Kia ora Cody,

 

Thank you for your request for information.

 

We are handling your request under the Local Government Official
Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA). We have forwarded it to the
appropriate Christchurch City Council staff, and we will provide a
response or update within 20 working days of the date we received your
request. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will
notify you of an extension of that timeframe.

 

If you have any queries, please feel free to contact me. If any additional
factors come to light which are relevant to your request, please do not
hesitate to contact me so that these can be taken into account.

 

If you have not had a reply within 10 working days, please email
[1][Christchurch City Council request email]

 

Kind regards,

 

Jess Griffin
Information Coordinator
Official Information

 

 

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Kia ora Cody,

 

On 22 April 2024, you requested the following information, under the Local
Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA):

 

How does Council manage conflicts of interests for Staff who are also, or
aspire to be, Elected members?

 

I was not able to immediately find any policy online other than the Code
of Conduct; however, that only applies to people in their role as an
Elected member (not as Staff).

 

Prior to each triennial election, election protocols are issued to Council
staff, the protocols issued in May 2022 are still available on the
internal intranet for any staff member who may be thinking of running for
a future election (Attached). The general rule is that these are
applicable at any time for any election for ‘public office’ and reminders
are issued to staff ahead of the general election where these protocols
are referred to.

 

The protocols refer specifically to the Local Government Act (2002). The
act states that if an employee of a local authority (such as Christchurch
City Council) is elected to be a member of the local authority’s governing
body, that staff member must resign from their position before taking up
the role as an elected member (in accordance with s41(5): [1]Local
Government Act 2002 No 84 (as at 17 February 2024), Public Act 41
Governing bodies – New Zealand Legislation). This does not apply if the
officer is elected to a community board or another local authority.

 

There are equivalent protocols issued to elected members ahead of
elections. During a by-election, these protocols are referred to in
communications to staff and elected members. For staff looking to be
appointed to a Community Board role, a similar process occurs.

 

It is also worth noting that at all points of their employment, Staff are
bound to the Council Code of Conduct which makes specific reference to
political neutrality:

 

You have the right to ask the Ombudsman to investigate and review our
decision. Complaints can be sent by email to
[2][email address].

 

Publication of responses to LGOIMA requests

Please note: our LGOIMA responses may be published on the Christchurch
City Council website a month after they have been responded to, with
requesters’ personal details withheld. If you have any concerns about
this, please contact the Official Information team on
[3][Christchurch City Council request email].

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sean Rainey
Manager Official Information and Privacy Officer
Official Information Team

Office of the Mayor and Chief Executive

 

 

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[4][IMG]

 

 

 

This electronic email and any files transmitted with it are intended
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.
The views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and
may not necessarily reflect the views of the Christchurch City Council.
If you are not the correct recipient of this email please advise the
sender and delete the email.

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References

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