INTRODUCTION

Role of the Delegations Manual

The Council’s Delegations Manual supports the Council’s decision-making, by setting out the relevant delegations and sub-delegations that relate to the exercise of Council’s responsibilities, powers and duties. These include all of the responsibilities, duties and powers imposed on the Council by statute or assumed under bylaws made by the Council, as well as delegations relating to other operational, transactional and legal matters.

The Council’s delegations to officers, including the Chief Executive (CE), have been made by way of various Council resolutions, and the CE’s sub-delegations were executed by way of an Instrument of Sub-delegation.

This manual records together these various delegations and sub-delegations.

This manual does not record some specific delegations (e.g. when the Council, by resolution, delegates authority for a particular decision on a certain project or contract), which typically apply for only a limited time and purpose.

Philosophy of Council

The Council considers that decision-making should be delegated to the lowest competent level. This will achieve best use of the capacity and abilities of elected representatives and officers, ensure cost effective use of resources, and promote the development of efficient and effective management.

The Council expects all officers holding delegated authority to exercise their responsibilities, powers and duties with due care and consideration. Decisions made under delegated authority are regarded as decisions of the Council.

Just because a responsibility, power or duty has been delegated does not mean that an officer (including the CE) is obliged to exercise the responsibility, power or duty. If an officer considers a particular matter to be especially significant or controversial, or that it is otherwise best dealt with by elected members, the matter may be referred to an appropriate committee or the full Council.

Delegations Framework

In general terms, the Council has delegated all of its powers to the CE that can be delegated. The CE has then sub-delegated many of these powers to appropriate officers. It is not typically open to officers to further sub-delegate these powers.

Officers are usually employees of the Council, but can also sometimes be officers appointed outside the Council (e.g. an employee of a contractor or another council).

The Council has also directly delegated powers arising under the Resource Management Act 1991 to officers, as it is not possible to sub-delegate powers under that Act.

The Council can amend and revoke the delegations it has made at any time. Likewise, the CE can amend and revoke their sub-delegations at any time.

Legal Authority

The Council’s delegations to the CE and other officers are usually made under clause 32(1) of Schedule 7 of the Local Government Act 2002 (LGA), which states:

Unless expressly provided otherwise in this Act, or in any other Act, for the purposes of efficiency and effectiveness in the conduct of [Council’s] business, [Council] may delegate to [an]… officer of [Council] any of its responsibilities, duties, or powers except

(a) the power to make a rate; or

(b) the power to make a bylaw; or

(c) the power to borrow money, or purchase or dispose of assets, other than in accordance with the long-term plan; or

(d) the power to adopt a long-term plan, annual plan, or annual report; or

(e) the power to appoint a chief executive; or

(f) the power to adopt policies required to be adopted and consulted on under this Act in association with the long-term plan or developed for the purpose of the local governance statement.

The CE’s sub-delegations to officers are typically made under clause 32(3) and clause 32B(1) of Schedule 7 of the LGA. These state:

32 Delegations

(3)  A committee or other subordinate decision-making body, community board, or member or officer of the local authority may delegate any of its responsibilities, duties, or powers to a subcommittee or to another committee or subordinate decision-making body, community board, or member or officer of the local authority, but, to avoid doubt, if doing so is itself a sub-delegation, the power to so delegate is subject to any conditions, limitations, or prohibitions imposed in connection with the primary delegation.

32B Delegation of powers by officer

(1) An officer of a local authority may delegate to any other officer of the local authority 1 or more of his or her powers under this Act or any other enactment except—

(a) the power to delegate under this clause; or

(b) any power delegated to the officer under clause 32 that is subject to a prohibition on delegation; or

(c) any power under an enactment where the enactment expressly prohibits the delegation of the power.

COUNCIL'S DELEGATIONS TO THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE

The Council’s main delegation to the CE was made in Resolution 4669 at the Council meeting on 31 May 2011. It states:

1. That the Chief Executive:

a. is authorised to exercise all of the powers of Council under any statute, regulation, or bylaw.

b. is the person in lawful occupation of land owned, occupied, or controlled by Council for the purposes of the Trespass Act 1980.

c. for the purposes of any statute, regulation, or bylaw which requires Council to, or provides that Council may:

- appoint an Officer to perform a specific function, duty, or task, or to hold a specific office, or

- duly authorise an Officer on behalf of Council then for the purposes of any statute, regulation, or bylaw the Chief Executive is hereby appointed and authorised.

d. ...

e. may delegate any powers granted to the Chief Executive [except the power to sub-delegate] to any Officer of Council.

f. or the purposes of clause 32A of the 7th Schedule to the LGA:

- is authorised to appoint and warrant enforcement officers under section 177 of the LGA; and

- that the above delegation not be subject to any limitation, restriction, condition or prohibition pursuant to clause 32A (2) of the 7th Schedule to the LGA.

