A council spokeswoman was yesterday unable to confirm who the two external appointees were, as nothing had been finalised.
It follows concerns from the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) and an independent governance review carried out by Richard Thomson.
An update from his report will be provided to councillors next week.
In August, Bruce Robertson was appointed as independent governance expert following a request from the Department of Internal Affairs.
Mr Thomson’s report followed.
Among his findings, he recommended the council appoint two external parties.
The report prepared by the council’s project director, Peter Thompson, and adviser to the office of chief executive Jane Parfitt states the two external appointees would start the work from January 1, 2021, for a term of up to 18 months.
They each would be paid $1500 a day or $200 per hour.
The report stated the salary was ‘‘in accordance with comparable roles’’ of that level.
The sum would be paid out of the budget of $730,000 approved by the council last month.
At the time, the council emphasised a large part of the budget would be needed to cover staffing costs.
The document said, ‘‘the role of external appointees is to provide guidance and advice to elected council members, collectively and individually, on matters of governance’’.
While they would need to provide a quarterly report to the risk and assurance committee, they did not have a decision-making role.
There would be two reviews — in June 30, 2021 and 30 December, 2021 — and the terms of appointment might be shortened at either of those dates if there was a consensus among the council and the external appointees that one or both was no longer required.
One of those appointees would chair a governance group which also included a representative from the DIA.
Internal Affairs ministerial advice, monitoring and operations director Anita Balakrishnan confirmed yesterday that it would be part of it but thought it was inappropriate to comment on how the governance group would work until after the council had considered the report.
A document with the delegations for the deputy mayor, Nobby Clark, was also expected for this meeting as was another of the recommendations from Mr Thomson’s review.
However, the report states work was ongoing in this area and a further report would be brought to the council in February next year.
