The organisation's head office is located at Barkes Corner in Tauranga.  The Barkes Corner office is supported by libraries and service centres located at Waihi Beach, Katikati, Omokoroa and Te Puke.

The Council is proud to have been recognised as one of the top performing organisations in the country by being chosen to receive a silver award by the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation in 2009.

Only four local authorities have ever made the silver level Business Excellence grade and Western Bay is the first local authority in the history of the awards to have achieved silver as a first-time entrant.

The Business Excellence Awards are administered by the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation and are based on an international criteria and scoring system, plus a rigorous four-step assessment process.

They are the only awards in New Zealand that are fully aligned to the internationally respected US Baldridge criteria and set such a high benchmark that only three gold awards have been presented in New Zealand in the past 14 years.

Council's operational structure includes four groups.

A group manager is responsible for day-to-day management of each operational group.  Each group manager reports to the Chief Executive Officer who has overall responsibility for managing Council.

Glenn Snelgrove, Chief Executive Officer
Gary Allis, Group Manager Engineering Services
Steve Hill, Group Manager Customer Services
Miriam Taris, Group Manager Corporate & Planning Services.

Who is responsible for what within each operational group?

Chief Executive's Group - responsible for:

• Human Resources
• Corporate Communications
• Executive Assistance to Chief Executive and Mayor

Engineering Services - responsible for:

• Reserves and Facilities (including cemeteries, public toilets)
• Transportation
• Utilities (wastewater, stormwater, potable water, solid waste)
• Emergency Management

Customer Services - responsible for:

• Customer Services - including the District's four library and service centres 
• Governance
• Resource Management Policy
• Health and Safety
• Building Services
• Animal Services
• Compliance and Parking Services
• Resource Consents

Corporate and Planning Services - responsible for:

• Finance
• Information Technology
• Policy and Strategy
• Community Development