It took a Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) request from The News to obtain reports that, until recently, were regularly included in Waipā District Council agendas.
Clare St Pierre, in Karapiro,
On the Radar is the council’s fortnightly hub for what the council says is essential information, updates and reminders about upcoming projects and programmes.
The publication, prepared by council’s communications and engagement team, replaced the information only reports in agendas which publications like The News relied on to source news stories.
We made the LGOIMA request in July and received issues 1-12 – covering the period up to our request – which originally went to all elected members and senior staff.
We have since asked the council for the three subsequent issues.
All received editions have been published on our websites: cambridgenews.nz and teawamutunews.nz.
We asked the three mayoral candidates – Clare St Pierre, Mike Pettit and Susan O’Regan – to comment. Only St Pierre responded, describing the content as “very light”. Both she and Pettit – chair and deputy chair of the Service Delivery committee – had requested the reinstatement of activity reports.
Mike Pettit -2025
“Councillors were not given any specific details or undertaking as to what information would be included in ‘On the Radar’ and so agreed to adopt the process on trust,” she said.
St Pierre raised concerns about the timeliness of updates, citing the example of the former Bunnings building in Te Awamutu – purchased by the council for the Te Ara Wai Museum – which lost its tenant, something which would usually have been reported at a committee meeting.
The building has been losing thousands of dollars a year since the council bought it for $2.05 million in 2021.
“One can get the impression that elected members may not be getting all the information they should and staff have the discretion as to what is included and what isn’t.”
Elected members receive On the Radar by email, generally fortnightly, and can submit questions via a portal.
Susan O’Regan – 2025
However, St Pierre said it typically takes about two weeks to receive a response, which slows the flow of information compared to asking questions during meetings.
She is concerned this delay hampers her ability to perform her governance role effectively.
On the Radar was introduced in February, following a council resolution on January 29 to remove the “information only” reports and shift meeting days from Tuesdays to Wednesdays, based on staff recommendations.
The new meeting times were advertised in The News a week before the formal council resolution.
St Pierre said the change in meeting day was agreed to as a short-term trial, not as a permanent shift.
The review was due in June but feedback only began earlier this month.
“The cost of producing On the Radar is likely to be lower than staff preparing full written reports for council meetings,” said St Pierre.
“Nonetheless, the reduction in information flow and ease of access by the news media and the general public raises concerns about the overall effectiveness of the changes, especially as we are trying to improve transparency.”
Another request we made to the council this month has also been treated as a LGOIMA request.
We asked the communications team to provide us with a copy of the Infometrics report quoted in a media release about event funding which said a recent report found three Waipā events generated $1.6 million in economic activity.
The report analysed the economic impact of the 2025 National Waka Ama Sprint Championships, Maadi Regatta, and Cambridge Autumn Festival.
The council said the Infometrics report contained commercially sensitive information of third parties so it would withhold the report.
Cambridge Autumn Festival also requested a copy of the report as they had not read it either.
The News complained to the Ombudsman who is now investigating the council’s decision.
Waipa mayor Susan O’Regan opens the Autumn Festival 2025. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
