No committees on WDC

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 233, 1 March 1988, Page 3

No committees on WDC

Committees may become a thing of the past when the Waimarino District Council starts It has been decided that traditional standing committees covering such things as works, finance and town planning will be dispensed with. The basic reason appears to be rooted in letting council staff have more executive power. It has been presumed that additional meetings of the full council will not be necessary to cover the business normally handled b y committees. District manager John Murrihy hopes that a single monthly meeting will be all that's necessary to handle the district's affairs. The subject came up

during a discussion of minutes at fhe district council steering committee last Wednesday night. Ohakune Mayor Bill Taylor commented that the new committee system should not preclude the setting up of special needs committees. Cr Bruce Thompson said the new district council would sort that out for themselves. It was better that way than for the steering committee to argue about it. Raetihi Mayor Garry Workman, chairman of the meeting, said it was not a matter of councillors arguing. County chairman Con Heinold said the matter in question, the structure of the hydatids control and noxious weeds authority for the area, was quite separate

because the committee was a statutory body and not a council committee. Cr Tom Punch, a Raetihi representative, said it was a waste of time if all councillors had to serve on the committee. Mr Murrihy said the hydatids and noxious weeds committee was a separate statutory authority and was not under the council's jurisdiction. However, the composition of the committee had to be decided by the district council.