Straight from city council A personal view, by Councillor Steve Morris

Congratulations, Your Worship, on being chosen by your community to lead Tauranga City Council. I look forward to working with you as you bring positive leadership that our city needs.

Residents have placed their faith in you to bring Council together. They've elected you to lead a team of councillors, also appointed by the community, that represent different suburbs and different views. Sometimes those views will produce robust debate, as they should. I trust you will facilitate and encourage the diversity of opinion that is critical to local democracy.

Allow me to offer my observation of your new colleagues, there's the right mix of international, local, and small business experience around the table. Likewise, there are deep wells of community and local government knowledge to draw on.

However, their morale is low. The last 12 months have been bruising, but I know, as you lead by example, we'll make a great team going forward; a group that is focussed on our city and not on each other.

Many challenges are facing Tauranga, growth and rates rises have been inseparable, but this isn't sustainable moving forward.

Our city is strangled by a lack of Crown investment in highway interchanges on SH29 and SH2 that would release thousands of residential and industrial sections to market. You'll be lobbied furiously by developers, but never forget you owe as much to Gail, a retired pensioner from Gate Pa, as those with millions of dollars to gain from our decisions with her money.

Your success is our city's success. Let's get to it!