Matt Cowley Tauranga City Councillor

With next year's council election campaign starting in July 2016, the current era of elected members have just nine exciting months of productivity left to deliver results for the city. This week we agreed on council's final set of policies and strategies for this term.

We have decided that our last set of policies will include how we will embrace digital technology, set a spatial plan for our city centre, reviewing the our arts and culture strategy and reassess how we manage the city's rubbish. But there is still something missing, something that brings all of our activities together. This council inherited a lot of strategies that competed with each other, as opposed to complementing each other.

I believe the best gift for a new council would be a strong platform so they can develop a clear direction next term. Seven new elected members received a hospital pass with a leaky building, vulnerable ICT systems, and inadequate stormwater infrastructure.

We've also spent a lot of time learning about the $3 billion business while making urgent decisions to address a massive growth spurt. Being deputy chair of Council's Strategy Committee, I'm pleased this council has reduced and simplified the number of policies and strategies that were shackling our operations.

We also have a few minor operational policies that we need to tweak to ensure we're working at optimum levels. It's fair to say we have a busy workload for the next nine months.

My goal is to ensure we have built a great platform for the next set of elected members to make great decisions. Feel free to email me your thoughts (matt.cowley@tauranga.govt.nz), call/text me on 0276989548, and follow me at www.facebook.com/a.younger.voice.