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Tauranga commission chairwoman\xa0Anne Tolley\xa0has revealed she would prefer a \u201chybrid\u201d local governance model as democracy sometimes \u201cfails\u201d.\xa0

It comes as the Tauranga City Council prepares for its local body election in July, which will bring the Government-appointed commission\u2019s term to an end.\xa0

Tolley told\xa0Newstalk ZB\xa0host Mike Hosking this morning there could be skill \u201cgaps\u201d in elected councils and the appointment of people to work with councillors in the future could help address this.\xa0

The interview follows the\xa0Bay of Plenty Times\xa0report that Local Government Minister Simeon Brown\xa0ruled out making any changes to the commission\u2019s role, despite increased calls from local ratepayer groups to have it demoted to a \u201ccaretaker\u201d status.\xa0\xa0

Five\xa0Tauranga\xa0ratepayer and advocacy groups called on Brown to step in and prevent Tauranga City council\u2019s Government-appointed commission from committing ratepayers to what they believed were pricey \u201cnon-essential\u201d projects, echoing\xa0similar\xa0requests in January.\xa0

Tauranga City Council commission chairwoman Anne Tolley. Photo / Alex Cairns\xa0

Hosking asked Tolley whether she felt the \u201cangst\u201d and whether there had been much \u201cagitation\u201d.\xa0

\u201cWell, there\u2019s angst of different sorts,\u201d Tolley said.\xa0

\u201cThere\u2019s angst in the community that the elections are coming up, the city\u2019s on the move and we\u2019re going to go backwards because all of the old guard are preparing themselves to be reelected, so there\u2019s various angst but the city\u2019s in good heart. There\u2019s a lot of reconstruction happening and things are moving and, I think you know, people are feeling pretty good.\u201d\xa0

Hosking referred to the previous council, giving his view that, from the outside, it seemed was \u201cdysfunctional\u201d and \u201ca mess\u201d. He said it appeared the city had \u201cmoved forward\u201d because the commission \u201cjust got on with it\u201d.\xa0

Tolley agreed, saying \u201cthat was our job\u201d.\xa0

The commission \u2013 made up of\xa0Tolley, Shadrach Rolleston, Stephen Selwood, and Bill Wasley \u2013\xa0was appointed to govern Tauranga City Council in February 2021\xa0after former\xa0Local Government\xa0Minister Nanaia Mahuta discharged the elected council of its duties in December 2020.\xa0 \xa0

The commission\u2019s term was later\xa0extended until July 2024\xa0to provide stability and deliver complex projects - preventing the city\u2019s participation in the 2022 local body elections.\xa0

On July 20, Tauranga voters will have their first chance to elect representatives to their city council since 2019, and that group will\xa0serve New Zealand\u2019s first four-year council term.\xa0

In February, the\xa0Bay of Plenty Times\xa0revealed the commission had called for\xa0a Crown observer to be appointed to the city council\xa0after the election, but was denied by then-Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty.\xa0

Tolley told Hosking she believed in democracy but, at times, it failed.\xa0

Newstalk ZB host Mike Hosking. Photo / Michael Craig\xa0

Hosking said the commission \u201cappears to have worked\u201d and questioned how Tauranga could bring that kind of governance model into effect again \u201cwithout killing democracy.\xa0

\u201cI think, personally, I quite like a hybrid model where you have some elected and then you are able to appoint some skilled people.\xa0

\u201cYou know, you assess who\u2019s been elected and what gaps there are \u2026 It can be a big job in a city, in a metro city.\u201d\xa0

Tauranga has a population of 162,000 and is growing rapidly.\xa0

\u201cIt\u2019s a big complex beast for council and, so, you know, it takes special sort of people to be able to run it,\u201d Tolley said.\xa0

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. Photo / Michael Craig\xa0

Tolley said the council or local government minister could potentially make such decisions.\xa0

She also said she was delighted the new council would have four years before the next elections, instead of the standard three.\xa0

Hosking said there appeared, outwardly at least, there were a lot of councils around New Zealand that were \u201cfairly dysfunctional\u201d.\xa0

Tolley agreed.\xa0

\u201cSometimes they are.\xa0

Tauranga City commissioners: L-R Shadrach Rolleston, Bill Wasley, Stephen Selwood, Anne Tolley. Photos / File\xa0

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot more than just the dysfunction of councils and the whole process around consultation can be hijacked by small groups of people who don\u2019t want things to happen.\xa0

\u201cMost people who make submissions you know, formal submissions to council, are generally people who don\u2019t want something to happen and so you end up playing a numbers game. Many, many councils and councillors when they are consulting make an effort to get out and talk to a whole range of people.\xa0

\u201cWe\u2019ve done that as commissions because if you just rely on the submission process, you end up with more negative than positive, and that\u2019s not really where your community is.\u201d\xa0

Nominations for Tauranga\u2019s election open on April 26. The election will be held on July 20.\xa0

Kiri Gillespie\xa0is an assistant news director and a senior journalist for the\xa0Bay of Plenty Times\xa0and\xa0Rotorua Daily Post, specialising in local politics and city issues. She was a finalist for the Voyager Media Awards Regional Journalist of the Year in 2021.\xa0

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