About the Council

The Council is made up of two separate parts:

Part 1 - Elected Members

The first part is the elected members ('the Council') - consisting of the Mayor and 11 councillors. The elected members make decisions, on behalf of residents, to meet the needs of the entire Western Bay of Plenty district.

These decisions are typically made by the full Council following work undertaken by a range of Council Committees. Elected members also sit on these committees.

The District is made up of three wards, Katikati/Waihī Beach, Kaimai and Maketu/Te Puke.

Regional government is provided by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, with two Regional Councillors representing the Western Bay of Plenty District.

The number of elected representatives for each ward and/or a community board area depends on the number of resident electors within a ward and/or community board boundary.

Part 2 - Organisation

The second part is the organisation or operations - (also 'the Council') - consisting of staff who provide the services and the facilities/projects - which deliver on the decisions made by the elected members.

'The Council' is constituted under the Local Government Act 2002. The purpose of local government is stated in section 10(1) as:

to enable democratic local decision-making and action by, and on behalf of, communities; and
to meet the current and future needs of communities for good-quality local infrastructure, local public services; and
performance of regulatory functions in a way that is most cost-effective for households and businesses.

The Local Governance Statement (required by the Local Government Act 2002) is the overarching document explaining the organisation and structure, key Acts and legislative requirements under which the Council operates.

Council's head office is located at Barkes Corner, 1484 Cameron Road, Greerton, Tauranga.

The Barkes Corner office is supported by service centres and libraries located at Katikati, Ōmokoroa, Te Puke and Waihī Beach

A General Manager is responsible for day-to-day management of each operational group. Each General Manager reports to the Chief Executive Officer who has overall responsibility for managing Council.

Roles of Council

Council has a number of roles including;

Provider - Council will take full responsibility for funding and carrying out these services.
Partner - Council will fund and carry out these services in formal partnership with other organisations.
Funder - Council will fund other organisations to carry out these services, for example through service delivery contracts.
Regulator - Council has statutory responsibilities to regulate certain activities.
Monitor - Council will gather information on these activities and check against progress towards the Long Term Plan.
Facilitator - Council will encourage others to be involved in these activities by bringing interested parties together to progress identified issues.
Advocate - Council will promote the interests of its communities to other decision-making organisations, for example Central Government.

Standing Orders

Standing Orders are a set of rules that provide formal guidelines around the way that Council, Committees and Community Boards conduct their meetings. Standing Orders were adopted by Council on the 8 December 2022 for Council, its Committees and SmartGrowth Leadership Group. Community Boards adopted their Standing Orders at their individual meetings in 2023.