Being an elected member for Auckland Council is a privilege. But it also comes with responsibilities and we're remunerated for our time. We're not volunteers and it's reasonable to expect that we turn up to do our job.
As part of providing transparency, Auckland Council publishes the attendance for elected members at business meetings and workshops. For Local Boards, these are published every quarter and available online for the whole term.
For some reason, Auckland Council reports and publishes this information differently for the Governing Body (Mayor and Councillor) with only the past 3 months showing. There also appears to be some gaps in the data, so I've asked for the information for the full term.
In the meantime, I've collated the Howick Local Board data for the last term (January 2023 to June 2025). Over this period we had a total of 36 business meetings and 92 workshops.
Absences may be due to leave, illness, bereavement or attending other council business - we don't record the reasons for members being away, you'd need to ask them. We also don't record any difference between online or in-person attendance - I've asked staff if we can do this but I'm told it's not current practice.
You'll note I was absent for two workshops - for one (May 2023) I was on leave (for my partners significant birthday) and another I was at the Governing Body trying to advocate for our community. I also attended one workshop online as I was sick, and we've had two workshops entirely online due to technology issues. Otherwise I have been present in the room for every workshop and business meeting this term.
You can see more (including the source data, other local boards and councillors) on the Auckland Council website: https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/about-auckland-council/performance-transparency/Pages/attendance-governing-body-meetings.aspx