government remains particularly relevant to women’s lives. Local government is more connected to communities, women participate more in their local communities than men do, and women remain as major (and often the majority) users of council services. The election of women councillors is important, as is the particular way that women councillors represent their communities.

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Women councillors have different ways of being effective. They have a representational style that is embedded in relationships and more closely attuned to an ethic of care.

MEANING There was no single definition about what it meant to be effective across the councillors’ stories. It was clear that there were different orientations of effectiveness, degrees of effectiveness and different ways of being effective. Effectiveness is not a politically-neutral term. It is about power, political process and perception. As those working in local government are only too aware, the notion of effectiveness is a commonly-cited term. With over 40 references to effectiveness in the Local Government Act 2002, there should be clarity and certainty about its meaning but there is not. This research revealed effectiveness as complex and often contested.

FOUNDATIONS Being effective was grounded in the women’s personal consciousness. This was derived from their past experiences – as workers, mothers, partners, volunteers, governors or business owners. It originated from their work both inside and outside of the home. The women brought to their elected role a multiplicity of life experience – valuable and relevant experience which is often characterised by a collective intention to work with and on behalf of others. As research participant Naomi (participants’ real names have not been used in this article) said: “I bring together my life’s experience in terms of local government and in terms of where I have lived, [and] the positions I have held in other communities. “What I bring to the table is quite different... It is a life experience thing, shown by the differences and the attitudes you bring.” The women had a historical horizon about their experiences. They understood how their prior experiences, prejudices, and interpretations influenced them as councillors. This level of awareness was very strong among each of the women who took part in the research.

PEOPLE AND PLACE There is a consensus among feminist theorists that women’s lives are structured relationally. Relationships represented a cornerstone underpinning the councillors’ understandings of what it meant to be effective. Bailey talked about women’s contributions to local government, realised through particular ways of working cooperatively. “I believe that women do local government well,” she said. “Good local government essentially reflects the way women work together. We sit and we talk issues through, and we will talk until we find a sensible way forward.” The women defined themselves by their relationships, and their ability to care about others. Sarah suggested that for a councillor to be effective, “they actually have to believe in people. They actually have to believe that people are worthwhile and worth working with. I see it as an opportunity.

You have to understand where people are coming from.” The women’s ways of working were open and inclusive. Rachel said, “I want to make sure everyone is getting benefit from the council… I want to make sure there is access and no barriers.” Similarly Kathryn said, “I am very people-centred and I want to represent the heart of the community and not just the cheque books.” Attachment to the place they represented was also central to the women’s understanding of their effectiveness. Hine said: “I am in love. I just think my district is the centre of the universe. I think [the area] is the centre of the universe, and it deserves to be well. I think the people, the land and the opportunities are just there. It is very starry-eyed stuff. It means a lot to me.” Affinity with, care for and representation of the community emerged as a reason and purpose to represent and the way that the councillors felt effective. The community attachments provided sustenance for many of the women. This connective tissue that tied the councillors to their community was manifested through their acts of effectiveness – acts that have positively transformed communities across Aotearoa.

A DIFFERENT WAY There is no suggestion that all women councillors represent or lead in the same way. This inquiry showed that there was a gendered consciousness that was present among the women councillors, and that the councillors’ voices were different, important and influential, because of their woman’s experience that they brought to their role. Atarangi and Jocelyn highlighted their view that women councillors were thoughtful, flexible and adaptive. Trina reflected that women were more likely to “take a view from a higher level” and were able to “put on another hat and see that something that might be best for a particular part of the

Key findings Effectiveness is a challenging construct to understand. It is not passive but lively, dynamic, variable and continuous. It is grounded in prejudice and politics. Interpretations about its meaning are tentative and subject to change. Effectiveness will differ over time, and vary from person to person, according to each situation. Being effective means being aware of the interpretive character of our own understanding, and unfolding that understanding, as we assess it in relation to the understanding of others. To be an effective councillor requires tenacity, agility, connection, responsiveness, and the ability to represent with care and authenticity. Local government needs the different voice that women councillors bring, in greater numbers, because effective women councillors improve the responsiveness and relevance of local government to their communities.

FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

ELECTED MEMBERS

How to spot an effective woman councillor • People orientation (engaging, inclusive, caring, relational, accessible, connected, approachable, empathetic, equitable). • Value orientation (principled, honest, trustworthy, credible, with integrity). • Ethical orientation (committed to community and the organisation, responsive, prepared, diligent, accountable). • Character orientation (resilient, strong, determined, tenacious, confident, reflective, self-believing, patient, persistent, adaptable, realistic). • Skill orientation (broad knowledge, diverse experience, intellect, articulate, competent). • Role orientation (leader, activist, advocate, representative, collaborator, facilitator). • Outcome orientation (wellbeing focused, community focused, result focused).

district may not be best for every ratepayer”. This view was echoed by many of the councillors, who suggested that women councillors had a very strong regard for the social, cultural and environmental wellbeing of their whole community. Gail acknowledged that all councillors work in the realm of “wellbeing” but suggested that women are more likely to dwell in this mode than men are. Bailey challenged conventional thinking about effectiveness that she defined as “blokeish”, preferring a more different, more cooperative way of working. She said, “You know that a good leader leads from the front and they push something through and they get things done. I fundamentally do not agree with that… that approach leads to a disenfranchised community, and bad feeling all around.” The women brought different skills and approaches to the council table. Iris said: “Because I am a woman, I can step back, listen to people and say ‘hang on there is a different way of doing this. There is a more inclusive way of going forward.’ And I think this is possible because I am a woman.” There was a strong awareness among the women that they had a responsibility to represent all of the voices in their community, particularly those voices that were not always heard. Gail said, “I remember someone asking me what right I had to be on council if I was not a business woman. I said the biggest industry in the region was social services, and I was the president of it.” Gail reflected how this occasion made her profoundly aware of what her woman’s life would bring to the council. LG • Louise Tester has over 20 years’ experience in local and central government in the UK and New Zealand. She runs her own research company Guild Research, is a part-time tutor at the Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki and a policy advisor for Te Korowai o Ngaruahine Trust.

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ASSETS

SPEED

READ

7 WAYS TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR LIBRARIES Building engagement with communities, ratepayers and local businesses begins with understanding one of councils’ biggest assets – public libraries. Tim Antric asks whether councils are operating 21st century libraries.

ublic libraries exist to enhance communities’ social and economic wellbeing. They are in the business of helping people find out information, keep current and stay in touch; and so add huge value to their community and people’s lives. Public libraries deliver a range of outcomes including social inclusion, lifelong learning, community engagement, identity and heritage, culture, environmental and economic wellbeing. Our communities are evolving fast and this pace of change is hugely impacting on libraries. Many libraries have responded by delivering new types of services to support and engage with their communities. Despite this, some people have questioned whether public libraries are still necessary. Many see libraries as being increasingly irrelevant. Many of these people are not aware of just how services have evolved and what is available to them, their families and communities. Here’s a short checklist so you can see how your library measures up.

1. ECONOMIC CATALYSTS Libraries are playing a part in helping entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs grow. This is happening through their promotion of businessrelevant collections (including electronic trade journals, databases and books), business-specific courses and reference services.

FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

ASSETS

Libraries play a role in growing the digital and technology literacies of children, teens and adults.

The world has gone digital and so have public libraries.

Every day more than 100,000 people visit their local library.

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2. STEM POWERHOUSES Science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) underpin many of New Zealand’s growth enterprises. Libraries play a role in growing the digital and technology literacies of children, teens and adults. They are offering courses in computing, online game coding, tablet use, social media, robotics, animation and 3D printing.

Thanks to ratepayers’ investment in digital access and support from library professional staff, New Zealanders can connect and become digitally competent and productive.

6. REMIND US WHO WE ARE

The world has gone digital and so have public libraries. eBooks, eMagazines, specialist journals and databases – all are available through a public library. As collections become more available online, anytime, anywhere, libraries have moved from being about the building with “collections” to more about “connections”.

Libraries work together locally, nationally and internationally to ensure local and family history resources are readily available, that people can research heritage subjects for professional, their own, their family’s or their community’s interests. Some work hand in hand with local museums and art galleries to curate local history and stories. Alongside a focus on the past, they also prepare for the future with resources for migrants, acting as online portals to share stories and media in the languages of those communities.

