Council selected for excellence programme

A new programme to rate the performance of councils across the country will see Gisborne District Council assessed by independent experts, given an A, B or C rating and the results shared with the public.

Council has been selected as a Foundation Council for the recently announced local government New Zealand standards programme.

Chief executive Judy Campbell says the new system is part of an excellence programme that will facilitate improvements and benchmark our service to the community.

“Council is committed to improving our processes and how we service the community.

“We’re pleased to be announced as one of the councils selected for this standards programme and to share the results with our community.”

Local Government New Zealand has selected 21 Foundation Councils to lead out the programme that will measure indicators across leadership, finance, service delivery and community engagement in 2016. Results will be published in 2017.

Participating councils will be assessed every three years, given a standard from A to C, and the results publicised. Councils will discuss results with communities and use the assessments to plan improvements.

LGNZ President Lawrence Yule said the system was set up to give communities a clear and independent picture of how well their council was performing in serving the community.

“This will provide a thorough and trusted standard for council performance. They will now know that their council meets an A, B, or C standard,” he said.

“For councils this will help them improve to deliver top value for their communities. They will know how they perform in dozens of services and where the community wants improvement.”

The excellence programme been developed in response to the 2015 New Zealand Local Government Survey, which showed there is an opportunity to lift and demonstrate the service and value councils deliver to their communities.

ENDS

© Scoop Media