Mr Kircher suggested public assemblies be held to replace some consultation on council proposals.
In his mayoral report at a Waitaki District Council meeting on Tuesday, Mr Kircher said he was disappointed with the small turnout for council drop-in sessions with the community.
"The common result is that we have more people from council in attendance than the number of the public who come along," he said.
"It has not been working and change is needed to ensure we get a larger and more diverse range of people
— but I also want us to change our focus from numbers of submissions, to the quality of submissions.
"In recent times, we have resorted to simplistic, tick-box submission forms to make it easy for people to give their opinions, but that tends to be a very simplistic response, and through no fault of the public."
He wanted the public to be involved in council matters earlier, not waiting until the proposals had been developed and sent out for consultation.
He said the concept of public assemblies was one to look at.
They were essentially focus groups chosen from the wider community with representation from a wide geographic and demographic base.
Mr Kircher said it had to be more than a self-selected group of individuals who take part because they had time to do so.
"We need to make it easy for voices of people who are not usually able to speak up, to be heard."
He wanted any prospective candidates to be given the information to allow them to make comment, which may take a number of sessions.
"This is a key aspect of the Future for Local Government [Review], and it is a chance to get views from the community that we would not usually get."
Cr Jim Hopkins said the idea was good but wondered if the assemblies would make decisions or give guidance.
Mr Kircher said it was a chance to work on the pros and cons of any proposal and come up with better quality decisions.
The council also decided it would stick to its first-past-the-post electoral system for its next election in 2025.
If enough people wanted change it might need a review but that appeared unlikely.
Cr Hopkins said the STV system was better in larger cities when more people stood for council and in wards, but in rural areas not as many people stood.