4. THE HEART OF COMMUNITIES

7. CHANGE LIVES

Today’s public libraries work to grow active and positivelyengaged citizens. They provide spaces for businesses and community groups to meet, programmes for children, young people, parents, migrants and older people.

By complementing other economic development initiatives, supporting lifelong learning, providing access to information and experiences, by enhancing community connectedness, connecting us with the digital world and bringing together our past, present and future, libraries are not only a playground for the mind, but they also change lives across New Zealand. Every day more than 100,000 people visit their local library. They’re the most used, by choice, public service and one of the most trusted institutions in your community. Libraries in over 300 locations with 2400 staff make sure that we can all discover something new, explore an interest, or build on and share our knowledge. LG

3. GATEWAY TO THE DIGITAL WORLD

5. DIGITAL HUBS Libraries are access points with technology available for public use. Across New Zealand, there are more than 2000 public computer terminals in libraries. Every year the number of WiFi sessions in libraries more than doubles. At the last census, 17 percent of homes with schoolaged children said they didn’t have internet access. In some communities this is as high as one in two homes. Libraries help by ensuring those people can get online: to find, learn, buy, sell, participate and transact – both privately and with government.

•T im Antric is executive director of Public Libraries of New Zealand.

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FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

HEALTH & SAFETY

IT'S

THE PITS

PIONEERING DAYS LEAVE HEALTH AND SAFETY LEGACY

IMAGE COURTESY OF DICKSON QUARRY

Councils around the country may face some 21st century risks from much earlier practices. Aggregate News editor Brendon Burns reports.

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s settlers tumbled across the New Zealand landscape in the 19th century, the demand for aggregate was their ballast. Local county councils opened and operated hundreds of small quarries and gravel pits across New Zealand. Often these were sited no more than the distance a horse and cart could pull a load of aggregate to help with forming roads, home or farm building sites. Fast-forward to 2016. The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 was passed in September 2015. From April 4 this year a raft of new responsibilities and liabilities will be passed to a PCBU – a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking. Many councils still own land on which quarries are sited; some even operate quarries. In June 2015, Murray Taylor died in a limestone quarry collapse at Waikari in North Canterbury. He was operating the quarry without the appropriate certificate but it was leased from the Hurunui District Council, based at Amberley. Aggregate News has been told the Waikari tragedy caused a number of local authorities to intensify their focus on the liabilities they might face as quarry site owners. “This tragedy has awoken landowners, including councils, to the risks and liabilities they face as quarry site owners,” says a quarry source who previously worked for a council. LGNZ president Lawrence Yule says he has not heard of councils applying any more urgency to reviewing their potential liabilities with quarries. He says councils already have a range of responsibilities for quarrying under

the law, including RMA permits for extraction from riverbeds. Lawrence acknowledges that there may be health and safety implications for councils that own quarry sites where an accident happens. He says the Waikari death was a terrible accident and he preferred not to comment on the ramifications from that while investigations continued. His own council, Hastings District not only owns a number of quarry sites but also operates a quarry itself at Poukawa. Under the new legislation, PCBUs can face fines of up to $600,000 and five years in jail for recklessly ignoring health and safety requirements. Lawrence says if his council staff have any concerns about their potential exposure as quarry owners to the new health and safety legislation, it hasn’t reached him. “Nobody has raised a big red flag to me yet.” He says a lot of old quarries developed by councils many years before will have been sold or become disused. WorkSafe’s chief inspector extractives Tony Forster says its High Hazards Unit (HHU) is well advanced in developing a national quarries locations database. This will be the first such comprehensive list of quarry sites. He says this will enable the HHU to differentiate between quarry operations that have notified WorkSafe as required under the 2013 regulations and those sites apparently flying under the radar. A quarry site verification exercise will then be carried out across New Zealand. “The new Act lays out responsibilities and obligations. Good operators will be

at that level now and the new Act will not mean a great deal of change. But what the Act does do for others who are not there yet is identify very clearly what they need to do to ensure the operations and their workers are healthy and safe while they’re at work,” Tony says. “That’s an outcome we all want.” It is understood from some in the quarry sector that there may be hundreds of former quarry sites across New Zealand in varying states of repair. Some may be council-owned; others vested in council by government agencies. Some quarry operators are now working with councils to remediate sites to reduce quarry walls to more acceptable slopes or fill in water pits. This work has increased since work on the new health and safety legislation emerged a few years ago – and intensified since the Waikari tragedy on a councilowned site. Some former quarries are able to be left as they are; others need remediation. Lawrence says LGNZ has had concerns about the issues for councils raised by the new health and safety legislation and was active in the select committee process. LGNZ’s submission on the legislation does not, however make any reference to what liabilities might ensue for councils which leased or owned quarry sites. The principal concern expressed centred around councillors not being exposed to workplace safety liabilities. Lawrence said LGNZ was seeking a meeting with WorkSafe to discuss the new, emerging regulations, including those for quarries, which will support the new legislation. LG

FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

ENVIRONMENT

TEN YEARS ON BIODIVERSITY OFFSETTING IN 2016 A decade after a landmark court case on biodiversity offsetting, how much progress has been made? And what can we expect in 2016? Jemma Penelope reports.

n many people’s minds, biodiversity offsetting is associated with large-scale energy and infrastructure developments, specialised lawyers and maverick ecologists. Yet scaling the use of biodiversity offsets to deliver nationallyimportant outcomes places the sharp end of implementing offsetting in the hands of local government. The rubber meets the road in regional and district plans, individual consent conditions, and monitoring and enforcement. While offsetting has frequently been synonymous with controversy, in recent years there have been important developments – both here and overseas – in crafting policy and methodology to deliver better outcomes. Internationally, the examples of successful, robust offset projects continue to grow. Poor-quality projects of yesteryear are increasingly seen as learning curves, instead of warning bells. In New Zealand, unifying policy and

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institutional capacity limiting factors.

remain

major

COUNCIL’S ROLE Where the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) lays downs the legislative boundaries, it is under individual consenting decisions that biodiversity offsets happen. Local authorities’ regional policy statements, and regional and district plans are the vehicles through which biodiversity offsetting comes into existence. In the Manawatu, Horizons Regional Council’s One Plan, (Policy 6-2 e (ii)) states territorial authorities must consider offsets when dealing with indigenous biodiversity. Policy 13-4 puts in place a hierarchy of mitigation, a requirement for net additional gain, and provides conditions to be met. Both the latest proposed update for the Waikato regional policy statement and Auckland’s regional plan include offsets,

offset mitigation and compensation in several chapters and sections. Offset planning such as this not only provides guidance and structure, but importantly removes barriers individual planners face at the local government level to actually consider offsets. Developments in assessments, guidances and case-law over the past 10 years provide a wide range of tools for local planners to apply in 2016 and beyond.

TEN YEARS OF PROGRESS This year marks a decade since New Zealand’s seminal offsetting case JF Investments v Queenstown Lakes District Council (2006). Those years have equipped us with a clear legal context to apply the terms ‘compensation’, ‘mitigation’ and ‘offsetting’. When early cases stumbled over such terms, there was confusion and concern amongst planners, ecologists, lawyers and applicants alike.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PROF DAVID NORTON

Get the lingo Biodiversity offsets: Measurable conservation activities or projects that address residual, unavoidable biodiversity loss due to economic development, designed via a transparent, accounting-based methodology to achieve the same or greater level of conservation value than that lost to development. Mitigation: Actions taken within the footprint of an economic development to lessen its negative environmental impact including: avoid, remedy, reduce, minimise, restore, rehabilitate. Compensation: Positive conservation actions designed to improve the quality and / or quantity of environmental values, driven by a development project but not intended to reduce its overall negative environmental impact. The mitigation hierarchy: A schematic approach, sequencing actions whereby mitigation actions occur prior to offsetting, and prior to compensation actions, so that all of the earlier stages are addressed prior to moving to the next stage. No net loss: An overall outcome following effective mitigation and offsetting where there is no overall loss of environmental values.

Tiromoana Bush at the North Canterbury Kate Valley Landfill offset site. Restoration plantings and regenerating forest.

