Horrell, Keast attend all full council meetings

Just two Southland councillors have managed a perfect meeting attendance across the past term.

Local Democracy Reporting received a breakdown of councillor attendance for three of Southland’s four councils from the beginning of the 2022 term to the end of July.

It showed Environment Southland chairman Nicol Horrell and Southland district councillor Julie Keast were the only elected members to attend every full council meeting during that period.

Mr Horrell, who is not seeking re-election after six terms, said it was his job to be there.

"It’s been a privilege to hold the position I do, and I’ve always put council before everything else, which sometimes has been detrimental to your own personal interests and family."

He also noted rescheduling a meeting was an option with enough warning.

The average attendance for councillors at Environment Southland was 90% for the 35 meetings in the almost three-year period.

Councillor Jon Pemberton had the lowest attendance at 71%, but said it was affected by overseas travel for his Nuffield scholarship.

The Southland District Council recorded an even higher average attendance than the regional council, elected members making it to 92% of their 58 meetings.

Councillor Julie Keast, who was the only other person with a perfect record, said the term had been "great" because meetings were always on a Wednesday.

At the Invercargill City Council, average attendance was 89%, led by deputy mayor Tom Campbell who made it to all but one of 60 meetings.

Last week, he put his attendance down to good health.

"I don’t claim any special credit for attending every meeting. It’s just that I never get ill and therefore I never have any reason not to."

Fellow councillor Peter Kett had not been so lucky, managing to attend just 67% of his meetings in a final term plagued by health issues.

In July, he joked he would miss "most of the councillors".

Attendance data was also supplied for mana whenua representatives who did not have voting rights at full council but still attended several meetings.

Pania Coote made it to 82% across the period, while Evelyn Cook was present at 73%.

Despite Mayor Nobby Clark’s term including two health scares, he still managed to attend 87% of his meetings, not including those missed because of other council business.

Attendance information for full council meetings was collated by the three councils under the LGOIMA. It does not include the Gore District Council which would not provide it in a readily accessible format.

Minimum attendance is not discussed in the three councils’ standing orders, but missing four consecutive meetings without an accepted leave of absence or apology results in losing the role.

As for pay, the Environment Southland chairman receives $134,223 annually, while councillors with no additional responsibilities receive $46,862.

Southland district’s mayor makes $139,906 a year and councillors without additional responsibilities take home $39,348.

In Invercargill, those numbers are $154,815 and $44,043 respectively.