The Queenstown Lakes District Council has appointed three members of the public as independent members of its risk and assurance committee.
The committee supports the council’s governance of risk, assurance and compliance.
‘‘Appointing independent members to the committee is considered best practice and strengthens public accountability by offering independent scrutiny, challenge and insight that enhance decision-making and organisational performance,’’ a media release earlier this month said.
The appointments were made after a recruitment process in January in which 63 applications from across the country were submitted.
The three successful candidates were Alastair Hercus, Matt Mouat and Juliet Tainui-Hernandez.
The independent members will join councillors Niki Gladding (chairwoman), Stephen Brent and Samuel Belk to form a full risk and assurance committee.
‘‘I’m humbled that we had so many applications for these positions, from extraordinarily high-achieving individuals and it was an incredibly challenging selection process,’’ Queenstown Lakes District Mayor John Glover said.
‘‘In the end, it came down to selecting a combination of three that collectively brought the skills and experience that we were looking for.’’
A spokesman said the committee was first formed after the 2016 local body election as the audit, finance and risk committee.
‘‘The first meeting of the audit, finance and risk committee was then held in March 2017,’’ Mr Glover said.
‘‘It has previously included independent members.
Before that, the audit function was carried out by other council committees.
