Supplementary Reports Agenda of Ordinary Council Meeting

19 December 2019

1.1 Item Left to Lie on the Table - Kerikeri Domain Governance Report

File Number: A2801783

Author: Rachael Pull, Specialist Planner - Urban Design

Authoriser: Darrell Sargent, General Manager - Strategic Planning and Policy

Purpose of the Report

To report back to Council on the options for the governance of Kerikeri Domain as directed in the 27 June 2019 Council meeting and recommend the establishment of an incorporated society.

Executive Summary

· At the 27 June 2019 Council meeting the Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Community Board (Community Board) recommended that the Kerikeri Domain Reserve Management Plan (Management Plan) be adopted subject to changes that resulted from submissions on the proposed Management Plan. The changes included an action for the Council ‘…to consider the establishment of an incorporated society representing the community to manage and oversee the [Kerikeri] Domain”.

· This report recommends the establishment of an incorporated society as it will represent the users of the Kerikeri Domain and it will have the ability to fundraise and implement the actions within the Management Plan.

· This report was presented to the Council for consideration at their meeting on 3 October 2019. The Council resolved to leave the report to lie in the table until after the elections for the newly Elected Members to make a decision.

Recommendation

That Council

a) uplifts the report “Kerikeri Domain Governance Report” for consideration.

b) supports the creation of an incorporated society whose purpose is to manage the Kerikeri Domain.

c) approves administration calls for expressions of interest from the public for people willing to establish an incorporated society and facilitate the establishment of it.

d) agrees to enter into a formal agreement with the incorporated society and establishes a budget in accordance with the Kerikeri Domain Reserve Management Plan.

1) Background

The Management Plan was prepared under section 41 of the Reserves Act 1977. It sets out how the Kerikeri Domain will be used and managed over the next ten years. During the consultation process and in the submissions received, there were multiple requests from the public to re-establish a governing body for the Kerikeri Domain. This was incorporated by the Community Board into the Management Plan and adopted by Council on 27 June 2019. The action states:

“Within six months, Council in partnership with the Community Board and community consider the establishment of an incorporated society representing the community to manage and oversee the Domain”.

As part of the resolution to adopt the Management Plan, Council also resolved that they would receive a report outlining the options for the establishment of a reserve management committee. This is a different governance body to that preferred by the Community Board and included as an action item in the Management Plan.

The attached Kerikeri Domain Governance Report discusses the options for both types of governing bodies as well as governance remaining with Council. There is no option for a reserve management committee that is also an incorporated society as Council has received legal advice against this.

2) Discussion and Options

The purpose of looking at alternative governance bodies has come out of several factors:

· The special significance of Kerikeri Domain;

· The previous difficultly in providing new infrastructure and activities in the Kerikeri Domain;

· The potential for fundraising to implement the actions in the Management Plan; and

· The long history of the Kerikeri Domain being managed directly by the public.

All governing bodies are required to be consistent with the Management Plan. The types of governing bodies that are considered are:

Option 1 – Status Quo – governance remains with Council

Status quo is the governance remaining with Council. Activities within the Management Plan are discussed with administration to ensure that they are implemented correctly, but can be fundraised and implemented by anyone. Activities not provided for in the Management Plan are taken to Council for consideration.

Option 2 – Community Board

Option two is the delegation of the governance of the Kerikeri Domain to the Community Board. The majority of reserves are delegated to the community boards to administer on behalf of Council.

Activities within the Management Plan are discussed with administration to ensure that they are implemented correctly, but can be fundraised and implemented by anyone. Activities not provided for in the Management Plan are taken to the Community Board for consideration.

Option 3 – Reserve Management Committee

Option three is the establishment of a reserve management committee (committee). This would be a committee of Council that would be appointed every election cycle to manage the Kerikeri Domain on behalf of Council. They would oversee the daily management of the Kerikeri Domain and make recommendations to Council as required. There would be at least one elected member on the committee.

Activities within the Management Plan are discussed with administration to ensure that they are implemented correctly, but can be fundraised and implemented by anyone. New activities would be considered by the committee who would make a recommendation to Council.

Option 4 – Incorporated Society

Option four is the establishment of an incorporated society to manage the Kerikeri Domain on behalf of Council. This involves administration supporting community members to create an incorporated society which will then create a formal agreement with Council to manage the Kerikeri Domain. Under this option the community will have to work together to establish the incorporated society and then create the agreement with Council. Council’s control over the Kerikeri Domain would be limited to what is set out in the agreement with the incorporated society.

Each governance option is compared against the factors the raised during consultation on why a governance body was required. These factors are listed earlier in this report.

Governance Body	Recognition of significance	Difficultly in implementing actions	Fundraising potential	Community Input
Council	High – By remaining with Council the Kerikeri Domain remains a significant district wide asset.	Low – Actions within the Management Plan can be implemented once the maintenance costs are approved by Administration.	Medium – Community Groups can use the Management Plan to help raise funds to implement actions. However this is on an ad hoc basis.	Low – Community input limited to consultation for the Management Plan and submissions during the Ten Year/Annual Plan process.
Community Board	Medium – The Kerikeri Domain Reserve Management Plan states its significance.
Reserve Management Committee	High – A separate governance group and budget for the Kerikeri Domain which recognises its value to the community.	Medium – Some actions will need to go through the governance body as well as Council.		Medium – Committees are usually limited to the day to day running of the reserve.
Incorporated Society			High – As a body independent from Council but with the mandate to fundraise, there will be the ability and the drive to achieve funding outside the Ten Year/Annual Plan process.	High – The current incorporated society governing a reserve on behalf of Council is directly responsible for implementing parts of the Management Plan.

