Governance

Our governance statement describes how we carry out our local government responsibilities and promote democracy in our community. This document is prepared at the start of each three-year term.

• Porirua City: Governance Statement 2019–2022 (654KB pdf).
  

• setting Porirua City’s policy direction
• monitoring how the council performs
• representing the city’s interests
• employing the chief executive (who employs all other staff on behalf of the council).

Elected members are asked to make regular declarations of interests they hold.

• how the council is run
• when and how we meet
• what we can do
• how we charge rates.

We have responsibilities under other New Zealand laws as well, such as the Resource Management Act and Environment Act. We can also make our own regulations and bylaws.

As one of the elected members, the Mayor shares the same responsibilities as other councillors and also:

• presides over council meetings and makes sure they’re conducted in an orderly way.
• promotes our city and represents its interests.
• acts as the civic and ceremonial head of Porirua City,  including swearing in new citizens.
• gives leadership and feedback to other councillors.

The Mayor can also:

• act as a Justice of the Peace.
• call a meeting of the council.
• declare a civil defence emergency.

The Mayor appoints the Deputy Mayor at the first council meeting after the local body election. The Deputy Mayor has the same roles as other councillors, but fulfils the Mayor’s responsibilities if they’re absent or incapacitated, or if the office of Mayor is vacant.

The council can vote to remove the Deputy Mayor from office.

A committee chairperson presides over the committee’s meetings and makes sure it acts within the powers the council has given it.  

The council can vote to remove a committee chairperson from their role as chairperson.

There are legal requirements for how elected council members must behave:

• Schedule 7 of the Local Government Act 2002
  Requiring councillors to act as a good employer in respect of the Chief Executive, and to follow the current Code of Conduct (419KB pdf) and Standing Orders (359KB pdf), the rules for conducting council meetings and decision making.
• Local Authorities (Members’ Interests) Act 1968 
  Setting out how councillors must conduct themselves in situations involving potential conflict of interest
• Secret Commissions Act 1910 
  Prohibiting councillors from accepting gifts or rewards that could be seen as influencing how they perform their duties
• Crimes Act 1961
  Forbidding councillors from accepting bribes and using official information for their own profit
• Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013
  Holding councillors personally liable for financial documents registered under the Act (such as disclosure statements for products such as debt or equity securities) that contain false or misleading statements
• Health and Safety at Work Act 2015
  Requiring councillors to make sure the council meets its health and safety obligations.