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Privacy Statement

Your privacy is important to Rangitīkei District Council.

This privacy statement covers our collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information. It has been prepared in accordance with our obligations and your rights, as set out in the Privacy Act 2020.

At times we may amend the statement in response to developments in our services or privacy best practice.

If you have any queries or concerns about this Privacy Statement or personal data Rangitīkei District Council has collected we are happy to respond or investigate. Please contact us using one of the methods below:

Attention to: Rangitīkei District Council Privacy Officer

For more detailed information about our obligations and your rights under the Privacy Act, you can refer to the Privacy Commissioner's Website or call the Privacy Commissioner’s enquiry line: 0800 803 909.

The personal information we collect may include your name, date of birth, physical address, postal address, email address, telephone numbers and gender. It may also include information on your use of our services or facilities and any other information provided by you through your communications with us.

We may collect personal information about you when you or someone acting on your behalf provides information to us directly. For example when you:

  • Apply for employment with us
  • Correspond with us in person, by letter, phone, text, email, instant message, or other means of electronic communication
  • Complete and submit forms or applications for consents, licences, housing, approvals, permits, funding or other authorisations
  • Use any of our services or facilities, including signing up for and using our online services and apps, such as online payment services, or newsletters (including our e-newsletter), or service updates
  • Prepare and submit a written submission, request, or other feedback in relation to consents, licenses, approvals, permits, funding, other authorisations, or in relation to any form of draft or proposed plan, policy, bylaw or other document
  • Follow or post comments in the response / comments sections on social media (e.g.: Facebook).

We may monitor and record phone calls made to us or by us for quality control and/or staff training purposes. If a call is to be monitored and recorded, you will be informed at the time of the call.

We may collect person all information about you from other organisations, entities or persons, such as:

  • Our suppliers which include organisations such as Land Information New Zealand, QV, solicitors / conveyancers, the NZ Police, credit reporting agencies, the Electoral Commission and an organisation who undertakes an election or by-election on our behalf, and entitles and persons where you have expressly authorised them to provide us with information.

CCTV

Where council is using CCTV & IP Video Individual cameras, recording devices, the following types of cameras could be used:

  • Standard cameras - For most camera locations, a standard camera should be capable of at least 2-megapixel imagery, include Pan, Tilt and Zoom capability (“PTZ”), and have infrared capability (for night-time surveillance).
  • ANPR (Automatic number-plate recognition) cameras - ANPR may be used in addition to, or instead of, a standard camera in any location, provided installation and ongoing operational costs can be met. ANPR cameras would usually be utilised for areas of high traffic inflow. Areas such as, entrances and exits into suburbs/towns, could be prioritised for ANPR cameras.

Information collected could include the following:

  • Video and still footage
  • Number plates (from Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras)
  • Time and date
  • A catalogue of notable events in recorded footage (summary of event, location, date, and time)

Signs will clearly display a message to indicate that surveillance cameras are in operation (or a similar message) and be of a size and style that makes them readily visible to people entering the area. Cameras will not be used or cover private areas within public spaces and facilities (e.g., changing rooms) and coverage will not be directed at private property except where it cannot be avoided as part of a wide-angle or long shot while panning past.


Body-worn Cameras

Wearable cameras will be worn by authorised staff members exercising their powers under legislation and/or Council bylaws and may be used in public places and on private property.

  • The authorised staff member will set the device to record whenever s/he exercises those powers
  • Where practicable the authorised staff member will advise prior to activating the camera, that the camera is being activated, or as soon as possible after activating it.
  • The authorised staff member must keep the camera on his/her person so it records only what s/he can hear and/or see
  • An authorised staff member may turn off the wearable camera if s/he considers this will reduce the risk of a conflict that may result in physical or emotional harm to the staff member.

Council will ensure that the operation of Security and Body Worn Cameras does not unreasonably intrude on the privacy of individuals. Camera footage will only be held for the reasons identified above, in line with relevant legislation including the NZ Privacy Act 1993.


Drones

Drones will be used in accordance with Civil Aviation Authority’s rules and guidance, and data is processed in accordance with the Council’s Surveillance Camera Management Policy. Drone operations will be advertised where practicable and signage placed at the site being captured.


Live streaming of Council meetings

In the interest of making our decision-making process transparent and accessible, most public Council meetings are broadcast live online (via our Facebook page) and also made available on our website. You will know which meetings are being filmed as there will be a sign clearly stating this on Facebook. Most of the filming will cover elected members as they speak and debate at the meeting, however, the filming may also include shots of the public in the background and of anyone speaking at a public forum.

In some instances, your personal information may be transferred, and held, by service providers in New Zealand and overseas (for example, where it is stored using a cloud-based service).

Responses to online forms

When you respond to an online form on our site, we hold any information you have entered into these forms. This information is used to respond to
issues you raise, correct information we hold, provide a service to you, or to inform decision making and is shared with Rangitīkei District Council officers and any third parties needed to provide a service to you.

Online submission forms for consultations

All submissions (including name, but not contact details) may be provided in their entirety to elected members and made available to the public at our office and on our website. Personal information (including contact details) will also be used for the administration of the consultation process including informing you of the outcome of the consultation. All information collected will be held by Rangitīkei District Council, with submitters having the right to access and correct personal information.