Reason for the recommendation

It is recognised that the community has a long history of investing time and energy into the Kerikeri Domain, and the submissions received during the Management Plan process reconfirmed that the community wished to continue to be involved as much as possible. Since the adoption of the Management Plan, community interest in the makeup of any governance body has remained high.

It is recommended that an incorporated society is established (option 4) to manage the Kerikeri Domain because it will achieve the best outcomes for the community based on the criteria above.

IMPLEMENTATION OF RECOMMENDED OPTION

Appointment of members of the governance body

Should the Council resolve to establish either a reserve management committee or an incorporated society to govern the Kerikeri Domain, the Council will also need to consider how it is established. Two options are provided below:

Option A - Direct appointment of members

Council has the ability to directly appoint members. The advantage of this option is that the members can be selected to represent a particular Kerikeri Domain user. The last group that managed the Kerikeri Domain were made up of:

• The Mayor

• A Councillor

• A Community Board member

• A sport representative

• A school representative

• A Kerikeri residents representative

• Chair

It is recommended that an iwi representative is added to this list as well as other user groups. This option is the quickest to implement. The risk is that Council may miss a key user, as many users of the Kerikeri Domain are not part of a club.

Option B – Call for nominations

This involves creating a form and advertising for nominations. For the committee, Council could then appoint from the nominations. For the incorporated society, administration can then facilitate meetings with the nominated people while they create the incorporated society. This option allows Council to consider a wider range of Kerikeri Domain users, including those who may not have an organisation to belong to. This process takes longer and until completed, the status quo would remain.

Implementation Recommendation

It is recommended that administration calls for expressions of interest to draw out members of the community who wish to be a part of managing the governance body (option B). This allows for a transparent and fair establishment of the governing body. Once established, Council can enter into a formal agreement regarding the management of the Kerikeri Domain and what level of funding Council should provide.

3) Financial Implications and Budgetary Provision

There will have to be a budget allocation once the incorporated society is established and this will come out of the operations budget for District Facilities as there is no current budget specifically for Kerikeri Domain. This will not happen until next financial year (2020/2021) and be reflected in the Annual Plan.

Attachments

1. Kerikeri Domain Governance Report - A2611239 ⇩

2. Legal Advice regarding committees - A2611236 ⇩

Compliance schedule:

Full consideration has been given to the provisions of the Local Government Act 2002 S77 in relation to decision making, in particular:

1. A Local authority must, in the course of the decision-making process,

a) Seek to identify all reasonably practicable options for the achievement of the objective of a decision; and

b) Assess the options in terms of their advantages and disadvantages; and

c) If any of the options identified under paragraph (a) involves a significant decision in relation to land or a body of water, take into account the relationship of Māori and their culture and traditions with their ancestral land, water sites, waahi tapu, valued flora and fauna and other taonga.

2. This section is subject to Section 79 - Compliance with procedures in relation to decisions.

Compliance requirement	Staff assessment
State the level of significance (high or low) of the issue or proposal as determined by the Council’s Significance and Engagement Policy	Although this is a legislative requirement and has already been consulted on during the Management Plan process, it involves the potential transfer of control of a strategic asset and is therefore of high significance. There is also a high level of local public interest in the establishment of a governing body.
State the relevant Council policies (external or internal), legislation, and/or community outcomes (as stated in the LTP) that relate to this decision.	Reserves Act 1977 – implementation of reserve management plans. Local Government Act 2002 – committees and Long Term Plan. Reserves Policy – reserve management committees.
State whether this issue or proposal has a District wide relevance and, if not, the ways in which the appropriate Community Board’s views have been sought.	The Community Board’s views were considered by the adoption of their recommendations to the Kerikeri Domain Reserve Management Plan. An item informing them of this Council item went to the 23 September 2019 meeting.
State the possible implications for Māori and how Māori have been provided with an opportunity to contribute to decision making if this decision is significant and relates to land and/or any body of water.	Māori were consulted with as part of the Kerikeri Domain Reserve Management Plan process. It is recommended that there is iwi representation on any governance body.
Identify persons likely to be affected by or have an interest in the matter, and how you have given consideration to their views or preferences.	As part of the legislative process, the Management Plan was open to the public for three months for submissions, which were heard by the Community Board. To address their submissions, an action to consider the governance of the Kerikeri Domain was put in the Management Plan which has led to this recommendation.
State the financial implications and where budgetary provisions have been made to support this decision.	This decision will result in funds being reallocated from the District Facilities operations budget to a new budget for the governance body next financial year (2020/2021).
Chief Financial Officer review.	The Chief Financial Officer has reviewed this report.

Ordinary Council Meeting Agenda

19 December 2019

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