Chair Hilary Calvert, who proposed the “priority actions”, says following the election of the new Council, the elected members signalled a desire to revisit and clarify Council’s priorities for the remainder of the triennium. 

“This reflects both the establishment of a new governance perspective and the need to respond to a changing operating environment for ORC, including the potential for local government reforms eing proposed by Government,” she says.

Councillors proposed a set of 34 priority actions across the portfolio areas of science and resilience, strategy and planning, environmental delivery, public transport, and governance and community engagement, alongside several cross-portfolio actions. At yesterday’s meeting an additional priority action (34th) was added, which was related to air quality improvements.

At the inaugural full council meeting at ORC’s new Aonui headquarters in Dunedin yesterday, Councillors unanimously approved the proposed priority action list, noting the priority actions will be integrated into Council’s reporting and planning processes.

Cr Calvert welcomed the decision, highlighting the actions are intended to provide an additional layer of governance emphasis, helping to clarify where increased attention is required and to support more focused and coordinated delivery.

“Development of a clearer set of priority actions reflects the current operating environment facing Council. Several factors are contributing to the need for governance level clarity about what matters most over the remainder of the term,” she says.

She says the priority actions are designed to sit alongside Council’s existing governance and planning frameworks.

They do not replace the Long-Term Plan, annual plan processes, infrastructure strategies, activity management work, regulatory obligations or previously adopted resolutions.

Cr Calvert says a19 March workshop for Councillors provided an opportunity to discuss and refine the areas where Council may wish to place particular emphasis for the remainder of the triennium.

While no decisions were made at the workshop, Cr Calvert says it confirmed the value of articulating a clear set of priority actions to sit alongside existing commitments, supporting governance focus, alignment across portfolios, and future decisions on reporting, advocacy, planning and delivery.

“The intention wasn’t to revisit ORC’s full work programmes or create a new strategic framework, but to identify matters where Council may wish to signal a stronger governance focus, request greater organisational emphasis, or ensure that emerging issues are appropriately reflected in future reporting and decision making,” Cr Calvert says.

Included in the 34 priorities were several with a focus on local communities:

• Provide councillors with a clear assessment of flood and drainage infrastructure risk, including any implications of deferred maintenance, and ensure existing community liaison mechanisms are used to test and inform this analysis.
• Review flood and drainage rating structures to ensure equity across catchments, including consideration of who contributes to and benefits from schemes, with community input prior to any recommendations to Council.
• Improve accessibility of environmental and natural hazard information, including consideration of property-level visibility and integration of relevant external data sources where practicable.
• Ensure irrigation, water storage and hydro opportunities are appropriately enabled, including addressing any unintended regulatory or organisational barriers.
• Strengthen pest management outcomes for control of rabbits, with the establishment of a working group and a focus on practical delivery, partnerships, and community and landowner collaboration.
• Assess opportunities for eradication or a step-change intervention for lagarosiphon, including appropriate funding options and delivery models.
• Support community and voluntary efforts to control wilding pines. Advocate for fair contributions from government and those responsible for the source of the wildings.
• Audit and Risk to complete a deep dive into consenting, and compliance condition activities to ensure they are operating fairly, transparently, at an appropriate cost, efficiently and in a timely fashion. This would include setting conditions, monitoring and enforcement of above.
• Finalise and implement the Environmental Fund framework to ensure funding is directed toward agreed priority actions and outcomes, with appropriate governance oversight.
• Advocate with Central Government for a more integrated and flexible approach to school and public transport provision that better reflects community needs and supports efficient service delivery.
• Re-establish transport liaison groups in Dunedin and Queenstown to strengthen feedback from users and operators, with structure and membership to be developed through a subsequent process.
• Maintain and strengthen relationships with central government, including ministers, officials and relevant stakeholders, to support Council priorities and advocacy.
• Continue to consult with Mana Whenua on a mutually agreeable way to provide opportunities for Māori to contribute to decision making processes.
• Strengthen engagement with territorial authorities, particularly in areas of reform, regulatory overlap and unitary service provision.

A central theme from the earlier workshop was the distinction between core business and additional priority emphasis, Cr Calvert says, noting Councillors were clear the organisation already undertakes a broad range of important work, much of which must continue irrespective of any new priorities.

“The value of identifying priority actions lies in helping to clarify where Council wishes to place greater attention, where it may seek stronger visibility through reporting, and where it may wish to emphasise progress, coordination or advocacy,” Cr Calvert says.