More work on open workshops

It is now a year since the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board opened its workshops to media and the public.

However, although that was a huge step forward for transparency, access to the workshops remains problematic.

When workshops are closed, items of community interest and which involve the spending of public money, can be discussed in confidence whether or not they are truly confidential in nature.

In the past year, the local board has held 22 workshops. Of those, six have been either fully or mostly closed, five have been completely open and 11 have been mostly open (with one or two closed items). This means that 27 percent of the year’s workshops have been fully or mostly closed.

Another local board, Devonport-Takapuna, recently reopened its workshops to the public, and the topic came up again at last month’s Hibiscus and Bays Local Board business meeting.

Member Julia Parfitt said she had noticed that a number of other local boards discuss more topics in the open than Hibiscus members did.

Which items should be discussed in closed workshops is suggested by local board staff and signed off by chair Gary Brown.

Members, including the chair, agreed at the May 20 meeting to take a closer look at how other local boards conducted their open workshops, with a view to increasing openness.

Open workshops are advertised as an event on the local board’s Facebook page. Currently staff are looking at how better to advertise the workshops to the community.