​Key outcomes from Ordinary Council meeting 18 November 2025

You can watch the recording of the meeting on Council’s YouTube channel.

Please note these are informal notes on the key outcomes from the meeting. The formal minutes and official record will be endorsed at the next council meeting.

Minutes and Committees – Council received or confirmed the minutes of several meetings and committees (a slightly different process than normal as some minutes date back to the previous triennium). The minutes included the Inaugural Council and Coast Community Board meeting, November Extra Ordinary council meeting, September Council meeting, August Risk and Assurance Committee meeting, September Coast Community Board meeting, and September Performance and Delivery Committee meeting.

Papers also included the regular reports from the Chief Executive and Mayor.

Public forum – The Mātaatua Sports Trust and Sport Bay of Plenty approached council for in-principal support to investigate the installation of a basketball court at Whitikau reserve.

Ōpōtiki District Council Governance Structure 2025-2028 – the councillorshad an opportunity to consider the governance structure for the 20235-2028 triennium and make appointments such as Chair and Deputy Chair and appointments to internal and external Committees and Groups. You can find the full list of appointments on pages 44-57 of the agenda.

Consideration will be given to forming a Komiti Māori, with determination of this Committee to follow consultation with the Māori Ward Councillors and Iwi over the next 12 months.

Amendments to Standing Orders - That Council approves the legislative amendment to the current Standing Orders to include provision for members attending by audiovisual link to be counted as part of the meeting’s quorum.

Elected Member Remuneration - The Remuneration Authority sets a ‘pool’ of funding for each council to divide up based on the Governance Structure and additional responsibilities given to members. Cr Howe noted that this pool remains the same regardless of the number of councillors or roles and responsibilities (as there are more councillors under the new structure the pool must stretch further).

The funding pool for the current triennium is $341,533 and the minimum Councillor remuneration is $37,948. The adopted schedule was set as laid out in the table below and now it has been adopted it will be sent to the Remuneration Authority for their determination and gazetting.

Public excluded business – council confirmed in-committee meeting minutes from the September council meeting and August Risk and Assurance meeting.