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Bonne takes office

Thursday 28 October 2010, 11:50AM

By Whakatane District Council

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WHAKATANE

Whakatane District Mayor-elect Tony Bonne takes office on Wednesday 27 October 2010 after winning in a hotly contested mayoral and council elections early this month.
Mr Bonne says the message from the community during the election was quite clear that it wants a transparent, accountable and efficient council.

“My challenge during my tenure as Mayor is to ensure that the Council is transparent and accountable and as a first step towards this move, I intend to bring back a number of committees to focus on key aspects of the councils operations,’ said Mr Bonne.

Mayor-elect Bonne says he will be proposing to Councillors a four committee structure comprising:
Monitoring and Policy Committee - to look at Finance, Resource Management Act issues, development of Council policies and District Plan review.
Projects and Services Committee will focus on delivery of essential services and implementation of capital projects. The Council invests significant amounts in community infrastructure and it is essential that the Council has oversight from start to finish of these projects.

Audit Committee – the committee will continue to focus the Council’s financial process and provide that invaluable external input into how the Council can improve its financial reporting systems, especially the preparation and presentation of the Annual Report

Hearings Committee - the committee will continue with its delegations to deal with resources consent applications and deliberate on resource consent management issues.
Mr Bonne said while this will form the backbone of the Council, he believes the Community Boards have a crucial role to play in building the council profile and credibility in the community.

“I see the Community Board playing a crucial role of being the first point of call for ratepayers and residents. Community Boards are the first layer of democracy and I would like to see them take a greater role in ensuring community views are channelled to the Council.” He said adding, “For our part as the Council we will be taking Community Board views very serious and we see them as partners in promoting and moving our District forward”.