Governance

Under Section 40 of the Local Government Act 2002, the Southland District Council is required to prepare a local governance statement and make it available to the public. The governance statement contains information about the governance arrangements in place to enable the public to participate fully in local governance.

Standing orders contain rules for the conduct of the proceedings of local authorities, committees, subcommittees and subordinate decision-making bodies, and local and community boards. Their purpose is to enable local authorities to exercise their decision-making responsibilities in a transparent, inclusive and lawful manner.

The purpose of the manual of delegations is to define and authorise the scope of the division between governance and management activities, Council’s delegations of governance activities to Council committees and community boards, Council’s delegations of management activities to the chief executive and the chief executive’s delegations to Council officers, including the leadership team.

Schedule 7 of the Local Government Act 2002 (the Act) requires Council to adopt a code of conduct. Once adopted, all elected members are required to comply with the code.