40Local governance statements

1. A local authority must prepare and make publicly available, following the triennial general election of members, a local governance statement that includes information on—

2. the functions, responsibilities, and activities of the local authority; and
3. any local legislation that confers powers on the local authority; and
4. the bylaws of the local authority, including for each bylaw, its title, a general description of it, when it was made, and, if applicable, the date of its last review under section 158 or 159; and
5. the electoral system and the opportunity to change it; and
6. representation arrangements, including the option of establishing Māori wards or constituencies, and the opportunity to change them; and
7. members' roles and conduct (with specific reference to the applicable statutory requirements and code of conduct); and
8. governance structures and processes, membership, and delegations; and
9. meeting processes (with specific reference to the applicable provisions of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 and standing orders); and
10. consultation policies; and
11. policies for liaising with, and memoranda or agreements with, Māori; and
12. the management structure and the relationship between management and elected members; and
13. the remuneration and employment policy, if adopted; and
14. equal employment opportunities policy; and
15. key approved planning and policy documents and the process for their development and review; and
16. systems for public access to it and its elected members; and
17. processes for requests for official information.

18. A local authority must comply with subsection (1) within 6 months after each triennial general election of members of the local authority.

19. A local authority must update its governance statement as it considers appropriate.

Notes

• Section 40(1)(ba): inserted, on 14 October 2007, by section 7 of the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Act 2006 (2006 No 26).
• Section 40(1)(ja): inserted, on 5 December 2012, by section 20 of the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Act 2012 (2012 No 93).