Andrew von Dadelszen Regional Councillor envbop.govt.nz

The local body elections are over and I lost my regional council seat – damn. I believe that the region in general and Tauranga City ratepayers in particular, will be much worse off for that result.

The truth is I can't do anything about it - so it is onward and upward. I have dusted off my CV, but again the reality is that my chances of substantive employment probably lie in Auckland rather than Tauranga. That is just a fact of life. Tauranga is growing into a vibrant, exciting city, but opportunities in this market remain limited.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the 11,500 voters who gave me their support. I take solace in the fact that I polled higher than the ‘at large' Tauranga city councillors. Many ask whether I will be back in three years. The reality is that it depends on where I go to next with my employment in the intervening three years. I will keep my options open, but you can be sure that I will be watching our regional council's progress over the next three years to ensure the step change we achieved over the past six years continues.

When Bill Bayfield was employed nearly five years ago, I had just read Jim Collins' bestseller, ‘Good to Great'. I told him that this was his challenge. Environment Bay of Plenty (as it was then named), was doing many things right, but there was far too much fat in the system, management were very siloed, and the organisation had a reputation as a good planner but was not very action-orientated. Bill answered that challenge, and the silos have gone. We now have a much more action-orientated organisation. However in my opinion, your regional council still has a long way to go before it can be called ‘great'. I think it can get there, but it is going to take a lot of boldness and vision.

I was pleased to see last week that John Cronin retained the chair, albeit once again on a 7-6 vote.

John had a tough last three years, holding a council together that had been fractured from the headquarters shift from Whakatane issue.

We had the potential to be as dysfunctional as Tauranga City Council was last triennium, and one shouldn't under-estimate the chairmanship skills that held us together. I couldn't believe that the ruthlessly ambitious Jane Nees would consider offering the deputy chairman's position to Eastern Bay Maori representative Tiipene Marr. No disrespect to Tiipene, who has improved remarkably as a councillor over the past six years, but he just would not made a credible deputy chairman.

Jane has never hesitated in pushing her own self interest, so I wasn't surprised by her move. Anyway – all's well that ends well.

If you have a view on these or any other local government issues, I invite you to email me.

Email: andrew@vond.co.nz