Otago Regional Council: Applications for exemptions and declaration

During February 2020, Otago Regional Council applied for exemptions and/or declarations under the Local Authorities (Members’ Interests) Act 1968 to enable certain councillors to take part in imminent decisions about freshwater management.

We needed enough information to assess whether each councillor had a reasonable expectation of gain or loss of money as a result of each discussion or decision that the Council had coming up. The Council wasn’t in a position to provide that information for all of the discussions and decisions so we agreed to focus on two Council meetings, on 11 and 25 March. At those meetings, councillors need to make decisions about the “Water Permit Plan Change” and the “Omnibus Plan Change”. We sought information from the Council about those decisions, and from councillors about their financial interests in those decisions.

The information we needed for the councillors who had financial interests was provided to us at the end of February.

We have also published some background information about the decisions to be made by the Council and our role in considering the applications.

Our decisions on the applications

Four councillors applied to us for exemptions or declarations: Councillor Hope, Councillor Noone, Councillor Kelliher, and Councillor Wilson. Based on the information provided to us and in summary, we consider that:

Councillor Hope has no financial interest and therefore needs no exemption to participate and vote on the Water Permit Plan Change and the Omnibus Plan Change.
Councillor Noone’s indirect financial interest in the Water Permit Plan Change and the Omnibus Plan Change is so remote and insignificant that it cannot reasonably be regarded as likely to influence him in voting, or taking part in discussion, on those matters. We have granted him an exemption to participate and vote.
Councillor Kelliher has no reasonable expectation of financial gain or loss from the Omnibus Plan Change and does not need an exemption to participate and vote. But he does have a direct financial interest in the Water Permit Plan Change. We do not consider that the grounds are made out for making a declaration in order to allow him to participate in the decision in which he has a financial interest, and we therefore have declined his application to participate and vote on that.
Councillor Wilson has no reasonable expectation of financial gain or loss from the Omnibus Plan Change and she does not need an exemption to participate and vote. But she does have a direct financial interest in the Water Permit Plan Change. We do not consider that the grounds are made out for making a declaration in order to allow her to participate in the decision in which she has a financial interest, and we therefore have declined her application to participate and vote on that.

The Council will still be quorate even though two councillors will be unable to participate in the Water Permit Plan Change decision. We do not consider that the exclusions will distort how the Council deals with the decision.