Recent cases have cemented definitions, most notably from the Escarpment Mine and Transmission Gully consent cases, tightening how the mitigation hierarchy is applied. Armed with a clear ‘offset-isnot-mitigation-is-not-compensation’ mandate, the door has closed on using offset as a shortcut past avoiding, remedying or restoring damage, and better managing the ecological risk around New Zealand offsetting. Despite legal developments, ecological and political risk remains a key part of New Zealand biodiversity conservation. This is particularly true on privatelyheld land and provides motivation to better develop biodiversity offsetting in years to come. The QEII National Trust plays a prominent role in private land conservation in this country. Last year the trust announced its 4000th covenant, and also its worst backlog to date, with far more applications for covenants than it could afford to fund. Demand is also high for improved outcomes under the RMA. Once lauded as a progressive embrace of sustainable development, the RMA is now frequently seen as failing to deliver either economic or environmental success. PhD research from the University of Waikato by Dr Marie Brown (now a

Biodiversity banking: Positive environmental actions (such as protection, restoration, enhancement or recreation) can be issued credits, which can then be sold to those needing to offset negative environmental impacts elsewhere, to finance the implementation of the ‘credited’ positive environmental actions.

senior policy analyst at the Environmental Defence Society) showed that in 2010 the compliance rate for RMA consents involving offsetting was notably inadequate. In her 2015 publication, Vanishing Nature, Marie illustrates the continued biodiversity loss that blights our country, calling for better ways of integrating biodiversity conservation into mainstream practice. The drivers for new biodiversity approaches have not gone away. Yet a slowdown in the energy sector’s major developments and recent policy focus on freshwater have slackened the pace of biodiversity offsetting discussions nationally. However, progress towards high-quality biodiversity offsets can still grow in 2016. The 2014 National Policy Statement (NPS) for freshwater management attracted a great deal of attention. A draft NPS on biodiversity has been incubated since 2011. Speaking at the 2015 Environmental Defence Society conference, Hon Nick Smith noted the Ministry for the Environment is keen to advance the NPS on biodiversity.

Such an NPS would be an opportunity to lay down a nationally-consistent and strongly-supported approach to how and when to implement biodiversity offsets. That would provide professionals from all sectors – planners, scientists, developers and lawyers – with greater confidence to engage with the process. Even without the NPS, other developments are on the cards for 2016. Last year, several councils’ district or regional plans were notable for their biodiversity offsetting language. These include the Queenstown Lakes District Council Proposed District Plan, the Proposed Regional Coastal Environment Plan from the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, and the Proposed Natural Resources Plan for the Wellington Region. Other plans are under construction: such as The Proposed District Plan from the Southland District Council (operating as Environment Southland). Such new-generation planning instruments offer the opportunity to implement offsetting that is both better and bolder than in the decade before. LG

• J emma Penelope is an independent consultant, researcher and journalist for market-based environmental conservation. @mis_jp or misjpmovesthings.wordpress.com or jemmapenelope@gmail.com FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

PROCUREMENT

TENDER TOPICS WHICH QUALIFICATION? There are now some new options for procurement qualifications. But which one is right for your council? Caroline Boot outlines the options.

hat could be more important to government organisations in 2016 than getting best value for money within their limited budgets? Developing sharp, effective procurement skills is at the heart of the two best known procurement qualifications used by New Zealand councils. But their methods of training and assessment and their target audiences are quite different. In this article, we compare the updated NZ Diploma in Infrastructure Procurement Procedures and the qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply – so you have a useful reference guide to help you decide which will be the best fit for procurement staff within your organisation.

THE NZQA PROCUREMENT QUALIFICATION – A NEW NAME FOR A RECOGNISED STANDARD

At the time of writing, the NZ Certificate in Infrastructure Procurement is in its final stages of approval from NZQA, but this qualification is simply an update of the qualification that’s been the staple of the transport industry for decades. The new version builds in the latest procurement tools from around the world, and widens its applicability to all types of procurement. It’s tailored to the local procurement environment, especially the aspects where New Zealand practices are

acclaimed as leading-edge (such as the use of price-quality method spreadsheets to trade off scores for attributes and price components of evaluation). Importantly, there is a strong focus on knowledge and application of the New Zealand government’s five mandatory principles of procurement and its rules of sourcing, which are now relevant to all government organisations including councils. Formerly known as the CPP and currently titled ‘National Certificate in Infrastructure Civil Engineering Procurement Procedures’, this diploma has formed the backbone of procurement practice in the roading sector since the early 1990s. Because it’s an essential requirement that a qualified evaluator is involved in evaluating any NZTA funded project valued at over $200,000, there are real incentives for councils to have people available on their staff or consultant list with this qualification. Many see this NZQA level 6 diploma as a fundamental driver of the excellent procurement practices that are recognised on NZ Transport Agency projects. In its revamp last year, this qualification received a major facelift – extending its relevance well beyond the transport sector into all types of infrastructure (and indeed, its principles extend to all types of complex procurement). It’s an intensely practical qualification, requiring

graduates to demonstrate skills within their workplaces such as developing procurement plans, managing development of RFx documents and procurement processes, tender evaluations and knowledge of tendering case law and ethics. Assessments are carried out via observation, evidence of documents prepared for actual procurement exercises, professional discussions and attestations from senior management. A two-day training course is optionally available to bed down the core skills and knowledge needed for the assessments. This course also can provide some of the evidence needed for assessment. Costs for registration are $660, and assessment fees vary from $600 up. There are no ongoing costs and currently there is no requirement for further assessments to maintain the qualification. This qualification is aimed at tender evaluators; procurement strategists, managers and practitioners; and procurement planners.

CIPS QUALIFICATIONS – AN INTERNATIONALLY-RECOGNISED ACADEMIC QUALIFICATION

An interesting alternative procurement qualification suite is now available for government procurement personnel. The Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) is an international organisation (of UK origin) for procurement professionals, offering a suite of qualifications that are recognised by Ofqual, the qualification regulator for England and Northern Ireland Study for the qualifications is via traditional methods, including largely independent self-study, distance or e-learning, and / or study supported by study centres (none in New Zealand yet, but there are two centres in Australia). The New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development’s Government Procurement Development Group (GPDG) supports on-job training but recommends that procurement practitioners progress through the CIPS ‘ladder’ of academic procurement qualifications. The focus of the CIPS programme is far wider and (understandably, for an academically targeted qualification) more theoretical than the NZQA Procurement Qualification. It covers a range of topics including purchasing, supply chain logistics, sourcing, negotiating, risk management and improving competitiveness of supply chains. The CIPS qualifications are targeted at buyers, procurement practitioners and procurement professionals. Assessment is via handwritten, paper-based examinations which can be sat in main centres in New Zealand. Some exemptions and flexibility are available for recognition of prior learning and experience. Purchase of learning materials, exam fees and text books make up the costs of around $3000 to $4000 for the selfstudy course, for which some subsidies may be available to government employees. Maintenance of the qualification requires graduates to retain their membership of CIPS (a joining fee and annual subscriptions are applicable).

TIME TO CHOOSE So what’s the best solution for your organisation? The answer, perhaps annoyingly, is ‘it depends’. For fast-track, practical skills that will have an immediate impact on procurement efficiency and effectiveness within a New Zealand-based council, the NZQA qualification is clearly the least expensive, fastest and most directly applicable solution. That qualification is targeted to provide practical tools and skills that should be employed by procurement planners, RFx developers and tender evaluators on typical tendering activities. Because it has been developed directly to meet the needs of local public sector procurement personnel, it also builds in knowledge of applicable New Zealand tendering case law, which is helpful to avoid the increasing risk of legal challenge to tender processes. Alternatively, for senior managers operating at a strategic level whose role focuses solely on procurement, the MCIPS qualification provides a broader and deeper understanding of the purchasing and supply chain functions alongside procurement. The CIPS pathway is, as yet, not tailored to the New Zealand procurement environment and is based on UK principles and practices. It has the obvious advantage to graduates of having international recognition, but does not aim to equip graduates with operational knowledge or tools / methods to assist them with procurement planning, management or tender evaluation. There are most likely, a large number of ambitious procurement specialists and managers in New Zealand who would benefit from working to achieve both qualifications. They will get the benefits of ready-to-use operational tools and methods that are directly applicable to their work tasks from the NZQA qualification. In strategic procurement roles, those practical skill-sets will be complemented by a CIPS qualification aimed to deliver more academic and theoretical knowledge of the broader context of international procurement. If your organisation, like many, is faced with a pressing need to deliver better value for money through your tendering processes, both these options can help you. What won’t work is doing nothing and hoping the problem will go away without you having to make any changes. Whatever you decide there is overwhelming evidence that building procurement skills will save your organisation money – either through more efficient tendering processes, through more sustainable solutions, or both. LG •C aroline Boot is MD of tender specialist company Plan A. www.cleverbuying.com

