Thank you for your e mail. 

We have forwarded to the appropriate department to action.  They will be
in contact should any further information be required.

Should you need any additional assistance, please don't hesitate to
contact us.

Many thanks, 

WCRC Information
West Coast Regional Council
[West Coast Regional Council request email]
|+64 3 768 0466
This email may contain information that is confidential, proprietary or
subject to legal privilege.
​If you are not the intended recipient you are notified that any use,
dissemination, distribution or copying of this message or data is
prohibited. If you have received this email message in error, please
notify the sender and erase all copies of the message and attachments.

WCRC Information​​​​
West Coast Regional Council
[1][West Coast Regional Council request email]  | [2]+64 3 768 0466 [3]Facebook [4]Twitter [5]YouTube
[6]West Coast Regional Council Website

show quoted sections

Dear Peter

Thank you for your information request of 16 March 2025 seeking
information on the Buller community representative, Westport Joint
Committee. We will proceed to process your request under the Local
Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA) and will
endeavour to respond to your request no later than 11 April 2025 being 20
working days after the day your request was received. If we are unable to
respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of
that timeframe.

Kind regards

Rasela Barrow​​​​
Executive Assistant |  West Coast Regional Council
[1][email address]  | [2]+64 3 744 7337  |  [3]+6421795517 [4]Facebook [5]Twitter [6]YouTube
[7]West Coast Regional Council Website

 

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Smith,

Further to your email received at the Council on 7 April 2025 advising us
that you are rephrasing your initial LGOIMA request (REQ 2025-3390), we
understand you now seek the following information relating to the
appointment process for the Buller community representative:

 a. Copies of the application letters for all nominees, at all dates; and
 b. Copies of all correspondence relating to those nominees including both
internal correspondence and correspondence with Buller District
Council, and including any discussion from the three meetings of the
past week.

 

The LGOIMA provides that clarification or amendment of a request is
considered to be a new request for the purpose of calculating the maximum
statutory timeframe for a response (refer section 13(7) of the LGOIMA). 
We will proceed to process your amended request and will endeavour to
respond to your request no later than 8 May 2025 being 20 working days
after the day your amended request was received. If we are unable to
respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of
that timeframe.

 

 

Kind regards

Rasela Barrow​​​​
Executive Assistant |  West Coast Regional Council
[1][email address]  | [2]+64 3 744 7337  |  [3]+6421795517 [4]Facebook [5]Twitter [6]YouTube
[7]West Coast Regional Council Website
 

 

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Smith,

Further to your official information request received at the Council on 7
April 2025 seeking applications and information on the community
representative nomination process for the Westport Joint Committee, we
have processed your request under the Local Government Official
Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA).  We have decided to grant your
request in part.  Our response is set out below.

You sought:

 a. Copies of the application letters for all nominees, at all dates; and
 b. Copies of all correspondence relating to those nominees including both
internal correspondence and correspondence with Buller District
Council, and including any discussion from the three meetings of the
past week.

 

In relation to (a), attached is the nomination information received from
yourself.  There is one other nomination document received within the
timeframe of your request which was lodged with the Council in February
2025.  We have decided to refuse your request for a copy of this
document.  The nature of these forms is that they provide personal
information about individuals which is necessary to enable both the
Regional and District Councils to assess suitability and attributes for
the role.  While we understand that there is an obvious public interest in
the role of community representatives on the Joint Committee, we do not
believe this extends to personal information about the nominee/s.  The
need to protect personal information provided as part of the application
process, in order to assist consideration for selection, is considered to
outweigh the public interest in release of that information at this time.