The Council made a further delegation to the CE in Resolution 4748 on 30 August 2011, which stated:

The Chief Executive Officer is authorised to enter into any arrangement for payment of a debt owed to the Council over a period and write-off debts considered to be irrecoverable subject to irrecoverable debt write-offs being reported to Council annually.

The Council also added to its delegations to the CE in Resolution 201804/18 at its meeting on 24 April 2018. The relevant resolution stated:

2. That if the Chief Executive is to be absent for a period of 24 hours or more he/she may, in writing, authorise one of the members of the Senior Leadership Team to  exercise all of the powers delegated to him/her and that in the event that there is no such written authorisations, the powers of the Chief Executive may be exercised by the Head of Finance & Strategy during such absences of the Chief Executive.

The Council again added to its delegations to the CE in Resolution 202008/11 at its meeting on 25 August 2020. That resolution provided:

That the Chief Executive may enter into any contract funded by Central Government as part of the Government’s ‘shovel ready’ projects allocated to the Taupō District.

The exercise of this delegation must be overseen by the relevant working parties and governance groups.

The Council provided a further delegation to the Chief Executive in Resolution TDC202111/12, which concerns financial delegations, at its meeting on 30 November 2021. It stated:

1. A delegation to approve expenditure identified in the relevant Annual Plan, capped at the amount budgeted for that Annual Plan item; and

2. A delegation to approve budget substitution up to $500,000 (i.e. reallocation of expenditure between projects and budget lines but with a net zero effect on overall TDC budgeted expenditure); and

3. A delegation to approve Unbudgeted Expenditure up to the value of $100,000.

4. That the exercise of the delegations outlined above be reported to Council on a monthly basis via the Chief Executive’s performance report, in particular expenditure of over $500k and any unbudgeted expenditure over $50k.

The CE is able to sub-delegate any of these powers to officers, as he or she sees fit.

Refer to Appendix One for Delegations to the CE under the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002, Rates Rebate Act 1973 and Rating Valuations Act 1998 and regulations made under that Act.

COUNCIL’S DELEGATIONS TO OTHER OFFICERS

Resource Management Act 1991 Delegations

The Council delegated its powers under the Resource Management Act 1991 to certain officers in Resolution 201804/18 at its meeting on 24 April 2018. The resolution stated:

3. That the Head of Risk & Regulatory, Head of Finance & Strategy, Consents & Regulatory Manger, Resource Consents Manager, Senior Resource Consent Planner(s), Compliance Team Supervisor and Compliance Officers(s) jointly and severally are authorised to exercise those powers of Council that are able to be delegated under the Resource Management Act 1991.

The CE also has authority to exercise these Resource Management Act 1991 powers, as they come within the scope of the Council’s general delegation to the CE.

The Council’s powers under the RMA cannot be sub-delegated.

Local Government (Rating) Act 2002 Delegations

See the 'Acts' tab for the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002 Delegations.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S SUB-DELEGATIONS TO OFFICERS

The CE has sub-delegated the responsibilities, duties and powers to the officers as set out in the CE’s Instrument of Sub-Delegation.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S FINANCIAL DELEGATIONS TO OFFICERS

The CE has sub-delegated the power of expenditure up to the limits listed in the table to the officers identified in that table. These amounts are the maximum that an officer is authorised to spend in any one instance. They exclude GST.

All sub-delegations in the table are subject to a general condition – the power can be exercised only where the expenditure is capital or operating expenditure that is currently budgeted for, and comes within the budgeted amounts, in the Council’s Long-Term Plan or Annual Plan. In the event that expenditure is not covered by current budgets in the Long-Term Plan or Annual Plan, approval by the CE will be required for unbudgeted expenditure up to $100,000 (excl GST) or otherwise the approval of Council will be required