Find out more For more information check out: www.procurement.govt.nz www.connexis.org.nz/qualifications/civil-qualifications/procurement www.cleverbuying.com

FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE

THE ROADS

LESS TRAVELLED UNDERSTANDING BARRIERS TO ACCESS A new project is building up data to help transport planners create better options for people of all abilities.

ew Zealand councils can already tap into information showing how people use vehicles to access facilities and services, and how this benefits the economy. However, Gerri Pomeroy, access coordinator at CCS Disability Action, says there is less understanding about how people use other modes of transport to access facilities and services, the economic benefits of these journeys and the economic impact of journeys not made due to access barriers. CCS Disability Action Waikato is working with transport professionals, councils and central government to develop a better understanding of the transport issues that disabled people face. Gerri says the aim is to gain a better understanding of the economic benefits of universal access and quantify the economic cost of journeys that can’t be made because of poor design and service. “This information can then be used to inform economic benefit models.” The project will include street accessibility audits to identify access barriers, including pedestrian data collection, taking into account those

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who use mobility aids. It will build vital information on what measures could make transport system infrastructure and services easy for everyone to use. CCS Disability Action has partnered with Bridget Burdett, a Hamilton-based senior transportation researcher with traffic engineering specialist TDG, and Steve Taylor of Hamilton accessibility specialist Taylored Accessibility Solutions. Together, they are working to identify ways of collecting information about disabled people’s infrastructure access requirements while using the transport system.

CCS Disability Action had already developed its street accessibility audit process to target infrastructure access barriers and completed audits of 16 rural Waikato townships, providing councils with accessible data to inform and prioritise maintenance programmes. “While developing this process, we realised there was no substantial data linked to economic benefit, for disabled people using the transport system, particularly those who rely on pedestrian networks and public transport,” says Gerri. “We have been working to understand this better, with support from the

Well-trodden paths? A 2015 CCS Disability survey of nearly 3000 people in Waikato found that: • More than 65 percent of disabled respondents thought footpaths were difficult or not easy to use. • 80 percent of transport professionals who responded to the survey thought New Zealand standards for vehicles were adequate. • Only 40 percent of transport professionals thought we had an adequate standard for all users of footpaths. • Fewer than 10 percent of transport professionals thought New Zealand had good data about footpaths.

Ministry of Social Development’s ‘Think Differently’ social change campaign. “We have developed a methodology to count people using mobility aids, as a subset of all people, arriving at destinations, and along their journey. This indicator set was chosen as these people are easily identifiable and are present in reduced numbers if there are access barriers to their journey.” Counts have been carried out at a variety of destinations in Hamilton – before and then one-year after installation of accessible pedestrian infrastructure at a busy five-arm roundabout at Five Cross Roads, a medium-density housing area. This found that more people used the formal crossings after they were made more accessible – with 41 percent before and 51 percent after the upgrade. Forty-six percent of people without a mobility aid used the formal crossings while 68 percent of people with a mobility aid used them. Significantly, 88 percent more people using mobility aids used the universally accessible infrastructure after the upgrade. In October 2015, CCS Disability Action and TDG undertook The Kiwi

Transport Survey, a national webbased survey which aimed to provide information about the way disabled and non-disabled people viewed transport, how easy they found it and how often they used it. Transport included vehicles, public transport and footpaths. Nearly 3000 people responded. Of these, 350 were unimpaired people, more than 2500 had a disability and 750 respondents were aged over 74. “The contrast between unimpaired and disabled people’s experience of transport infrastructure and services is stark,” says Gerri. “People with disability do not find buses, trains or footpaths as easy to use as people without impairment. The Kiwi Transport survey and other data is currently being used to develop a model that will inform better understanding of the economic benefit to society when investment is made in universally accessible transport infrastructure and services. “Well-informed business cases, that include the information described, are essential for a universally-accessible transport system that is easy for everyone to use.” LG

FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

A DIGITAL FUTURE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT

SOUND BITES FROM ALGIM’S ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Paul Davidson

LESSONS FROM AUSTERITY Tough times in the UK local government sector have been hard on councils, but austerity also brings innovation. So says Paul Davidson, CIO of Sedgemoor District Council in the UK, whose organisation has seen staff numbers shaved from around 600 about four years ago to today’s headcount of just under 350. Paul, who is also director of standards for the UK’s Local eGovernment Standards Body (LeGSB), says austerity “makes you think two,

FREE ASSESSMENT TOOL Digital Journey GM Stuart Dillon-Roberts urges councils to take tiny incremental steps, rather than attempting huge strides, as they transform themselves into eCouncils. “Small changes can bring big benefits to digital communication and operations,” he says. Eight out of 10 Kiwis now have a tablet or smartphone, he notes. “The phone is becoming the device of choice for finding information but how many councils are using mobile-friendly comms now?”

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three or four times” about services provided and how worthwhile they are. “If you’re awash with money you can be inefficient, provide services that aren’t really tailored to people, and dribble on as you always have done.” Most councils, he says have already cut out unnecessary services. Then they’ve done the top slice – telling their managers to cut everything by, say, 10 percent. “That’s easy to do but it just drives out some of the contingency funds.” Local authorities are now turning to technology to gain greater efficiencies and speed up processes. One council, for example, is now crosschecking specific data with the Department for Work and Pensions to see if an individual is eligible for a council-administered disability parking badge. Attribute exchange between the two organisations means a council can check eligibility fast and accurately without delving into the individual’s specific medical or financial history. “This digital approach means we can approve

about 40 percent of cases in a heartbeat,” Paul says. He says local government must bridge the gap between technologists who can see what’s possible and the policymakers who know in which direction they wish to travel. There is currently a gap in terms of the language used and the airtime that each party gets within council. “The non-technological leaders of councils need to ‘get’ the implications of new technologies, embrace them and challenge them further,” he says. “And as technology people in councils, we’ve got to realise that just us understanding technology isn’t good enough now. We have to ensure that the wider organisation gets it.” Paul says the strategic role of CIO is still relatively new in a lot of councils in the UK. “That’s about recognising that information itself is an asset. It’s the lifeblood that enables us to provide our services, understand the wellbeing of our communities, and work with partner organisations. If we can structure and

He challenges council officers to appreciate that digital disruption is not something that will happen in the future. “It’s already here now,” he says citing Uber in the taxi business, Netflix in the movie sector and Alibaba’s provision of retail items despite having no fixed inventory. Mobile phones will continue to disrupt how people and organisations interact, he says. Digital Journey partnered with ALGIM last year to provide councils with a free assessment tool to gauge how well they are using online technology.

Local authorities can use the 10-minute online tool to benchmark their progress towards becoming an eCouncil and measure the impact of changes they are making. They can then draw up an action plan, plot progress, compare results and source other benchmarking services. When Digital Journey aggregated results from councils that had already completed the assessment it found the following responses: Do you store information or data in the cloud? 67% a little 33% none

organise our information well, other things

will follow.”

Can staff access business systems when working remotely? 90% yes 10% no Is your technology plan responsive to incorporate new technologies? Ie have you thought about whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coming next? 52% yes 48% no Is your website responsive to and / or friendly for mobiles? 35% yes 65% no

Do you have a social media plan? 54% yes 46% no Do you provide free WiFi? 30% no Do you have a digital strategy or plan? 17% yes 23% no 60% underway. To access the free online assessment tool go to algim.digitaljourney.nz Stuart Dillon-Roberts

FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TWO-WAY COMMS SPECIALISTS LOOKING FOR COUNCIL PARTNER ThunderMaps director Christian Sykes throws out an invitation for a “forward-thinking early-adopter” council to trial a new way of communicating with community members. A Kiwi company, ThunderMaps is already working with several councils and cities in Sweden on similar pilot projects. Christian says he’s keen to include a pilot city in New Zealand as part of the project. ThunderMaps provides location-based twoway communication via mobile and web. Christian iterates that the concept of councils using the platform to listen to what community members say is key. “It’s not about blasting out council’s own messages but being

able to listen to, engage “We want people to want with and learn from people. to use the information for “We can offer a council themselves and then also a simple platform for report back information,” says communicating and roll it Christian. out progressively so they “The idea would be you’d don’t have to do everything layer in one theme – anything at once.” from stray dogs to property or The platform allows traffic issues – and then roll out people to share information others progressively.” Christian Sykes via a mobile app into a Christian says the speed centralised system. of roll out would depend on “An ideal council for us to work with the size of the community involved but, as would have information on, for example, a ballpark, for a city of 100,000 people the infrastructure, technology, assets or hazard platform could be up and running in a few data... that they could put onto the platform months. that would give people a reason to download it For more information, email Christian Sykes. in the first place. cs@thundermaps.com

WHAT MAKES A GOOD IT MANAGER?

