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Code of conduct

Contents | Summary | Introduction | Roles and responsibilities | Relationships and behaviours | Compliance and review | Appendix to the code

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Summary

Section 39 of the Local Government Act 2002 requires that council should ensure that the expected conduct of its members is clear and understood by elected representatives and the community.

 Clause 15 of Schedule 7 of the Local Government Act requires the council to adopt a code of conduct and set out understandings and expectations about the manner in which the mayor and councillors may conduct themselves. This includes behaviour to each other, staff and the public.

 It also requires a general explanation of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act and other statutes applying to the mayor and councillors specifically.

 The Auckland City code of Conduct includes provisions relation to:

1. Agreed statements of roles and responsibilities for all Councillors and specifically for the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Committee Chairs.
2. Agreed general principles of conduct, including relationships with staff, the community, contact with media and dealing with confidential information.
3. Specific codes of Conduct for specific circumstances, eg

• conflicts of interest
• claims for expenses
• influencing officers for personal, family or business interests
• use of council resources for personal business, soliciting gifts and a policy for receiving gifts over a dollar value set by the council

There are two types of breaches of the code of conduct:

1. Statutory

   A breach of the Local Authorities (Members Interests) Act, criminal offence by a member relating their role as an elected member, or a breach where council suffers financial loss, which may be reported on by the auditor general.

   Penalties for these breaches are set out in the relevant legislation.

2. Non-statutory

   A breach of the non-statutory section of the code of compliance will be investigated by the Assessors and Audit Sub-Committee.

    The council, on receiving a report from that sub-committee, may censure a member, remove that member from a committee or other representative type appointment, or dismiss that member as the deputy mayor or committee chair if applicable.

The code of conduct will be submitted for review following each triennial election.