Youth councils > Get your voice heard in your community > Speak to a Councillor

Speak to a Councillor

The bosses of your local council, that is, the mayor and the councilors hold public meetings regularly and anyone can attend these unless there is some real sensitive issue being discussed.

You can also speak to community board and council committee meetings.

Speaking at council meetings is one way for you to have your say on community issues to the Mayor and Councillors. A reporter from your local newspaper will probably be at the council meeting as well which can be great for getting your issue out there. Check out the Aotearoa Youth Voices Guide to doing a media interview beforehand .

Get prepared

Since anyone can attend a public meeting, go and sit in a meeting first to get a feel of it before you have to stand up and speak at one. Council meetings are pretty formal things to go to and they follow formal meeting procedures with a Chairperson managing the whole thing.

Ask the council to give you some info about the process of the meeting and any rules you need to know about (like when is it your turn and how to speak to councillors). The basic rule is to be respectful, clear and to the point.

Most councillors will be blown away by a young person keen to rock up to a meeting and tell them their thoughts.  

You will probably get a max of 5 minutes – but this is actually heaps of time to get your ideas across in.

You can also give them written information (a copy for each councillor).

When and where
The meetings get advertised in the public notices of your local newspaper (which is in the back with the job section and things for sale) and sometimes on a council website.

Contact a Councillor or Community Board Member directly
Even if you decide to present to a meeting, it can be a good idea to run your idea past a councillor or community board member as well.

Find out which councillor might be into your idea or on your side. For example, if you want a youth centre in your town, find out who were the councillors who supported other youth projects happening and talk to them. Community Board members are also great people to talk with as well ‘because they don’t have to agree with the council and are open to lots of different ideas.

Lots of council websites give councillors and community board members email addresses. Emailing is often better than phoning ‘because you can spend time preparing exactly what it is you want to say and then if they ask any questions, you don’t have to say something right then either!

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