Laura Manley

THREE-PART CHECKLIST FOR OPEN DATA Laura Manley shares three recommendations for using open data for economic growth and social good. Laura, who is co-founder and director of partnerships and programs at the Center for Open Data Enterprise in Washington, DC, in the US, says open data is estimated to be worth around US$3.5 trillion a year. She defines open data as free public data that can be used to launch commercial enterprises. She advises organisations wanting to work with it to: 1 Prioritise the demand side • Identify stakeholders and key data customers 2 F ind high value data • Assume that 10 percent of datasets hold 90 percent of the value • Get feedback to identify priority areas for data release and improvement 3 Build iterative cycles for feedback • Involve users by utilising external expertise for data challenges • Check in with users throughout the process

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“Not a lot of councils in New Zealand now separate out those two sets of functions.” Longstanding IT expert Tony Krzyzewski He says many organisations have (known to many as Tony K) presents Taupo forgotten the “care and feeding” District Council operations manager Kylee responsibilities of IT. Mills with a certificate for excellence in “You need a team to make sure the the field of IT operations management. He ‘engine’ is working properly all the time. praises her ability to “get the basics of IT “I want to start teaching right” for an organisation. people how to manage “People get into IT and operate an IT team because it’s stimulating properly again. and there’s always the “There will always be latest, greatest thing. But great projects but unless then they forget to do the you’ve got the basic basics – what I call the building blocks right, housekeeping.” projects tend to dominate. He says Taupo District They take over and Council’s core strength things turn into a mess lies in running IT projects Tony Krzyzewski afterwards.” and operations separately.

ON THINKING BIG Quotes from inspirational speaker Cam Calkoen: • Our biggest disability is in our minds. • Build the dream and the dream will build you. • The person who believes they can do something and the person who believes they can’t are both right. • Eliminate assumptions and bend perceptions. • Never underestimate the power of your network. • Believing is not about passion. It’s about taking action. • Do one thing every day that scares you.

Cam Calkoen

H... S S S S H H YON E, LL AN D ON’T TE T... BU

GISBORNE SCORES TOP AWARD Congratulations to Gisborne District Council on winning the 2015 ALGIM Excellence in Innovation Award for its financial business intelligence solution. The judges noted Gisborne’s financial business intelligence project was an innovative collaboration with the vendor and used existing products incurring no significant additional costs. “It had a clearly defined scope and council processes have significantly improved by using this system.” They also noted the project was designed as an agnostic system for the local government environment, and is already now used by other councils. Council operations group manager Barry Vryenhoek accepted the award on behalf of the council. The award celebrates best practice, innovation and technical leadership within local government information and communication technology. 2015 ALGIM Excellence in Innovation Award Winner: Gisborne District Council – financial business intelligence Runner up: Auckland Council – geospatial future mode of operation

2015 ALGIM Excellence in Leadership Award Winner: Peter Wimsett, manager strategy and district development, Tararua District Council 2015 ALGIM VMware Award Winner: Jason Simons, chief information officer, Whanganui District Council 2015 ALGIM ICT Vendor of the Year Winner: Information Leadership Runner up: Sietec LG

e Office of th tion by the d an y A presenta on privac mmissioner o C ion cy at va rm ri P ing info rty and build pe o s at pr n o e ti n li on r of ques uge numbe h a ent ed m at rn er e gen cal Gov nference. Lo co e IM cl LG ti A ar the g an ill be runnin Magazine w ice in an ff O e c by th on the topi sue. upcoming is

Excellence in Innovation award winners from Gisborne District Council

FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

TECHNOLOGY

OMG IT’S THE END

OF THE ELECTRONIC AGE God sat in the command chair in the Universe Control Room, and studied the huge earth monitors along the walls. He did not like what he saw, writes Bill Conroy.

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en, women and children of every age, and of every race on earth had laptop computer devices, or handheld electronic contrivances upon which they lavished attention to the exclusion of all else. All mankind spent every living hour gazing at screens, posting embarrassing and inane personal information on social sites, and texting or talking complete rubbish on a wide variety of electronic devices. God was much troubled by the behaviour of mankind. Every section of the human race, in every part of the planet, was obsessed by computer devices and worshipped at the altar of electronic wizardry. As God stared down he saw how wicked everyone on earth was, and how evil their thoughts were, and he was very sorry that he had ever created the human race. He remembered the great flood he had unleashed about 7500 BC, and he found it difficult to believe that this was the 21st century in earth time. Nothing had changed. The human race was still as stupid and arrogant as it had always been. God turned and spoke to Michael the Arch-Angel, his chief of staff. “I can’t wipe them all out again,

Michael. We had enough trouble trying to repopulate the earth with Noah’s sons – they weren’t up to it really. That lot down there are worshipping false gods such as iPods, Kindles, Androids, social networking sites like twitter, and blogging. Will it never end? And now the unkindest cut of all: they’re claiming they’ve found the God factor. Is there no end to the arrogance of man? “Michael, I must intervene, otherwise all the good we have done since the dawn of creation (DOC) will be wasted. Let us play the electronic card. Get our IT people on the job and we’ll send modern man back to the precomputer age (PCA). “Let’s try a modified great flood plan format updated to the modern age but aimed at the electronic messaging industry in such a way that every personal electronic device on the earth will die. Wreck the banks. Destroy the internet and computer industry. “I’ve decided to ask Bill Gates for help because he is faultless and is the only good man of his time. I will make a covenant with him – he can be our modern version of Noah and he can help us to repopulate cyberspace, and get rid of twitter, blogs and social networking sites.

“Call the Celestial Management Team (CMT) together to come up with a workable strategic plan by 5pm today that I can put into operation overnight. Please put a call out for Mr Gates to come up here on temporary secondment so that we can work out a detailed plan of action.” When Bill Gates arrived by Virgin Airways rocket the Lord said to him, “William, I have decided to put an end to the electronic plague that is on earth and I have a plan to achieve my purpose. I want you to assist me by revisiting the 19th century to find the engineering plans and then build a replica of Babbage’s Accounting Engine. “The human race will have to learn to survive with no personal computer hardware except a basic accounting engine. You must unleash something like an Apocalypse computer virus so that it will totally destroy every personal laptop or handheld electronic device on the earth’s surface and then you are to repopulate cyberspace by using the Accounting Engine only. “I stress this action is to be directed to personal electronic devices. Computers being used for the safety, survival and comfort of the human

race – such as the operation of aircraft, electricity and water supply, supermarket checkouts and so on – are to continue to operate in the normal way.” Bill Gates joined the CMT and they started work on God’s electronic closure plan. For hours the team worked planning the last fine detail required to implement the plan that would see the final act in the electronic plague. By 1700 hours (GMT) they were finished and God inspected their work. “William, you and the team have done well and I do believe your plan will work superbly. Go and rest now and muster here again just before midnight when we will start the process.” Just before midnight Bill Gates and the CMT joined God in the Universe Control Room and did one final check of the Celestial Electronic Destruction Plan (CEDP). Bill Gates was satisfied so everyone settled back to await ED hour. Precisely at 2400 hours GMT God muttered “LOL” activated a switch at his right hand and a power-surge of incalculable force surged along the earth’s magnetic fields and released an Apocalypse virus that did its work.

