Andrew von Dadelszen Former Regional Councillor

The appointment of former Wellington City Council CEO Garry Poole as the new TCC chief executive is a huge coup for our city.

In his 15 years as Wellington's CEO, Garry crafted Wellington into what I would consider New Zealand's most vibrant city. While he will be leaving a city with divided (dysfunctional) councillors in Wellington, he could be going ‘from the frying pan to the fire'. His challenge will be to inspire collegiality within our local council, and with local government reform and TCC restructuring underway, it is great that we will have such a ‘wise head' to guide these processes.

Tauranga's outgoing temporary CEO Leigh Auton has certainly steadied the ship during his short term, including having just completed the first 32 redundancies in what will hopefully be a genuine rationalisation of our council bureaucracy. Speaking to Tauranga Te Papa Rotary last week, Leigh strongly advocated that we need bigger scale, especially with roading and water. He recognised that TCC has a demanding balance sheet, with high levels of debt, financed on the basic reliance of high levels of development growth. He noted that while Tauranga has lagged in growth recently, there are signs that our local economy is starting to slowly pick up, and he sees real positives in the proposed university campus, plus the positive progress towards a much-needed four star hotel.

Commenting specifically on local government reform, Leigh commented that scale was useful but that it was important not to get too big so that you take away community engagement. He said he saw the first step locally as the amalgamation of Tauranga City and Western Bay of Plenty District Council. Asked about the value of incorporating the regional council to form a unitary council, he was not quite so certain. He commented that the regional council does ensure ‘checks and balances' and believes that if we get rid of all regional councils within New Zealand, then we could well be reinstating them again with 20 years.

Leigh also advocated for local councils not to constrict commercial land, because Auckland is currently really constrained and this offers big potential for Tauranga to attract business here. He also commented on Tauranga's lost opportunity with the Rugby World Cup, saying that he was in Nelson at the time, and Nelson was just buzzing with RWC fever.

We will be sad to see Leigh go, but I am sure that with Garry Poole's arrival, Tauranga City will be in good hands. If you have a view on these or any other local government issues, I invite you to email me: andrew@vond.co.nz or visit www.vond.co.nz