Introduction to Hutt City Council

Hutt City Council is made up from the former Eastbourne Borough, Petone Borough, Wainuiomata District and Lower Hutt City Councils and the Hutt Valley Drainage Board which were amalgamated in 1989.

The Council has two separate components - the political body which is the elected members and the corporate body which is the administrators.

Council is governed by a Mayor who is the Chairperson and 12 Councillors, all of whom are elected by Hutt City citizens for a three year term of office.

Hutt City Council also has three elected Community Boards - Eastbourne, Petone and Wainuiomata, and two appointed Community Committees - North/East community Committee and Central/West Community committee. The role of these organisations is to make sure that the Council is aware of and meets the needs of their individual communities.

Currently the Council ensures that the following services are provided, although Council does not necessarily carry out the services itself:

• Essential physical services to the City, such as water supply, roads, drainage, sewerage and collecting and disposing of rubbish.
  
• Providing such things as parks, recreational facilities, libraries, museums, community houses and housing.
  
• Resource management planning and emergency management.
  
• Essential regulatory duties such as environmental health, building inspection and animal control.
  
• Promoting the social, cultural, environmental and economic well-being of the City.

The Chief Executive of the Council is the sole employee of the elected members of Council. The Chief Executive in turn is the employer of all other Council staff members. The Chief Executive is responsible to the Council for:

• Implementing the decisions of Council.
  
• Providing advice to members of the Council, Community Boards and Community Committees.
  
• Ensuring that all the functions delegated to the Chief Executive or to any persons employed by the Council are carried out.

All meetings convened by Council are publicly advertised each month and are open to the public except for those parts of the meeting from which the public is excluded in accordance with the requirements of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987. Agendas for meetings of Council, its committees, working groups, community boards and community committees are available to members of the public before the meeting from the Council administration building, libraries and also on the website.

Members of the public can voice their opinions to Council and its committees, by presenting petitions, deputations and through the public comment section which is held for a period of up to 30 minutes at the beginning of each meeting.

Further information on meetings convened by Council is available from Secretariat Services, Hutt City Council.