 

Regarding part (b) of your request for copies of correspondence and
information held by the Council relating to the nomination process, we
have decided to grant your request in part.  We have decided to withhold
some information where this is necessary to protect the privacy of
indviduals, under section 7(2)(a) for the reasons outlined above, and also
in relation to another LGOIMA request we received on this matter within
the period you seek.  We have also decided to withhold some information in
order to to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs where
release may inhibit the free and frank exchange of views between officers
and other parties (section 7(2)(f)).  While much of the information about
the process is public, for some parts of the process it is important that
Council staff and elected members are able to prepare for and engage in
discussions as part of their role.  Public release of this information may
have a dampening effect on the willingness of parties to engage in the
process, or on the willingness of staff to provide or receive free and
frank advice.  There are also other Joint Committees that have community
representatives, where Council runs a similar process of seeking and
selecting community representatives for these committees.  For these
reasons, the protection of this type of information within these processes
is considered to outweigh the public interest in release.  

 

There are also some redactions of material that is not relevant to your
request where it relates to other subjects.

 

As noted above there is one item of information, a nomination document,
which will be withheld.  Of the remaining information, there are
approximately 42 items of email correspondence and a number of additional
attachments to these, and a small number of Council documents (agenda
reports and minutes) which will be released to you either in their
entirety or with some redactions.  It will take us some more time to
prepare this information for release.  We will send you this information
by Monday 19 May 2025.

 

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of
this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
[1]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.

 

Please contact us at [2][email address] if you have any
further queries.

 

Governance Team | West Coast Regional Council

[3][email address] [5]Facebook [6]Twitter [7]YouTube
 |[4]+64 3 768 0466  
[8]West Coast Regional Council Website

    

From: Rasela Barrow <[9][email address]>
Sent: Wednesday, 9 April 2025 3:00 PM
To: [10][FOI #30434 email]
Subject: REQ-2025-3417 - Acknowledgement of request - Buller community
representative applications and correspodence, Westport Joint Committee

 

Dear Mr Smith,

Further to your email received at the Council on 7 April 2025 advising us
that you are rephrasing your initial LGOIMA request (REQ 2025-3390), we
understand you now seek the following information relating to the
appointment process for the Buller community representative:

 a. Copies of the application letters for all nominees, at all dates; and
 b. Copies of all correspondence relating to those nominees including both
internal correspondence and correspondence with Buller District
Council, and including any discussion from the three meetings of the
past week.

 

The LGOIMA provides that clarification or amendment of a request is
considered to be a new request for the purpose of calculating the maximum
statutory timeframe for a response (refer section 13(7) of the LGOIMA). 
We will proceed to process your amended request and will endeavour to
respond to your request no later than 8 May 2025 being 20 working days
after the day your amended request was received. If we are unable to
respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of
that timeframe.

 

 

Kind regards

Rasela Barrow​​​​
Executive Assistant |  West Coast Regional Council
[11][email address]  | [12]+64 3 744 7337  |  [13]+6421795517 [14]Facebook [15]Twitter [16]YouTube
[17]West Coast Regional Council Website
 

 

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Smith,

 

Further to our decision on your LGOIMA request of 7 May 2025, please find
attached the information sought in the second part of your request.  As
per that decision, some of the material in the attachments is redacted for
reasons of relevance (it was not sought in your request and does not
relate to it), to protect the free and frank exchange of views by or to
officers, or to protect the privacy of individuals.  

 

Please contact us at [1][email address] if you have any
further queries.

 

Kind regards

Governance Team | West Coast Regional Council

[2][email address] [4]Facebook [5]Twitter [6]YouTube
 |[3]+64 3 768 0466  
[7]West Coast Regional Council Website

    

From: Rasela Barrow <[8][email address]>
Sent: Wednesday, 7 May 2025 9:39 AM
To: [9][FOI #30434 email]
Subject: REQ-2025-3417 -Buller community representative applications and
correspondence, Westport Joint Committee

 

Dear Mr Smith,

Further to your official information request received at the Council on 7
April 2025 seeking applications and information on the community
representative nomination process for the Westport Joint Committee, we
have processed your request under the Local Government Official
Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA).  We have decided to grant your
request in part.  Our response is set out below.

