At Thursday's council meeting, the progress the organisation had made in response to Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier's scathing assessment of the council was discussed.
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Boshier's report on the council, which was released last year, accused members of the executive leadership team of "manipulating" reports before making them public. He identified "serious concerns" about the council's leadership and its commitment to openness and transparency.
In 2018, the city council was also labelled the "most secretive council in the country" by the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union for initially refusing to reveal the cost of a touchscreen at Tūranga library.
At the meeting, city councillor Jake McLellan raised concerns over the city council's handling of the future of Red Bus.
Last month, former chief executive of the council-owned company, Paul McNoe, resigned the day after a meeting was held behind closed doors by the council about the bus company.
The day of his resignation he sent an email to staff claiming the council had recommended the potential sale of the company. No decision around the sale of the company has been made.
Said McLellan: "Issues like the Red Bus report are a clear example of where we could have done better, this is a report that has been communicated to hundreds of staff members, discussed in the media and yet we have released no details of it. Well, I don't think that is good enough."
City councillor Yani Johanson agreed with McLellan.
"We need to take responsibility at a governance level for being more open and transparent," he said.
Mayor Lianne Dalziel said she "resented" the comments made over the Red Bus saga.
"About Red Bus, it is not just about the holder of information, it is also about who holds the information and who should appropriately communicate with the staff of an organisation.
"In the Red Bus case it is crystal clear that there was more than one option on that was facing Red Bus and it was handled in a way that was as sensitive as it could be in the circumstances," she said.
"It wasn't our role to have a public discussion about the features of the circumstances that have led to a range of options being made available."
City councillor Sam MacDonald thought criticism towards the council's commitment to transparency was "a bit harsh".
"Sometimes we need to protect commercial integrity, there is a time and a place to release information, but let's not get carried away," he said.
In response to Boshier's report last year, the city council initiated an improvement plan to address his concerns. Of the 90 actions within the plan, 35 have been completed and 55 have either been initiated, planned or are ongoing.
