Auckland Council : Applications invited for independent hearing commissioners

Applications are invited from qualified people to join Auckland Council’s pool of independent hearing commissioners.

A current “Making Good Decisions” accreditation by the Ministry for the Environment is preferred, and will be essential from 12 September 2014, along with skills in general planning or resource management law.

Applications close on 14 March 2014 for positions starting 1 June 2014 for a three year term, reviewable annually.

The council currently has contracts with about 60 independent commissioners and these contracts are due to expire on 31 May 2014.  Under this review, the council is seeking to appoint about 40-50 independent commissioners.

Independent commissioners will sit as panel members, some as chairpersons.

They will sit on hearings for such purposes as resource consents, Section 357 objections, bylaw dispensations, reserve management plans, plan changes, special consultative procedures and notices of requirement.

Expertise in one or more of the following is required:

• planning
• resource management law
• engineering (transport and infrastructure)
• landscape architecture
• ecology, biodiversity and environmental management
• freshwater management
• the Treaty of Waitangi and kaupapa Maori
• community
• coastal management
• heritage and conservation management
• urban design
• air quality
• rural planning and land management
• waste management

Hearings Committee chair Councillor Linda Cooper said the council had been well served by independent commissioners in the first term. The opportunity now arose to review and refresh the pool as the council moved forward under the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan and Resource Management Act changes.

“We are entering a new planning era providing great prospects for skilled professionals and I’m sure that will be reflected in the quality of the applicants,” she added.

Two selection panels, each comprising senior managers from the council’s Democracy Services and Regional and Local Planning departments and a member of the Independent Maori Statutory Board, or person nominated by the IMSB, will present a list of preferred candidates to the Hearings Committee in May 2014.

Applicants should apply via www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/careers including Curriculum Vitae, a copy of their accreditation from the Ministry for the Environment, and, if they wish to be considered for a chairperson role, an example of a recent decision they have written.

Further information is available from Elizabeth McKenzie on 09 307 7557.

Ends

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Sharne Parsons, senior media advisor, Auckland Council

Ph. 021 933 644