1 November 2023
Ohakune Ratepayers and Residents Society Inc.
[FYI request #24584 email]
Dear Sir/Madam
OFFICIAL INFORMATION REQUEST FOR REQUEST FOR PUBLIC EXCLUDED
INFORMATION THAT CAN NOW BE RELEASED I refer to your official information request dated 30 October 2023 as set out below:
1) What is RDC's policy on re-visiting public excluded parts of meetings and releasing the
information
2) How many items since 2020 till today are still excluded from the public
3) Please provide a more accurate description of each public excluded meeting since 2020 as to
date the agenda items on your website that we have downloaded, have been incorrectly
documented or summarised.
4) Please advise a count of how many items (by count) since 2020 (that were in public excluded),
relate to any sort of (social, affordable workers, rental) housing, be it funding applications, or
resolutions, or actions, or discussions relating to Teitei Drive, Ohakune.
5) Please provide all public excluded meeting notes, discussions, minutes, documents,
attachments, that relate to housing (as per above). You may redact over the items that are still
of confidential nature, however please provide the entire documents so we can see a count of
pages etc; to do with any matter the public has been excluded from.
6) In the same case as above, please provide any public excluded items that relate to the funding,
land sale, gifting of land, resolutions, and any other relation to Teitei Drive, Ohakune prior to 4th
April 2023 as this information was previously held due to commercial sensitivity before signing,
however with the agreements now signed, these should now be available to the public.
7) Please provide any public excluded items relating to Ngāti Rangi, that are no longer items that
should be excluded; if the items are still excluded, please provide them and redact over the
information being withheld, so we can see a count of pages and any information in those pages
that is of a general sense and can be released.
Page 2
Part of the information you have requested is enclosed.
Information you have requested which relates to your questions set out below is enclosed.
1) What is RDC's policy on re-visiting public excluded parts of meetings and releasing the
information
Council does not have a Proactive Release Policy at present. Proactive release is not required under
the OIA.
3) Please provide a more accurate description of each public excluded meeting since 2020
as to
date the agenda items on your website that we have downloaded, have been incorrectly
documented or summarised.
Subject to Section 48 of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, a local
authority may by resolution exclude the public from the whole or any part of the proceedings of any
meeting subject to the grounds of exclusions detailed in the Act. Agendas of Council, its Committees,
and Community Boards state the Resolution to Exclude the Public for Consideration of
Council/Committee/Community Board Business (to consider and adopt confidential items).
Your request for official information which relates to your questions set out below will need
to be clarified to enable us to respond. Please note, any clarification or amendment of a request is considered to be a new request for the
purpose of calculating the maximum statutory timeframe for response (refer section 13(7) of the
Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act)
4) Please advise a count of how many items (by count) since 2020 (that were in public excluded),
relate to any sort of (social, affordable workers, rental) housing, be it funding applications, or
resolutions, or actions, or discussions relating to Teitei Drive, Ohakune.
• Please clarifiy if you are requesting a count on reports tabled in the Public Excluded business
of Council? or on reports tabled in the Public Excluded business of Council, its Committees
and Community Boards?
• Please clarify if you are requesting a count on reports tabled in the Public Excluded business
that relate to social, affordable workers, and rental housing in the Ruapehu District or solely
in Teitei Drive, Ohakune?
• Please specifiy the date range for the information required.
5) Please provide all public excluded meeting notes, discussions, minutes, documents,
attachments, that relate to housing (as per above).
You may redact over the items that are still
of confidential nature, however please provide the entire documents so we can see a count of
pages etc; to do with any matter the public has been excluded from. • The scope of your request “all public excluded meeting notes, discussions, minutes,
document attachments” is too broad: please clarify if you are requesting information from
formally notified meetings where the public has been excluded by resolution from any part of
the proceedings of Council? or of Council, its Committees and Community Boards?
• It is a requirement of Council that it keeps minutes of its proceedings which must record any
items (documents) tabled at the meeting; these are included as minute attachments: please
clarifiy if you are requesting the minutes and minute attachments of formally notified meetings
where the public has been excluded by resolution from any part of the proceedings?
• Please clarify if you are requesting information tabled in formally notified meetings where the
public has been excluded by resolution from any part of the proceedings that relate to social,
affordable workers, and rental housing in the Ruapehu District or solely in Teitei Drive,
Ohakune?
• Please specifiy the date range for the information required.
Page 3
7) Please provide any public excluded items relating to Ngāti Rangi, that are no longer items that
should be excluded; if the items are still excluded, please provide them and redact over the
information being withheld, so we can see a count of pages and any information in those pages
that is of a general sense and can be released.
• The scope of your request “information relating ot Ngāti Rangi” is too broad, please specify
the scope/topic of the requested official information with due particularity.
• Please clarifiy if you are requesting information relating to Ngāti Rangi tabled in the Public
Excluded business of Council? or tabled in the Public Excluded business of Council, its
Committees and Community Boards?
Please be advised, once you have clarified your request for information, it is necessary for us to
consult with Ngāti Rangi before making a decision on your clarified request. This is because some
of the information you requested could affect Ngāti Rangi if disclosed.
We have decided to refuse your request for information which relates to your question set
out below under Section 17(f) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act.
2) How many items since 2020 till today are still excluded from the public
We invite you to reconsider or refine your request with due particularity, for example:
• Please clarifiy if the count request is for reports tabled in the Public Excluded business of
Council that remain witheld from Public? or for reports tabled in the Public Excluded business
of Council, its Committees and Community Boards?
• Please specifiy the date range for the count required
We have decided to refuse your request for information which relates to your question set
out below under Section 17(d) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings
Act.
6) In the same case as above, please provide any public excluded items that relate to the funding,
land sale, gifting of land, resolutions, and any other relation to Teitei Drive, Ohakune prior to 4th
April 2023 as this information was previously held due to commercial sensitivity before signing,
however with the agreements now signed, these should now be available to the public.
The official information requested was made publicly available in the body and the attachments to
the report “Proposed Teitei Drive Housing Development” tabled at the 27 September 2023 Council
Meeting which can be found in t
he Agenda on Council’s Website in the Council, Community Board
& Committee Meetings section.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
freephone 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
T Paladin
GOVERNANCE MANAGER
