Mayor will hold Councillors, Local Boards and CCO Directors to account

North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams will hold Councillors, Local Board Members and CCO Directors in the new Auckland Council to account, if elected the new Mayor of Auckland.

"I will have the attendance records published every six months to ensure that the citizens of Auckland are informed about the involvement and committment of their representatives, and to ensure that those representatives are fully committed to the task ahead." says Mayor Williams. "The people of Auckland have a right to know if their representatives are working for them or not."

"Today, as an example, I am releasing the attendance records for the last year of the North Shore City Mayor and Councillors to provide open accountability to the people of the North Shore who we represent. Some of the attendance records do very much disturb me, as low as 50% attendance at committee meetings for the year by some members. That is simply not good enough and those elected members should really be taken to task by the community." says Mayor Williams.

"We certainly will not be able to run the new Auckland Council, Local Boards and Council Controlled Organisations if some of these people who are standing think they can continue at those sorts of attendance levels."

"I am also aware and disturbed that one of our North Shore representatives on the Auckland Regional Council, Christine Rankin standing in these elections for the North Now ticket (essentially ACT Party people), has an even worse track record with approx 42% ARC attendance. She has attended only 61 meetings out of a possible 144 ARC meetings. This is absolutely shocking that our North Shore representative on this regional body has been such a poor attendee on behalf of the people of the North Shore. And we have not seen Christine Rankin anywhere near North Shore City Council either." says Mayor Williams.

"At the same time I would like to acknowledge and express my sincere gratitude to those elected members who have been fully committed and diligent. Councillor Jan O'Connor has attended 100% of all North Shore City Council meetings, Councillor Vivienne Keohane 98%, Councillor Grant Gillon and Councillor Tony Holman both 96%. Those are very commendable attendance records and the citizens of the North Shore should be aware of their very solid committment to the city's affairs. My Deputy Mayor Councillor Julia Parfitt and I came up 5th equal out of 16 elected members with 91% attendances, just pipping Councillor Ken McKay at 90%."

"These committed elected members show that they hold public office in high regard, and work hard for their constituents. These are the dedicated hard working people, honest to the people they represent, that the new Auckland Governance arrangements will need." says Mayor Williams.