National MP Sam Uffindell says the local council's unwillingness to be transparent about communication is "absolutely appalling". Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell is taking the city's council to the Ombudsman after he said they failed to give satisfactory answers to an information request over the contentious sale of the city's marine precinct.
Uffindell is also urging other residents unhappy with the council's transparency to do the same.
The council has received 20 requests for information under the Local Government Official Information And Meetings Act (LGOIMA) since April, asking for information about how the decision to sell the land came about.
Only one of these has been provided an answer in full.
Eleven had information partially or completely withheld while another five were told to find the information online from what had already been made public. The council was still working on three requests.
Uffindell was one of the 20 who asked for information and he said these figures were proof of his own concerns about the process.
The council at first directed Uffindell to the information already made public through other LGOIMA requests. Uffindell replied that he did not feel it answered his questions and then waited to hear back.
After 20 working days from his request, RNZ approached Tauranga City Council to ask if they were planning to respond to Uffindell. He received a response from the council two days later, refusing part of his request and pointing him to already public information for the remainder.
He said he was not happy with this response.
"I feel that it is pretty light touch, that they have put up a bunch of somewhat generic information... but to the substantive request I don't think it's been adequately addressed."
He said it felt like the council was giving out crumbs and hoping people will go away. He has had several voters come to him also complaining about the way their LGOIMA requests have been responded to.
As an example, he pointed to one resident's request for correspondence between key staff at the council and the developers who bought the land.
"[TCC] are refusing the request to provide this information [on the grounds] it is substantial. I find that really concerning. In fact, I find, with all the public criticism about the questions being asked, their unwillingness to be transparent about communication between senior council staff, including the chief executive, and the key developers, absolutely appalling," said Uffindell.
He said he was going to seek an investigation by the Ombudsman into the council's response to his request and he was telling constituents who complain to him to also approach the Ombudsman.
Uffindell has called for the mayor and councillors to demand the chief executive address the situation and he will be meeting mayor Mahe Drysdale today to directly raise this as a concern with him.
"TCC is doing itself a huge disservice, in my opinion, by not being more transparent and open with the public."
In a statement, the council's democracy services team leader Kath Norris said the council was happy with the way marine precinct LGOIMA requests were being responded to.
"Council is satisfied that all official information requests about the Marine Precinct have been responded to in accordance with LGOIMA and within the prescribed timeframes set in the legislation," she said.
Norris suggested that the problem was often with the request, not the way it was responded to.
"We note that when very broad requests are received, it is appropriate to ask for the request to be refined. Once the requester refines the original request, it is then treated as a new request, replacing the original one. This restarts the statutory time limit for LGOIMA."
Uffindell said it was really important that the public had a high level of trust in the council.
"My strong recommendation is for the mayor and councillors to call in the [chief executive] and made it very clear to him that he and his staff need to be absolutely upfront with the people of Tauranga," he said.
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