Palmerston North City Council

 

Minutes of the Finance & Audit Committee Meeting Part I Public, held in the Elwood Room, Conference & Function Centre, 354 Main Street, Palmerston North on 16 September 2020, commencing at 9.00am

Members

Present:

Councillor Susan Baty (in the Chair), The Mayor (Grant Smith), Mr Stephen Armstrong and Councillors Vaughan Dennison, Renee Dingwall, Lew Findlay QSM, Patrick Handcock ONZM, Leonie Hapeta, Lorna Johnson, Karen Naylor, Bruno Petrenas and Tangi Utikere.

Non Members:

Councillors Brent Barrett, Rachel Bowen, Zulfiqar Butt, Billy Meehan and Aleisha Rutherford.

 

37-20

Confirmation of Minutes

 

Moved Susan Baty, seconded Patrick Handcock ONZM.

The COMMITTEE RESOLVED

1.   That the minutes of the Finance & Audit Committee meeting of 19 August 2020 Part I Public be confirmed as a true and correct record.

 

Clause 37-20 above was carried 17 votes to 0, the voting being as follows:

For:

The Mayor (Grant Smith) and Councillors Susan Baty, Brent Barrett, Rachel Bowen, Zulfiqar Butt, Vaughan Dennison, Renee Dingwall, Lew Findlay QSM, Patrick Handcock ONZM, Leonie Hapeta, Lorna Johnson, Billy Meehan, Karen Naylor, Bruno Petrenas, Aleisha Rutherford, Tangi Utikere and Mr Stephen Armstrong.

 

38-20

Assurance Report on Review of Business Continuity Planning

Memorandum, presented by Masooma Akhter, Business Assurance Manager and Jason McDowell, Head of Risk & Resilience.

After discussion Elected Members requested a follow-up report assessing progress on the recommendations, action plan and Business Continuity Planning Review.  

 

Moved Lorna Johnson, seconded Susan Baty.

The COMMITTEE RESOLVED

1.   That the memorandum entitled ‘Assurance Report on Review of Business Continuity Planning’ and its appendices, presented to the Finance & Audit Committee on 16 September 2020, be received for information.

2.   That the Chief Executive report back on the recommendations, action plan and progress on the Business Continuity Planning Review to the December 2020 meeting of Finance & Audit Committee.

 

Clause 38-20 above was carried 17 votes to 0, the voting being as follows:

For:

The Mayor (Grant Smith) and Councillors Susan Baty, Brent Barrett, Rachel Bowen, Zulfiqar Butt, Vaughan Dennison, Renee Dingwall, Lew Findlay QSM, Patrick Handcock ONZM, Leonie Hapeta, Lorna Johnson, Billy Meehan, Karen Naylor, Bruno Petrenas, Aleisha Rutherford, Tangi Utikere and Mr Stephen Armstrong.

 

39-20

Review of Elected Members' Expenses and Allowances Policy

Memorandum, presented by Hannah White, Democracy & Governance Manager.

After discussion Elected Members were of the opinion that the policy was not yet a finished product and that a workshop would be a more efficient way to raise and discuss issues.

The meeting adjourned at 10.07am

The meeting resumed at 10.33am

 

Moved Brent Barrett, seconded Lorna Johnson.

The COMMITTEE RESOLVED

1.   That the Elected Members’ Expenses and Allowance Policy be referred to a workshop.

 

Clause 39-20 above was carried 11 votes to 6, the voting being as follows:

For:

The Mayor (Grant Smith) and Councillors Brent Barrett, Rachel Bowen, Zulfiqar Butt, Renee Dingwall, Lew Findlay QSM, Lorna Johnson, Billy Meehan, Bruno Petrenas, Tangi Utikere and Mr Stephen Armstrong.

Against:

Councillors Susan Baty, Vaughan Dennison, Patrick Handcock ONZM, Leonie Hapeta, Karen Naylor and Aleisha Rutherford.

 

40-20

Committee Work Schedule

Officers had requested clarity from the Committee regarding what should be included in the report regarding expenses of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor.  This was addressed in the additional recommendation.

 

Moved Susan Baty, seconded Leonie Hapeta.

The COMMITTEE RESOLVED

1.   That the Finance & Audit Committee receive its Work Schedule dated September 2020.

 

Clause 40.1 above was carried 17 votes to 0, the voting being as follows:

For:

The Mayor (Grant Smith) and Councillors Susan Baty, Brent Barrett, Rachel Bowen, Zulfiqar Butt, Vaughan Dennison, Renee Dingwall, Lew Findlay QSM, Patrick Handcock ONZM, Leonie Hapeta, Lorna Johnson, Billy Meehan, Karen Naylor, Bruno Petrenas, Aleisha Rutherford, Tangi Utikere and Mr Stephen Armstrong.

 

Moved Susan Baty, seconded Leonie Hapeta.

2.   That the annual Expenses of the Mayor & Deputy Mayor report address discretionary expenditure and that the expenses of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor be reported separately.

 

Clause 40.2 above was carried 12 votes to 3, with 2 abstentions, the voting being as follows:

For:

Councillors Brent Barrett, Rachel Bowen, Zulfiqar Butt, Vaughan Dennison, Renee Dingwall, Patrick Handcock ONZM, Leonie Hapeta, Lorna Johnson, Karen Naylor, Bruno Petrenas, Aleisha Rutherford and Mr Stephen Armstrong.

Against:

Councillors Susan Baty, Lew Findlay QSM and Billy Meehan.

Abstained:

The Mayor (Grant Smith) and Councillor Tangi Utikere.

 

Note:

Moved Brent Barrett, seconded Karen Naylor.

On a motion that the word ‘sensitive’ be replaced with ‘discretionary’ in Clause 40.2, the motion was carried 13 votes to 2, with 2 abstentions, the voting being as follows:

 

For:

Councillors Susan Baty, Brent Barrett, Rachel Bowen, Zulfiqar Butt, Renee Dingwall, Patrick Handcock ONZM, Leonie Hapeta, Lorna Johnson, Billy Meehan, Karen Naylor, Bruno Petrenas, Aleisha Rutherford and Mr Stephen Armstrong.

Against:

Councillors Vaughan Dennison and Lew Findlay QSM.

Abstained:

The Mayor (Grant Smith) and Councillor Tangi Utikere.

 

The meeting finished at 10.58am

 

Confirmed 21 October 2020

 

 

 

 

Chairperson