You sought:

 a. Copies of the application letters for all nominees, at all dates; and
 b. Copies of all correspondence relating to those nominees including both
internal correspondence and correspondence with Buller District
Council, and including any discussion from the three meetings of the
past week.

 

In relation to (a), attached is the nomination information received from
yourself.  There is one other nomination document received within the
timeframe of your request which was lodged with the Council in February
2025.  We have decided to refuse your request for a copy of this
document.  The nature of these forms is that they provide personal
information about individuals which is necessary to enable both the
Regional and District Councils to assess suitability and attributes for
the role.  While we understand that there is an obvious public interest in
the role of community representatives on the Joint Committee, we do not
believe this extends to personal information about the nominee/s.  The
need to protect personal information provided as part of the application
process, in order to assist consideration for selection, is considered to
outweigh the public interest in release of that information at this time.

 

Regarding part (b) of your request for copies of correspondence and
information held by the Council relating to the nomination process, we
have decided to grant your request in part.  We have decided to withhold
some information where this is necessary to protect the privacy of
indviduals, under section 7(2)(a) for the reasons outlined above, and also
in relation to another LGOIMA request we received on this matter within
the period you seek.  We have also decided to withhold some information in
order to to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs where
release may inhibit the free and frank exchange of views between officers
and other parties (section 7(2)(f)).  While much of the information about
the process is public, for some parts of the process it is important that
Council staff and elected members are able to prepare for and engage in
discussions as part of their role.  Public release of this information may
have a dampening effect on the willingness of parties to engage in the
process, or on the willingness of staff to provide or receive free and
frank advice.  There are also other Joint Committees that have community
representatives, where Council runs a similar process of seeking and
selecting community representatives for these committees.  For these
reasons, the protection of this type of information within these processes
is considered to outweigh the public interest in release.  

 

There are also some redactions of material that is not relevant to your
request where it relates to other subjects.

 

As noted above there is one item of information, a nomination document,
which will be withheld.  Of the remaining information, there are
approximately 42 items of email correspondence and a number of additional
attachments to these, and a small number of Council documents (agenda
reports and minutes) which will be released to you either in their
entirety or with some redactions.  It will take us some more time to
prepare this information for release.  We will send you this information
by Monday 19 May 2025.

 

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of
this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
[10]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.

 

Please contact us at [11][email address] if you have any
further queries.

 

Governance Team | West Coast Regional Council

[12][email address] [14]Facebook [15]Twitter [16]YouTube
 |[13]+64 3 768 0466  
[17]West Coast Regional Council Website

    

From: Rasela Barrow <[18][email address]>
Sent: Wednesday, 9 April 2025 3:00 PM
To: [19][FOI #30434 email]
Subject: REQ-2025-3417 - Acknowledgement of request - Buller community
representative applications and correspodence, Westport Joint Committee

 

Dear Mr Smith,

Further to your email received at the Council on 7 April 2025 advising us
that you are rephrasing your initial LGOIMA request (REQ 2025-3390), we
understand you now seek the following information relating to the
appointment process for the Buller community representative:

 a. Copies of the application letters for all nominees, at all dates; and
 b. Copies of all correspondence relating to those nominees including both
internal correspondence and correspondence with Buller District
Council, and including any discussion from the three meetings of the
past week.

 

The LGOIMA provides that clarification or amendment of a request is
considered to be a new request for the purpose of calculating the maximum
statutory timeframe for a response (refer section 13(7) of the LGOIMA). 
We will proceed to process your amended request and will endeavour to
respond to your request no later than 8 May 2025 being 20 working days
after the day your amended request was received. If we are unable to
respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of
that timeframe.

 

 

Kind regards

Rasela Barrow​​​​
Executive Assistant |  West Coast Regional Council
[20][email address]  | [21]+64 3 744 7337  |  [22]+6421795517 [23]Facebook [24]Twitter [25]YouTube
[26]West Coast Regional Council Website
 

 

show quoted sections