Mayor Sophie Barker’s new governance system, approved by councillors earlier this month, did not include a grants subcommittee to assess and approve applications.
At yesterday’s meeting, councillors voted 12-3 to temporarily allow council staff to assess and approve grants of up to $5000.
During debate, and earlier at the public forum, Ms Barker apologised "profusely" for being unaware of the hundreds of applications or the scheduled, and later cancelled, meeting.
The delegation to staff was a "stopgap" measure ahead of further discussions on the grants process at next month’s council meeting.
A report to yesterday’s meeting said staff would detail grant allocations to the council twice annually — however, an amendment from Cr Christine Garey limited staff’s role to December 31.
The report also noted staff recommendations on grant allocation were rarely overturned by councillors.
Cr Garey said she supported the motion, but it was not a long-term measure.
She planned to ask Ms Barker to reconstitute the subcommittee, which last term included councillors, mana whenua and community, arts and specialist representatives.
"It was not in the raft of committees that we signed off, so we all need to take responsibility for that."
The council also needed to finish the ongoing grants review, first requested in 2023, to give the community certainty about processes, Cr Garey said.
An update on the review was also expected next month.
Cr Mandy Mayhem also backed the temporary measure, but said mana whenua and community input into grants was vital.
"The staff at DCC are amazing and they do their best but they cannot shoulder the burden of these mammoth decisions alone.
"We’ve dropped the ball and we’ve let our community down."
"It was my ball, and I dropped it," Ms Barker replied.
Crs Russell Lund, Andrew Simms and Lee Vandervis opposed the motion — the "optics" of a new council relaxing rules on expenditure of public money was concerning, Cr Simms said.
"My prime concern is also that this is going to expose council staff to lobbying from external organisations, and that really concerns me."
During the public forum, Ōtepoti Community Builders representatives Joy Davis and Lois Scott-Muir urged the council to reinstate the subcommittee with full community representation.
"Lack of community representation in the community grants decision-making process denies genuine engagement from mana whenua and our cultural communities," Ms Scott-Muir, a two-term community representative, said.
Ms Davis said external representatives brought expertise and new perspectives and "always contributed to robust discussion".
It was increasingly difficult to encourage groups to engage in council consultations and reviews if their work was not respected and visible in outcomes, she said.