Every personal computer and handheld electronic device, in use or in sleep mode, from the jam-packed cities of America, Europe and Asia, to the wilds of the far-flung Amazon jungle, closed down and the machine died. The electronic Armageddon had arrived; the font of all knowledge – the internet – was dead. From all corners of the earth, in every known language, came a great wailing of voices, souls crying out in anguish, shouted screams of despair, or fury, beseeching the electronic god that so many worshipped for help in solving the problem with which they were now confronted. IT consultants across the globe were nonplussed and worse. They could do nothing. Confusion reigned. Many of the electronic devotees saw no irony in attempting to text friends with messages beginning “OMG”. But he did not help. Silence was their only answer. God looked down and he was pleased. LG •B ill Conroy has worked for many years in local government and is now a freelance writer and poet living in retirement in Tauranga. wilcon80@hotmail.com

FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

ELIZABETH HUGHES / LOCAL GOVERNMENT 101 E LIZAB ETH H UG H ES COM M U N ICATION. www.elizabethhughes.co.nz

Processes and pesky people Why local government can’t deliver exceptional customer service.

LISTEN UNTIL THE OTHER PERSON HAS RUN OUT OF THINGS TO SAY, QUESTIONS TO ASK, COMPLAINTS TO BE LAID, AND CLARIFICATIONS TO SEEK. JUST LISTEN.

ere are five examples of real arguments I have heard council staff members put forward when legitimising why they are not able to provide consistently exceptional customer service: 1. Our customers aren’t always going to get what they want, so it doesn’t matter what we do, they will say the service does not meet their needs. (Resource consent staff member.) 2. It’s not service they want, it is action. So I focus on getting the job done. (Policy staff member.) 3. I’m far too busy to deliver exceptional customer service. (Heard from a range of very busy staff.) 4. Most of my customers are angry to begin with, so nothing I do will change that. (Heard from staff members working in enforcement areas.) 5. This is my personal favourite: I’m here to serve the environment, not people. (A scientist/ planner.) Admittedly this last one was 20 years ago but I suspect there are still some earnest local government employees who believe their primary reason for employment is to ‘save the rivers’, ‘develop the perfect policy’ or ‘enforce that bylaw’. So how do you deliver consistent and exceptional customer service in a working environment that is constrained by precepts, policies, processes, politics and pesky people? Here are some suggestions. Reframe Think of people as ‘citizens’ rather than ‘customers’. Customers have choices. Mostly, the people you serve do not. If we understand that the people local government serves are citizens rather than customers we might see their needs differently and enable exceptional service to be delivered using different yardsticks. We can’t always deliver what the customer

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wants. But we can ensure that as citizens they are respected as equal participants in a civil society. The fact that, often in these interactions, you are perceived to be in a more powerful position than they are, makes this especially important. Think back Remember what it was like before you worked for a council. Most (let’s say 80 percent) of ‘ordinary’ citizens have a genuine lack of understanding about what local government services are and the limitations around what can, or cannot, be provided. In my experience, once someone has worked in local government for a couple of years, a kind of memory-fade sets in and you forget what it was like being on the outside looking in (that is if you ever even needed to). This is not a criticism. This is an authentic blind spot that disables your ability to do that one thing all customer service manuals tell you to do: ‘put yourself in their shoes’. Shut up and listen There’s no better way to deliver exceptional customer in any environment – but particularly a public service one – than to simply listen. Listen until the other person has run out of things to say, questions to ask, complaints to be laid, and clarifications to seek. Just listen. Really listening to every person who wants to tell you their story, and then responding in a way that shows you actually heard them does takes time. But it will take less time in the long run than dealing with the consequences of not listening and not delivering exceptional customer service. You may want to consider having a conversation with your boss along the lines of: “we need to find a better balance between me shifting paper / attending courses / going to meetings versus giving more time to providing exceptional customer service”. Finally, smile. It always makes a difference. LG

LINDA O’REILLY / ON LEGAL ISSUES PARTN E R, B ROOKFI E LDS LAWYE R S. oreilly@brookfields.co.nz

What next this year? Resource legislation, new minister and elections.

A PERSONALLY I AM PREPARED TO VOTE FOR ANYONE WHO CAN EVEN UNDERSTAND THE RESOURCE LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL.

s I sit to write this piece on a wild, wet and windy start to the new year, I wonder what there really is left to say about local government that has not been said already. The answer is, of course, nothing at all. As always the sector is buffeted by calls for change and reform, and we re-hash ‘solutions’ to perennial problems hoping that the magic of local democracy will create vibrant and healthy communities. Local government continues to be a work in progress. I could talk about the recent Court of Appeal case, Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Association Inc v Kaipara District Council, in which the court upheld the right of the council to rate to fund the cost of the Mangawhai Wastewater Treatment Scheme relying on validating legislation and the protected transactions provisions in the Local Government Act 2002. It is an important decision which I commend you to read, but not a saga to recount while still on holiday. Then there is the impenetrable topic of the Resource Legislation Amendment Bill looming large on the horizon, with changes not only to the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), but also the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act 2012, Environmental Protection Authority Act 2011, Conservation Act 1987, Reserves Act 1977 and the Public Works Act 1981. There are a slew of articles already to help readers digest what is proposed in this latest round of land use planning reform. But one of the biggest obstacles to speedy planning and consent turnaround in recent years must be the time spent by local authorities absorbing and implementing changes to the RMA itself. Better connectivity between the various statutes that affect development is undoubtedly desirable. But who could not be daunted by this latest 235 clause set of amendments? Not to mention the fact that Auckland and Christchurch are currently undertaking district and unitary plan reviews, each under separate bespoke processes that

differ from the standard RMA process, and where the results have yet to be seen. The most recent appointment to the role of Minister of Local Government is Sam LotuIiga. In his year-end speech after succeeding Paula Bennett, he reiterated her stance on tailor-made regional solutions to infrastructure challenges rather than forced amalgamation. But that could all change if, as seems possible, the government were to sweep away the current community board / local board / district / regional units in favour of some new structure with a more limited local versus regional dichotomy. Over the past year the government’s perspective on local government seems to have been dominated by transport and affordable housing, where in fact there are shared local and national responsibilities to be addressed. On these issues the influence of the Productivity Commission is becoming significant. As a Christmas present from the Commission we got its December issues paper, Better Urban Planning, with comments invited by March 9 this year (just in case you have nothing much to do after the holiday break). Its earlier report, Using Land for Housing (October 2015) and the research note The Effect of Auckland’s Metropolitan Urban Limit on Land Prices (March 2013), appear to significantly inform government policy towards the sector. The issues paper is a broad “inquiry into the system of urban planning in New Zealand”, and promises to identify “the most appropriate system for allocating land use through this system to support desirable social, economic, environmental and cultural outcomes”. Presumably it will also define what those desirable outcomes may be. And then of course it is election year. So get ready, aspiring local government politicians and repeat offenders – now is the time to get your heads around what is coming up and to define your views on those changes. Personally I am prepared to vote for anyone who can even understand the Resource Legislation Amendment Bill. LG

FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

JEREMY ELWOOD / ON THE FUNNY STUFF COM E DIAN, ACTOR AN D WR ITE R. jeremy@jeremyelwood.com

Staycationing The art of doing things when you’re not doing other things.

F UNFORTUNATELY, SUMMER ITSELF SEEMED TO BE WORKING ON SEVERELY REDUCED HOURS FOR THE FIRST WEEKS OF 2016.

or the first time in several years, I spent my whole summer break at home in Auckland. Previously I’ve either been working at festivals around the country or have taken myself off to the Cook Islands. And every time I have I’m constantly told by my fellow city dwellers that I’ve missed out on the best part of the year. So this time I thought what the heck, let’s see what they’re on about. Unfortunately, summer itself seemed to be working on severely reduced hours for the first weeks of 2016. It was the sunshine equivalent of those who pop into the office for an hour or two twice a week to clear emails. It was here, it was nice to catch up and say hello, then it disappeared back to presumably watch whatever the weather’s equivalent of Making A Murderer is for the rest of the week. However, I was determined to try, even if I needed a hint of where to start. Auckland is a lovely city. But as the old cliché has it, when you live somewhere you often end up looking flummoxed when visitors ask “what do you do here?” or demand to visit some local attraction you’ve never heard of. It took me over a decade of residency before I ever went up the Sky Tower, for example, and if it wasn’t for the sporadic appearances of young nephews and nieces, Kelly Tarlton’s, MOTAT and the zoo may well still be mysteries to me. So it was with amusement that I found myself driving behind an Auckland Explorer Hop On Hop Off Bus, which proudly announced on its rear panels that you can “See Auckland’s Big

