Late Agenda of Regional Council Meeting

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council

31 May 2023

Subject: Committee membership changes

Reason for Report

1. This item seeks Council resolutions to:

1.1. Appoint Councillor Martin Williams as a member of the Napier-Hastings Future Development Strategy Joint Committee in place of Councillor Sophie Siers, who would become the Alternate

1.2. Appoint Councillor Sophie Siers to the Māori Committee, to replace Councillor Martin Williams

1.3. Confirm Regional Planning Committee appointees’ membership on the Cyclone Recovery Committee and consequential amendments to the Terms of Reference if required.

Officers’ Recommendations

2. Staff recommend that the Council agrees to the change of appointments proposed by councillors Williams and Siers as agreed between themselves.

3. In relation to the membership of the Cyclone Recovery Committee staff recommend that Council first decides whether or not there is a desire to revisit the Terms of Reference, given the process undertaken to develop the ToR through discussions at workshops and meetings where representatives of both the Māori and Regional Planning committees were present and actively participated.

4. If there is a desire to revisit the CRC Terms of Reference then the question for Council to resolve is the number of representatives of the RPC.

Change of councillor appointments

5. Councillors Martin Williams and Sophie Siers wish to switch their appointments as follows, which give rise to the need for Council resolutions to formally give effect to those.

6. On 16 November 2022 the Regional Council appointed councillors Hinewai Ormsby, Will Foley, Charles Lambert and Martin Williams as members of the Māori Committee. Councillor Williams wishes to relinquish his membership in favour of councillor Siers’ appointment.

6.1. The proposed appointment of councillor Sophie Siers to the Māori Committee, as Chair of the Cyclone Recovery Committee (CRC) aims to provide more opportunities for mana whenua input into HBRC recovery initiatives where the mana, hauora, and kaitiaki of mana whenua is acknowledged and given priority without drawing even further on limited capacity for engagement.

7. On 14 December 2022 the Regional Council appointed councillors Jock Mackintosh and Sophie Siers as its representatives, with councillor Martin Williams as alternate, to the Napier-Hastings Future Development Strategy Joint Committee. The proposal is to amend those arrangements by appointing Martin Williams as a member of the Napier-Hastings Future Development Strategy Joint Committee, and councillor Sophie Siers as the alternate.

Regional Planning Committee PSGE appointee representation

8. As part of the Council’s Governance Structure, committee membership that provides opportunities for Māori participation in Council decision-making processes is sought through the appointment of Taiwhenua appointees on the Māori Committee and Post Settlement Governance Entity (PSGE) appointees on the Regional Planning Committee (RPC). Committee members representing Māori Committee and RPC tangata whenua also aim to provide opportunities to establish links for sharing information and raising awareness of current issues of importance to Māori.

9. The process by which tangata whenua appointments are made by the Māori Committee and RPC is:

9.1. Council invites the committee to nominate, from amongst their Taiwhenau or PSGE appointed members, members to specific HBRC committees by resolution

9.2. The Committee resolutions then form recommendations to the Council for resolution formally confirming and appointing those nominated as members of the committees specified.

10. In developing the Terms of Reference for the Cyclone Recovery Committee, considerations in relation to tangata whenua representation included:

10.1. The nature of the participation and input expected of its members that best enables the CRC to achieve its purpose to:

10.1.1. coordinate and direct the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s (HBRC) recovery initiatives in support of environmental and community recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle and related matters.

Acknowledging that:

10.1.2. Recovery actions will necessarily happen at pace requiring agile and joined-up decision-making.

10.1.3. The HBRC’s Cyclone Recovery Committee will focus on recovery tasks related to the environment resilience, primary sector, and resilient infrastructure pou within the broader recovery context which includes the Hawke’s Bay Regional Recovery Agency.

10.2. The work of the CRC directly relates to the work of the Māori Committee and RPC.

10.3. The work of the CRC is significant to mana whenua on a level that warrants more than one representative of each committee.

10.4. The combination of 2 Māori Committee and 2 RPC PSGE representatives deliberately provides the opportunity for the worst impacted communities to have 1 Māori representative at the CRC table in addition to the Māori Constituency councillors.

10.5. The model of the Māori Committee co-chairs may contribute a solution – with one representing Wairoa and the other Heretaunga – and a suggestion was made that discussion between the Co-chairs of both committees would clarify how that representation could best be achieved.

11. The RPC PSGE appointees have proposed, for Council’s consideration, an amendment to the Terms of Reference for the CRC to allow the appointment of four members to represent the PSGEs whose takiwā and whānau, hapū and marae are most affected by the Cyclone, those being:

11.1. Tātau Tātau o te Wairoa

11.2. Maungaharuru-Tangitū Trust

11.3. Mana Ahuriri Trust

11.4. Heretaunga Tamatea Settlement Trust.

12. These four appointments would be instead of two appointments by the RPC as currently provided for in the CRC ToR.

13. If Council agrees to the increased membership, the invitation to nominate those representatives would be re-extended to the Regional Planning Committee, directed through the PSGE appointed members, for the next scheduled RPC meeting.

Financial and Resource Implications

14. Māori Committee and RPC representatives on Council committees receive a meeting fee of $452 per meeting plus reimbursement of associated travel expenses, as provided for within the Māori Partnerships budgets.

Decision Making Process

15. Council and its committees are required to make every decision in accordance with the requirements of the Local Government Act 2002 (the Act). Staff have assessed the requirements in relation to this item and have concluded:

15.1. Council is required to (LGA sch.7 cl.19(1)) hold the meetings that are necessary for the good government of its region

15.2. Council may appoint (LGA sch.7 cl. 30(1)(a)) the committees, subcommittees, and other subordinate decision-making bodies that it considers appropriate

15.3. Given the provisions above, Council can exercise its discretion and make these decisions without consulting directly with the community or others having an interest in the decision.

Recommendations

That Hawke’s Bay Regional Council:

1. Receives and considers the Committee membership changes staff report.

2. Agrees that the decisions to be made are not significant under the criteria contained in Council’s adopted Significance and Engagement Policy, and that Council can exercise its discretion and make decisions on this issue without conferring directly with the community or persons likely to have an interest in the decision.

3. Appoints councillor Martin Williams as a member of the Napier-Hastings Future Development Strategy Joint Committee, and councillor Sophie Siers as an alternate member; joining councillor Jock Macintosh as appointed by resolution on 14 December 2022.

4. Appoints councillor Sophie Siers as a member of the Māori Committee, replacing councillor Martin Williams.

and

5. Confirms the Terms of Reference for the Cyclone Recovery Committee as previously adopted on 29 March 2023.

6. Adopts the Terms of Reference for the Cyclone Recovery Committee (attached) as amended to provide for membership including up to four Post Settlement Governance Entity (PSGE) appointed members of the Regional Planning Committee representing:

6.1. Tātau Tātau o te Wairoa

6.2. Maungaharuru-Tangitū Trust

6.3. Mana Ahuriri Trust

6.4. Heretaunga Tamatea Settlement Trust.

Authored by:

Leeanne Hooper

Team Leader Governance

Approved by:

Desiree Cull

Executive Officer to CE

Attachment/s

1 ⇩

Cyclone Recovery Committee amended Terms of Reference if required