Programme to show and grow council performance kicks off

A new programme aimed at lifting and demonstrating the value of local government kicked off this week, with the first council undergoing independent assessment.

Upper Hutt City Council is the first of 21 councils signed up to go through the Local Government Excellence Programme in its first year, with three more to be assessed before the elections.

The system is aimed at demonstrating and improving the value and services of councils by measuring indicators across leadership, finance, service delivery and community engagement.

Participating councils will be assessed by independent experts every three years, given an overall rating on a nine point scale from AAA to C, and the results publicised. Councils will discuss results with communities and use the assessments to plan improvements. The system will give communities a clear and independent picture of how well their council is performing in serving the community, and councils information on where they can improve.

Upper Hutt mayor Wayne Guppy says his council was keen to be involved at the earliest opportunity.

“There is an expectation that we all deliver best practice to our customers, our ratepayers, and we need to perform at the level that’s required,” Mr Guppy says.

“The private sector has been doing this for many years. It’s about learning from each other and also from outside the sector.”

“This programme will help the sector help communities and we will certainly be a stronger organisation for going through a process like this.”

LGNZ President Lawrence Yule says the programme has been a long time in the making and has been developed in consultation with the sector.

“Whether it’s financial decision-making, the way we communicate and engage with the community, our governance and leadership or our service delivery and asset management, all councils will likely have areas they can improve on,” Mr Yule says.

“Most councils will no doubt also have areas they excel in. The Excellence Programme will highlight both the good and the areas for progress, and chart a way forward for local government improvement. Council best practice will be widely shared with the sector.”

Upper Hutt will be followed by Horowhenua District Council, Porirua City Council and Queenstown Lakes District Council in the first tranche of assessments, with 17 more to follow in late 2016 and early 2017.

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JUCY joins freedom camping trial

Kiwi campervan company JUCY Rentals has joined a trial aimed at ensuring freedom campers act responsibly while travelling in New Zealand.

While most freedom campers respect the communities they visit the poor behaviour of a few has tarnished the perception of the whole practice.

For local authorities incentivising the right behaviour for that minority is proving to be a challenge, as is collection of unpaid infringement fines. At present, infringements are not tagged to the rental vehicle and many fines are unpaid when people leave the country.

In a trial launched last month between the Thames-Coromandel and Queenstown-Lakes district councils and Tourism Holdings Limited - operators of the Maui, Britz and Mighty rental campervan brands - the company is helping the councils collect infringement fees incurred by hirers who flout freedom camping laws.

The scheme sees fines issued to campers tagged to the vehicle they are travelling in. When they return the vehicle they are reminded of the fine by the company and directed to the relevant council website where they can to pay it immediately and avoid an administration fee.

Queenstown-Lakes District Council regulatory manager Lee Webster says the council is already seeing good results despite the scheme’s infancy and its launch in the tourism sector’s shoulder season.

“We’ve had a really positive start so far,” Webster says.

“While the number of infringements is small at the moment, it is very encouraging to see an increase in the number of tickets being paid. This is something that our community would otherwise have missed out on, as the customers have paid online as a direct result of speaking to THL staff when they’ve returned their vehicle.”

Now JUCY is getting on board.

JUCY CEO Tim Alpe says freedom camping is a valuable contributor to the economy but it is important that those who don’t behave responsibly meet their obligations.

“There’s a small group of travellers who freedom camp irresponsibly that spoil it for other travellers,” Alpe says.

“Currently, there is a belief among this group that they’re able to leave the country without paying their fines. JUCY hopes that joining this trial will help create awareness that these fines do need to be paid. It will also give us an opportunity to give customers a friendly reminder that they can easily avoid an additional administration charge if they pay their fines before departing.”

Local Government New Zealand President Lawrence Yule says support from the tourism industry is needed to improve the management of freedom camping in communities throughout New Zealand.
“Tourism operators have multiple touchpoints with tourists and as such are perfectly placed for assisting local councils with educating customers, enforcement and collection of fines,” Mr Yule says.

Councils called for changes to the Freedom Camping Act 2011 in a remit presented by South Island councils at the Local Government New Zealand conference in July.

How it works

· Fines issued to freedom campers who breach by-laws are tagged to their rental vehicle. Fines could be issued for camping where prohibited, camping in non-certified self-contained vehicles, littering or incorrectly disposing of human waste.

· When they return their vehicle to the hire company the fine will appear on the vehicle’s record.

· Company staff will remind the hirer of the unpaid fine and direct them to the relevant council’s website, where it can be paid online.

· Failure to pay immediately could result in an administration fee.

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New approaches for managing risk needed

Local Government New Zealand says local authorities need to consider innovative approaches to risk management to protect community assets from natural hazards and disasters.

New Zealand councils own a broad range of community assets worth more than $120 billion, including 88 per cent of New Zealand's road network, the bulk of the country's water and waste water networks, and libraries, recreation and community facilities.

To help councils protect assets in a changing social and environmental landscape, LGNZ has released Risk financing in local government, a guide designed to help councils better manage retained risk to vital infrastructure and better understand the financial aspects of risk management.

The guide was prepared by former Earthquake Commission chief executive David Middleton, who says after the Canterbury earthquakes and in a changing climate local authorities could save money and better protect assets by making improved risk management decisions.

“By becoming more sophisticated in their risk management, councils could reduce insurance premium costs and negotiate policies that are best fit for purpose, helping to meet local community expectations of recovery following disasters,” Middleton says.

“The guide helps councils and staff better understand their options when buying insurance, from more accurate valuation of assets and wiser choice of the value insured, to using brokers and selecting the right deductible (excess).”

The guide also outlines the primary task of identifying what risks should be insured and when an alternative risk management tool, like raising additional capital instead of insuring at a high premium, or collective insurance arrangements, would be a better choice.

“The most likely low cost incidents should be handled through normal budget provision and the most destructive but extremely unlikely events need special techniques outside the scope of ordinary insurance,” Mr Middleton says.

LGNZ President Lawrence Yule says the guide came out of the work involved in preparing a business case for a Local Government Risk Agency. An agency would pool and coordinate local government resources to reduce risk to assets and the costs from disasters, giving greater community resilience and welfare, and improved national and local visibility and cost certainty.

“While overall risk management is critical, one of the most important challenges facing councils right now is insurance costs,” Mr Yule says.

“Our investigations into a risk agency discovered insurance-related advice was needed by local authorities.”

A business case for the Local Government Risk Agency has been provided to the Government for consideration.

This work complements other LGNZ projects including the 2050 Challenge, which identifies the major shifts taking place in New Zealand to better understand the implications for local and central government, and Planning our Future, an eight point programme for a future-focused resource management system.

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