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After years of running Rodney Local Board workshops behind closed doors, the current board is to be congratulated for finally tossing this policy in the bin (see story). Several boards in Auckland including neighbouring Hibiscus and Bays hold open workshops, so it is not exactly a step into the unknown.
The old chestnut against open workshops, which aren’t decision-making meetings, has always been that staff won’t be as forthright about providing advice. The question has to be asked: “Why not?” It is not a staff member’s job to curate what the board, and the public, get to hear. They are not the decision-makers; their only requirement is to provide board members with frank and factual information and advice, without opinion. The fact that this advice will now be available to the rest of us, including this newspaper which covers all board meetings, means the public will have a better understanding of the background behind board decisions, and why and how they have been reached. The winner here is democracy.
If some board members feel that public scrutiny will make their discussions less robust, then again, we ask: “Why?” As elected representatives, paid from the public purse, ratepayers have a right to know how their elected members perform, where they stand on important issues and how constructively they fulfil their public duties.
Open workshops should deliver better accountability. When people have confidence that decisions are being made in an open and fair manner, they are more likely to trust their local government and its institutions. This trust is crucial for effective governance and the successful implementation of policies and initiatives.
Too much of the nitty-gritty of board affairs has been held behind closed doors, so it is to be hoped that this “trial” for six months is the start of a new style of local body politics in Rodney.
