Mackenzie District Council received a B rating in its first CouncilMARK™ report released today which shows a generally good standard of performance, with areas of improvement identified in one priority area. The Council views the grading and supporting comments in the report as a very useful tool for starting the discussion with their community on the changes needed for the future.Mackenzie District Council joins the Far North and Horowhenua District Councils as having received B ratings and is the nineteenth report to be released by the CouncilMARK™ local government excellence programme Independent Assessment Board. CouncilMARK™ reports are designed to give councils and communities an informed and independent view on how they are carrying out their role as councils, including on where they are excelling and areas for improvement.The reports and more information on CouncilMARK™ can be found here.Local Government New Zealand President Dave Cull says the B rating is a good result for the council and the report will be a useful guide for further improvement and a resource for the wider sector.“I congratulate Mackenzie District Council for showing leadership by joining the CouncilMARK™ excellence programme and on the completion of its first assessment,” Mr Cull says.With 19 assessments now complete and a further 10 scheduled for the coming months Mr Cull says he encourages more councils to join the programme during 2018.“CouncilMARK™ is the gold star assessment system for councils and communities and has been praised by many of those to have completed it so far, with both the assessment process itself and the final reports proving valuable,” he says.“Local government is committed to providing the best possible outcomes for our communities and doing this requires the sector to focus on delivering the best performance and value we can. LGNZ’s National Council strongly encourages all councils to put themselves forward to be assessed by 2020.”