Alex Parmley, in a written reply to the Oamaru Mail, said the fact the District Plan Review Subcommittee had to pore over unpassed minutes from seven meetings dating back to November 2023, on two occasions in the past week, was not a big concern.
"The minutes are important but do not override other responsibilities, such as the health and safety of staff and customers," Mr Parmley said in a written reply.
The Mail asked if the Waitaki public could be confident important discussion action points were not being lost; that council was effectively meeting its statutory obligations.
In the past few months, councillors have voiced concern at governance reports being received as late as 5am on the day of a meeting.
The lack of minutes has also been a concern.
Blank "place holder" reports also feature in meeting agendas with the flagged reports not always available until at or after the meeting.
Mr Parmley has told elected representatives resources are stretched due to the council "transformation".
The Mail has several times found agendas unavailable by the requisite 48 hours before the meeting.
Mayor Gary Kircher strongly articulated concern about the delays in an interview with the Mail in October.
It came after the council had passed a series of meeting minutes dating back to March.
The Mail understands his comments "things could be better" caused internal ructions.
In the latest instance, on November 26, Cr John McCone raised the issue again.
"There’s no minutes for our last meeting. Is there a reason for that please?
"I think we need a process that we can actually follow.
"As far as I’m concerned it’s a record of what we have and haven’t done — and there is none here this time," Cr McCone said.
Mr Parmley again proffered "capacity constraints".
He noted a particular focus on in the District Plan Review. "That is a priority at the moment."
Two new governance team members would soon help fix that, Mr Parmley said.
A report to the district plan review last week said one of the meetings last year had been adjourned and reconvened several times before it concluded on the sixth occasion.
While some subcommittee recommendations were referred to full council meetings along the way, "most recommendations from the [subcommittee] meetings have been held up," the report said.
After last week’s subcommittee meeting, chairman Jim Thomson said district plan minutes had to be ratified by the end of this year if council were to notify its proposed district plan.
He said doing that was complex with "multiple chapters" and 70-plus maps to keep track of.
"It’s very hard, because the only other way is to go back and watch 30 hours of You-tube footage."
Cr Thomson referred further questions to the chief executive.
Mr Parmley said the council had aimed to notify the district plan by the end of 2023.
It had gone through 2024 "which we had not planned for".
This "coincided" with council being "short on resources" as it enacted internal change including to its governance administration.
"We are a small organisation ... we have been stretched by the changes and unplanned for additional work.
"We have also been unable to recruit to the vacancies within this area."
Mr Parmley said the legal nature of the district plan meant any minuted change needed "even more precision than normal".
This included cross-referencing to changes "to ensure accuracy".
"The minutes of the sub-committee are more complex and time-consuming to produce than a council or subcommittee meeting and require the engagement of people outside of the governance support function."
He did not mention the legal nature of other council business.
Mr Parmley did defend council’s timeliness.
"Agendas for council, committee and subcommittee meetings have been published on or before the statutory deadlines," he said.
One exception was a meeting last April when the agenda was a day late.
Mr Parmley said he was ultimately responsible as the only employee of elected members "for all operational matters".
That included minutes.
"Council has confirmed that the chief executive’s No1 priority is transformation of the council," he said.