14 Attractions!” 14? Really? I looked them up, and sure enough (although St Luke’s shopping mall might be a stretch) their website has a list of Auckland’s “must see” attractions. More surprisingly, I’ve been to most of them over the years. In fact, they now list 17 attractions, of which I’ve visited 15. So it turns out, without knowing it, I’ve been a better tourist in my own town than I thought I was. But what about further afield? One of the great things about any New Zealand town is that within an hour you can be somewhere totally different to where you think you live. In Auckland’s case, you can get to myriad beaches of various coloured sands, islands, horse breeding country, marine reserves and market towns in that timeframe (unless, like I did, you forget about the Monday-isation of our public holidays and get stuck in a 45 minute tailback trying to reach the Goat Island Marine Reserve. Which was totally worth it, by the way.) Whilst I won’t be giving up work opportunities or bargain package deals in the future, it is reassuring to know there is plenty to do in my own back yard, and almost all of it is simple to access, especially at this time of year, and well maintained. If summer decides to get back to work before you have to, I suggest that next time you’re passing an information centre in your home town you grab one of those tourist guides they have on display and read it. You might be pleasantly surprised at your options. LG

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PETER SILCOCK / FROM CIVIL CONTRACTORS NZ CH I E F EXECUTIVE, CIVI L CONTRACTOR S N EW Z EALAN D. peter@civilcontractors.co.nz

A year of positive change It’s time for taking and making opportunities.

S THE MOST IMPORTANT ROLE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT IS THE PROVISION OF EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT CIVIL INFRASTRUCTURE.

eeing in a new year can certainly get you thinking about things. Maybe it’s because of the feeling that we can, or maybe should, make a new start because it’s the first day of the year. Or, is it because we have time away from our normal routine to think about things in a different way? Whatever the reason, it’s a healthy thing to do and I am sure there are a lot of good things that come out of New Year resolutions. For me it seems a bit pointless to wait until December 31 to make a declaration about something important you want to achieve. Why not get a head start and do it on November 30? There is no time like the present to make a positive change. The most important role of local government is the provision of effective and efficient civil infrastructure. This does not change from yearto-year or with new political cycles, but in my view the way we manage our civil infrastructure needs some big changes and we shouldn’t be waiting for a new year to roll around to make them. To provide effective and efficient civil infrastructure, local government needs two things: • Quality information and systems for managing and procuring civil infrastructure, and; • A strong and healthy civil construction sector that can efficiently and effectively build and maintain civil infrastructure. The quality of the relationships between a council and contractors is critical and complex. Having a healthy and thriving civil construction industry is critically important to local government. Civil Contractors New Zealand’s statement about a healthy industry says: “A healthy civil construction sector is one where skilled and qualified clients, consultants and contractors produce outcomes that deliver value for money for all participants. “It is the result of investment in people, forward planning, fair and consistent procurement strategies, competition in the supply chain and growth opportunities for those willing and able to take up the challenge.” As one of the largest client groups for

contractors, local government has a pivotal role to play in ensuring that we have a healthy civil contracting sector. There are four key things that councils can do: Provide growth opportunities for all business types and sizes of contractors. It is important that councils understand the contracting industry and provide opportunities for small, medium and large contractors. Remember, that while bundling of work can achieve efficiencies if all work is tendered in large packages, smaller / medium sized contractors will be shut out. If contractors of all sizes do not develop and grow it will impact on future competition and capability in your area. Forward planning of work that allows investment in people and resources. Contractors need to know what is coming up to be able to effectively plan. So, make sure you use the information you have to create a long-term strategy and an indicative work plan. Make sure that procurement processes allow enough time for contractors to submit a quality tender; stagger the release of tenders (many contractors do not have the capability to bid for multiple jobs at the same time); and avoid periods like Christmas when people are taking a well-deserved break. Collaboration to produce innovative solutions. Incorporate processes and systems that support high levels of collaboration between clients, consultants and contractors. The better the communication the better the result. Be open to innovations and have systems to trial and test them. Transparent procurement strategies and practices. Having a clear and unambiguous procurement strategy that is implemented in a fair and even-handed way is the key to maintaining strong relationships with contractors. When developing or amending a procurement strategy, contractors should be given the opportunity to provide an industry view and comment through their local CCNZ branch. That will help to ensure the strategy is clear to all parties in the process. So, let’s grab opportunities and make positive changes in 2016. LG

FEBRUARY 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

LAWRENCE YULE / FROM LGNZ PR ESI DE NT, LOCAL G OVE R N M E NT N EW Z EALAN D (LG NZ). lawrence.yule@hdc.govt.nz

New year: New initiative Entering a new era of excellence for local government.

L WE ARE WELL AWARE LOCAL GOVERNMENT’S CONTRIBUTION CAN BE EVEN GREATER.

ast year was a busy and productive year for LGNZ, and 2016 will be no different as we continue to work with the sector to implement our strategic policy priorities across local government nationwide. Councils are doing great work across the country but we are well aware local government’s contribution can be even greater. And if the public don’t know about the work we’re doing, then we need to improve that too. So as we kick off this New Year, we’re embarking on a new era of excellence for local government. Just prior to Christmas we signalled the development of LGNZ’s Local Government Excellence Programme, our new sector performance initiative, which will underpin all aspects of our work this year, and into the future. The role of LGNZ is to assist the sector in this endeavour and, in particular, help inform at a national level the great value councils are delivering. Each participating council will determine the priority areas for their community and how best to communicate their performance and progress to that community. This concerted work programme is of national and local importance and we firmly believe in working with central government, business and communities to improve local democracy and the value of infrastructure and services we deliver every day, to every New Zealander. LGNZ is keen to work with central government and stakeholders to ensure proposed local infrastructure legislation best serves local communities and our members. Work on LGNZ’s proposed Local Government Risk Agency, to identify risk management services that would assist councils and locallyowned infrastructure is gaining momentum and I look forward to providing the outcomes of that in the coming months. Safeguarding the sector’s role in setting and regulating the environment which allows communities to make choices that work best for them, while ensuring business and other activities can operate in ways that help grow the country, is a key priority for LGNZ.

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Back in September, LGNZ announced its initiative to establish a cross-sector group of experts and practitioners to undertake a first principles review of New Zealand’s environmental management framework. The thinkpiece A ‘blue skies’ discussion about New Zealand’s resource management system explores whether continued evolution of the current resource management system is the best approach or whether a more fundamental reform is needed. The deadline for submissions is February 19 and I encourage you to share your feedback with us. Strong economic performance in our regions benefits the entire country and LGNZ continues to press for a shared national approach to addressing regional development and growth across New Zealand. Councils are now working together much more closely and local government as a whole is taking a more collaborative approach to the work it does for our communities and regions. To that end, LGNZ and local government are working together on a strategy to increase interest in the 2016 local authority elections. Local authority election turnout in New Zealand has been declining since the 1980s and has been below 50 percent nationally since 1998. Our ambitious #Vote16NZ campaign targets lifting voter turnout to more than 50 percent and promotes the value of local government in our daily lives, encouraging the best candidates to stand. We are also working with the government to implement online voting, with eight councils set to take part in an online voting trial during the 2016 local authority elections. Our goal is that, for the first time in nearly two decades, local government will be elected by a majority of New Zealanders. This is just the beginning – these strong foundations will ensure local government is responsible, responsive and answerable to the communities it serves and enable it to lead an ever stronger agenda of sector performance and value that will benefit New Zealanders for generations to come. This is a new era of excellence for local government in New Zealand. LG

Local Government Excellence Programme LGNZ’s new sector performance initiative In December LGNZ signalled a new Local Government Excellence Programme, designed to improve the public’s knowledge of the work councils are doing in their communities and to support individual councils to further improve the value they provide to all New Zealanders. This is underpinned by significant research, including The New Zealand Local Government Survey of 3,000 citizens and businesses released earlier this year. This research provided vital country-wide insights into New Zealanders’ perceptions of local government and is the lynchpin of this significant programme of work. The Programme will encourage councils to consider how best to further grow a culture of continuous performance improvement and communication of that to the public. It will see the sector working better together to build even stronger local and national leadership – and will ensure that the sector continues to provide effective, efficient responses to the issues that matter most to communities. The role of LGNZ is to assist the sector in this endeavour and, in particular, help inform at a national level the great value councils are delivering. Each participating council will determine the priority areas for their community and how best to communicate their performance and progress to that community. In the New Year we will be testing the Programme with the public using focus groups led by Colmar Brunton, followed by roadshows with councils to test the measures. The key here is to ensure that the nature of the final Programme speaks to the people we wish to influence.

