By now most elected members will be easing back into the routine of regular council meetings, as we embark on our favourite year – the year when our seats are safe for the next three years and it is our central government counterparts who have to go through the ordeal of performance appraisal.

Journalists can be relieved that the silly season is over, tackling more serious issues as councils get down to business.

But there was one story over the summer season that tickled my fancy, and even though it was tackled in a light-hearted manner, it was really quite significant.

And that was the e-mail Wellington’s Mayor Celia Wade-Brown sent out to the city councillors suggesting that they take up ballroom dancing or learn a new language to sharpen up ‘their neural pathways’.

First, I was fascinated by the comment that this e-mail was ‘leaked’ to the media.

Was the e-mail actually ‘leaked’ to the media? After all e-mails can be classified as ‘writing on any material’ and therefore a document under the Official Information and Meetings Act 1987. As such they are subject to the principle of availability – available unless there is good reason for withholding it.

But then perhaps this particular e-mail could be considered a free and frank expression of opinion, one of the categories of information that can be withheld.

Anyway, it makes a better story to imply the e-mail was leaked.

On the surface, it may seem to be a frivolous story, just right for the summer season when most people don’t want to contemplate the more substantial issues.

The Dominion Post even went on to editorialise about the ‘gravitas needed in mayoral office’; expressing the view that a mayor needs to be seen as someone who should be taken seriously.
But the comment that stood out for me was this one: “Councillors are not her employees.”

As the Dominion Post suggests, the performance of councillors will ultimately be judged not by the mayor but by voters. Councillors do not owe the mayor “the sort of automatic loyalty that would have ensured that her advice remained confidential”.

Bravo!!!  The role of councillors is not easily understood – even by councillors.  Who are we? What are we?

ACC considers me to be self-employed.

So are we accountable to our mayors for our performance and behaviour?  I think not.

My mayor thinks otherwise, to the extent that shortly before Christmas I had a ticking off for wearing my council badge to something he thought didn’t warrant my identification as a councillor.  I swiftly replied that the event affected not only the cultural but also the economic, social and environmental well-being of the community, and I was well within my rights to wear my identification badge.

As a seasoned councillor, I’m accustomed to this type of e-mail.  In fact, I have even endured a vote of no confidence and been kicked off the hearings committee, because I was so exasperated with his barrage of e-mails that I flicked one off to the local newspaper who published it in full on the front page.

Life on council can be interesting to say the least, and new councillors will be getting to grips with the enormity of the task ahead of them as they grapple with all the issues and all the jargon council staff love to sprinkle through their reports to confuse the newcomers.

The last thing any councillor needs is to be treated like school children by a mayor who thinks he has a responsibility to keep his or her councillors in line.

Thank goodness Councils don’t have Whips, like Parliament!