Limits on council officer

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 261, 1 November 1988, Page 3

Limits on council officer

Limits have been placed on the amount the Waimarino district engineer can spend without specific council approval.

At last week's full council meeting councillor Doug Bennet put. forward a motion to rescind: "That the Works Engineer be delegated the authority in accordance with the requirements of the Local Bodies Contracts Act to enter into contracts and use expenditure where necessary

within the set budget of the Waimarino District Council." Following this motion he moved to place limits of $15,000 on repairs and $20,000 on contracts on the delegated authority of the works engineer. Cr Bennett said it was not a matter o f

personality but a matter of principle t o limit the engineer's (Mr Don Sattler's) authority. "We've been trying to delegate as much responsibility to officers as possible to streamline the operations of council," said Councillor Griffiths, "Whether we've gone too far I'm not sure -as you (the district manager) say most items of major

expenditure need council seal anyway." The district manager said he couldn't foresee the district engineer spending more than $20,000 either way. "I can't see Mr Sattler doing it but if he wanted to spend $40,000 on sealing chip then he could break it into $20,000 and $20,000," said Mr Murrihy. When put to the vote Cr Bennett's rescinding

motion was carried, with four votes against as well as Mayor Workman registering his opposition to it. Cr Bennett's motion placing the limits on the engineer's authority was also carried.