Petitions
A petition is an opportunity to bring Councils attention to a topic that falls within the terms of reference of Council or the Council Committee it is presented to.
Western Bay of Plenty District Council's requirements for petitions are found in Standing Order 17 of our Standing Orders.
Delivering a Petition
Petitions can be hand delivered, posted or emailed to council. Please note the five working day requirement to receive a petition before a meeting is based on the time council receives the petition. Please ensure you clearly state which Council or committee meeting you wish the petition to be received at and provide contact details for our staff to get in touch with you. Below is our postal address or you can email it through to our Governance Services team.
Postal Address: 1484 Cameron Road, Barkes Corner, Tauranga 3112.
Email Address: governanceservices@westernbay.govt.nz
See Council's Meeting Calendar for all meeting details.
Petition Requirements
The Chief Executive will assess the petition before it is received by Council or one of the Council Committees.
A petition must meet the following requirements:
- Be within the Council or Committee's Terms of Reference;
- contain at least 20 signatures;
- not be longer than 150 words;
- be received by the Chief Executive at least five working days before the meeting at which it is to be presented;
- not contain disrespectful, offensive, malicious, inaccurate or misleading statements; and
- be written in English, or te reo Māori.
The Chair may waive the time requirement for receiving a petition prior to a meeting, and petitioners presenting in te reo Māori or sign language must advise the Chief Executive to allow translation services to be arranged.
Rules for Signatures
Petition rules for signatures are:
- every page with signatures must have the full petition wording on it, this shows that people know what they are signing
- signatures must include the person’s full name alongside their signature
- in the case of an electronic petition, the signatory must provide their email address in place of their signature
- unless incapacitated, a person must sign a petition personally (a person signing on behalf of a person incapacitated must state this fact beside the signature)
- signatures must be original (not photocopied, faxed, scanned, pasted, or otherwise transferred onto sheets of the petition).
Presenting a Petition
Once all the requirements are met, a petition is placed on the agenda for the next Council or Committee meeting. Typically, petitions are received early in the meeting.
When presenting to Council or a committee, petitioners are allowed a total of five minutes speaking time. The Chairperson of the meeting may terminate the presentation if the petitioner is being disrespectful, offensive, or making malicious statements.
Elected members can present petitions to Council; however, they must confine themselves to only presenting the petition, the petition's statement, and the number of signatures.
Privacy
Petitions are presented at a Council meeting and therefore become public information. The name of the principal petitioner and the names and signatures of those who sign the petition will be publicly available.
If provided, contact details of the signatories, such as address, telephone numbers and email addresses will be withheld and not made publicly available.
Any contact details provided by the principal petitioner will be withheld from the public if requested.