The Programme’s four key priorities The Programme has been developed to improve the public’s knowledge of the work councils are doing in their communities and to support individual councils to further improve the value they provide to all New Zealanders. The four proposed priorities are: 1. excellence in governance, leadership and strategy; 2. excellence and transparency in financial decision-making; 3. high standards of asset management, infrastructure and service provision; and 4. stronger and more effective communication and engagement with the public and businesses.

The Programme will involve a cycle of continuous improvement

EDITOR

Evolution or revolution: Is New Zealand’s RM system still fit for purpose? In December LGNZ released its initial discussion document in its ‘blue skies’ review of the resource management system. LGNZ announced the initiative back in September, establishing a cross-sector group of experts and practitioners to undertake a first principles review of New Zealand’s environmental management framework. The thinkpiece has uncovered the following themes:

The thinkpiece A ‘blue skies’ discussion about New Zealand’s resource management system explores whether continued evolution of the current resource management system is the best approach or whether a more fundamental reform is needed. LGNZ President Lawrence Yule says the discussion document highlights the pressure points within the current system and provides a roadmap for the discussion around what New Zealanders want from a resource management regime. “I am pleased that we have taken the lead on this. LGNZ’s discussion document will make a very valuable contribution to the current debate over New Zealand’s resource management framework,” said Mr Yule.

What would a fit-for-purpose resource management system look like? A number of options for reform have been raised by different players in the resource management system in recent years. While the degree and pace of change may remain a point of contention, LGNZ believes there is a broad consensus that inaction is not an option and that change is necessary. LGNZ favours a progressive or ‘stepped’ programme of change, one that starts with and builds from the current programme of change, and that increases the scope and degree of change only once the impact of amendments have been evaluated and understood.

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The system needs to be capable of operating successfully in a context that is dynamic and different from the one in which the present system was designed – in particular it needs to be flexible and adaptive.

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Any changes need to capitalise on the trend towards increasingly participatory process which rely on the availability of quality data and the ability to translate and communicate it to lay audiences, moving from regulator to trusted advisor, interpreter and facilitator.

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The system has to be capable of facilitating the achievement of particular outcomes, not just the avoidance, remediation or mitigation of adverse effects.

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The capacity and capability of local authorities, the courts, central government agencies, sector groups and NGOs needs to be developed to match the current and future needs and demands of the system, including measures to guide implementation.

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If it is to address current shortcomings, the resource management system has to be more than merely a platform for resolving disputes. It must be capable of aligning the efforts of communities, government and business towards achieving outcomes that advance common interests.

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The lack of alignment between core components of the resource management system needs to be resolved to reduce duplication of process and to assist the alignment of strategy, planning and funding – particularly in urban areas experiencing growth pressure.

< The timing of the LGNZ thinkpiece is propitious, landing as it has in the middle of a good deal of discussion on these issues – and we look forward to a significant response to the questions it poses. >

What kind of future do New Zealanders want? New Zealand’s communities are diverse and evolving – there are many different perspectives on what the future should look like and what contribution the resource management decisionmaking framework could or should play in bringing about this vision. A common goal LGNZ’s day-to-day engagement with New Zealand communities has shown that New Zealanders share the common goal of a future characterised by strong communities, social equity, a sustainable economy, and a healthy environment. To maintain prosperity at current levels with a growing population we need substantial economic growth.

A broad view of prosperity The resource management system is designed to prescribe clear limits that protect the healthy function of natural ecosystems and define the boundaries within which people can conduct business. Despite this, the practice of balancing economic value against environmental loss has arguably fostered an approach to decision-making that pits the economy against the environment and has generated a culture of costly and divisive litigation. We are moving beyond an inevitable tradeoff between the economy and the environment and New Zealand is slowly joining an international movement that recognises GDP isn’t necessarily the best measure of performance. Communities are also continuing to ask their councils to do more than simply provide local services. Over the past decade, councils have sought to enable and facilitate the development of natural and physical resources in a socially and environmentally responsible way – fostering decisionmaking processes and projects that deliver ‘win-wins’ across the ‘four wellbeings’.

Local solutions to local issues The management of natural and physical resources is sensitive and complex. Resource management decision-making processes need to give local people with local knowledge an adequate say in matters that affect them. Resource management systems also need to provide support to local communities if the issues they are dealing with are complex and have costs that fall locally and benefits that fall regionally or nationally. Our assertion that the resource management system is a critical part of New Zealand’s competitive advantage in an increasingly resource constrained world, and belief that if we get the settings of the resource management system right we could position New Zealanders to enjoy sustained high levels of prosperity and wellbeing.

Upcoming KnowHow workshops Health and Safety Roadshows - February and March 2016 The passing of the Health and Safety Reform Bill has significant implications for personal liability when the new Health and Safety at Work Act comes into force on 4 April 2016. These training events will provide an opportunity to learn how to apply the Act, debunk the myths, and share best practice and ideas on crafting a culture of Health and Safety that ensures your employees go home safe and healthy every day.

Join us at one of the following roadshows: Christchurch - 9 February Auckland - 16 February Palmerston North - 17 February Dunedin - 1 March These roadshows are presented in partnership with LGNZ and SOLGM in conjunction with Simpson Grierson. To register for these and other KnowHow workshops please visit www.lgnz.co.nz/equip-and-knowhow/

Submissions LGNZ is seeking submissions on its paper, which will be open until 19 February 2016. A final report will be published during 2016. Feedback can be sent to Clare.Wooding@lgnz.co.nz.

LGNZ’s thinkpiece A ‘blue skies’ discussion about New Zealand’s resource management system can be found at http://www.lgnz.co.nz/home/ our-work/publications/a-blue-skies-discussion.

EDITOR

The Final Word Local government finances in good shape The LGFA’s recent report on councils’ finances reveals local councils across New Zealand are managing ratepayers’ money prudently. Councils are responsible for more than $120 billion of public assets and their annual expenditure is approximately four percent of our Gross Domestic Product. So how well local authorities manage their assets and finances has major implications for economic performance, not only of our communities but the nation as a whole. With the recent release of councils’ annual reports and the publication of their 2015 – 2025 long term plans (LTPs) it was an appropriate time to look at the current state of the sector’s financial health. To do this we asked the Local Government Funding Agency (LGFA) to undertake a high level analysis to identify what councils are doing well and the areas where more attention might be required.

< The LGFA has concluded that local government’s finances are in good shape > “It was an appropriate time to undertake a high level analysis to identify what councils are doing well and the areas where more attention might be required,” said Mr Yule. The LGFA has concluded that local government’s finances are in good shape and debt levels are modest, falling below the levels estimated in councils’ 2012 LTPs. Credit ratings also continue to be strong with more councils now rated by accredited rating agencies. This is important as local government faces a number of current and future challenges. Some of these are well known, such as funding asset renewals and meeting new demands for infrastructure. Others are unique to our current state such as the need to adapt to demographic change, including population ageing, and address unique issues such as earthquake strengthening, extreme weather events and sea level rise. In order for councils to manage these challenges carefully, they need good information about the state of our assets and effective alignment between councils’ infrastructure and financial strategies.

This complements the work LGNZ is doing on a potential Local Government Risk Agency and the 3 Waters project to better understand our asset bases and future infrastructure needs, and is an issue recently highlighted by the Auditor General. The report found that while local government has increasing debt levels, these are acceptable given the increasing demands for infrastructure investment and the debt servicing ability of local government. The projected increase in sector debt is largely concentrated in the major metro councils (Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch) who have to invest for growth – particularly in core infrastructure and natural disaster planning – both non-revenue generating activities. The total debt of the rural and provincial councils is forecast to increase by less than nine per cent over the next ten years, which is lower than the rate of inflation. Twenty four councils are forecast to have no net debt by June 2025 – compared to 20 councils which had no debt as of June this year. The LGFA has found that credit quality of the local government sector is strong in global terms. LGNZ believes it should give greater confidence in the fiscal sustainability of the local government sector and in its preparations for meeting a challenging future.

< Our councils have shown themselves to be strong and conservative financial managers. This is important as local government faces a number of current and future challenges and councils need to be well placed financially to meet them. >

WATERVIEW PLAYGROUND. PHOTOGRAPH: JAY FARNWORTH.