In accordance with the Local Government Rating Act (2020), if you own or purchase property within the Rangitīkei District, your personal information including your name and postal address will be included in Council’s Rating Information Database (RID).

A full version of the RID, including personal details of property owners*, is available for inspection at the Offices of Rangitīkei District Council located at 46 High Street Marton. The online (website) version of the RID includes property details (such as valuation number, location and annual rates) but does not include the personal information of property owners.

*If you do not want your personal details (name and postal address) to be included in the full public version of the RID available for inspection, you may request that your personal information is withheld by emailing rates@rangitikei.govt.nz or phoning 06 327 0099. You will have the opportunity to opt out when your first annual rates instalment is issued or when you purchase a property. You may also make this request at any time, even if your details are already included in the public RID.

Information collected

If you visit our website, we may collect information about your visit to help us improve this website. This information is aggregated and doesn't identify you personally. It includes:

  • your IP address
  • the search terms you used
  • the pages you accessed on our site and the links you clicked on
  • the date and time you visited the site
  • the referring site (if any) through which you clicked through to this site
  • your operating system (e.g. Windows 10, Mac Mojave)
  • the type of web browser you use (e.g. Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari)
  • other things like your screen resolution and the language setting of your browser.

Use of statistical information

The information referred to above will be viewable by website administrators and certain other Rangitīkei District Council staff. It may also be shared with other councils.

Tools and cookies on our website

We use technologies, such as cookies, to customise content and advertising, to provide social media features and to analyse traffic to the site. We also share information about your use of our site with our trusted social media, advertising and analytics partners.

Google Tag Manager

We use Google Tag Manager to manage tags on this website. Google Tag Manager is a service provided by Google and itself includes a cookie. You can view Google’s privacy policy.

Google Analytics

www.rangitikei.govt.nz uses Google Analytics to measure which pages on our site attract the most interest and to inform our overall communications and engagement strategy to ensure we are engaging with a variety of different users. Google may use the data collected to contextualise and personalise the ads of its own advertising network.

If you would like to opt-out of any of Google Analytics function visit these currently available opt-outs for the web.

The personal information we collect from you, or someone acting on your behalf, may be used for any of the following purposes:

  • To provide you with services or facilities.
  • To confirm your identity – this is to avoid inappropriate release or use of your information.
  • To respond to correspondence or provide you with information you have requested.
  • To process any consent, licence, approval, permit, or other authorisation for which you have applied.
  • To process your application to use or register for any of our services or facilities, including our online services and to process payments received or made by the Council.
  • To respond to your requests, enquiries, feedback, or for customer care related activities.
  • To provide you with information about our events, news, services, or facilities we consider may be of interest to you.
  • To comply with relevant laws and regulations.
  • To carry out activities connected with the running of our business or operations such as personnel training or testing and maintenance of computer and other systems.
  • For any specific purpose that we notify you of at the time your personal information is collected.
  • For general administrative and business purposes.
  • Through participation assist us in analysing, and further developing and improving our products and services.

We take reasonable steps to make sure personal information is:

  • Protected against loss, damage, misuse and unauthorised access – we give restricted access to individuals who need personal information to help us perform our duties and obligations
  • Accurate, up to date, complete, relevant and not misleading.

We may disclose personal information about you to:

  • any person engaged by the Council to provide products or services to you on our behalf, where your personal information is necessary for the provision of those products or services
  • a third party, if we are required to do so under laws or regulations, or in the course of legal proceedings or other investigations. This may include sharing CCTV footage with the New Zealand Police or other public sector agencies where criminal activity is reported or suspected. The New Zealand Police may also access live feeds from certain CCTV cameras from time to time for law enforcement, investigation, and emergency response purposes
  • any person you authorise us to disclose your personal information to
  • any person, if that information is publicly available, e.g. information held on property files or the rating information database
  • Councillors and the public when you make a submission in relation to bylaws, annual plans, district or regional plans, or draft or proposed policies. Submissions are made available in full (including the submitter’s name and contact details) on our website and at our main office.

If you do not provide us with all of the personal information about you that we request from you, we may not be able to adequately respond to your correspondence, process any applications you have submitted, provide the services or facilities you have requested, process payments, or otherwise deal with any requests or enquiries you have submitted.

We may retain all personal information we collect (on both our active systems and our archive systems) for as long as administratively necessary, in accordance with the Council’s information and disposal schedule.

The Public Records Act 2005 requires us to retain “protected records” indefinitely. In some circumstances, your personal information may be included within a protected record, including submissions you make in relation to bylaws, annual plans, and district or regional planning instruments.

You may request confirmation of whether or not we hold any personal information about you, and you may request access to your personal information that we hold by emailing us at info@rangitikei.govt.nz or via the Privacy Commissioner’s 'About Me' tool. Once we have verified your identity, we will provide you with confirmation and access, unless one of the grounds for refusal set out in the Privacy Act applies.

You may request that the personal information we hold about you be corrected by emailing us at info@rangitikei.govt.nz. If we agree that your personal information is to be corrected, we will do so and we will also provide you with an amended record, if requested.

Your rights of access to and correction of any personal information we hold about you are subject to the procedures set out in the Privacy Act.