At this time last year, potential TCDC Mayors, Councillors, and Community Board Members were out and about, attending meetings and making their case for your support at the ballot box.
The common themes were:
• Openness and Transparency
• Empowered Communities
• Better Community Engagement
• Rates Control
• and a range of other topics.
It is fair to say that the 26/27 rates increase was kept below 4%, achieved through a combination of tightening the belt (and there is a lot more space to do that) in expenditure, sweating the life of assets and making significant changes to the depreciation rules.
I agree with the depreciation treatment. In my mind, all capital works should be loan-funded over the life of the asset, and when that asset is due for replacement, a new project is put on the table and again loan-funded.
To claim interest and depreciation is double dipping. We might ask where the depreciation is for the Thames swimming pool. Had we kept the depreciation on an asset worth, say, $3M and depreciated that asset over 30 years, there should be approximately $2.7M plus interest sitting in an account somewhere.
On the basis that a replacement outdoor pool was to cost, let’s say $8M, then there is only $5M to find by way of external and Council funding. This is not the case. And now, how do we fix the Thames pool? We change the rules. We go from local funding to a District Policy with a good percentage of that funding being provided by the District.
Who remembers the Eastern Seaboard Councillors and candidates saying “there will be NO funding from us. This is a Thames issue and not a District issue”?
Do you know what the rating impact on this decision might be?
Thankfully, the Government has advised that from 2029, rate increases will be capped at 2-4%. This may well change some of this thinking.
In a recent Facebook post regarding the change to our rating model, a move from Land Value (LV) to Capital Value (CV), I responded with a degree of vitriol. Deputy Mayor Grant actively supported the move from LV to CV.
I provided the rates assessments for some 20 randomly selected Whitianga properties where, in each instance, the rates would increase by 10% or more. I was told I was wrong. Well, guess what: for most, the rates have gone up 10% or more!
So, that is bad.
Water meters
How about water meters? TCDC received approximately $5M from the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF). The money was to be used for shovel-ready infrastructure projects. I strongly supported installing water meters in Whitianga because empirical evidence showed meters saved approximately 20% on usage
– a good way to help what was at the time a water crisis in our town.
This proved to be the case. Once the water meters were installed, our usage dropped. I have spoken with our Deputy Mayor Grant to say that as a result of the water meter success, we would have a shortfall in our water revenue. This is based on the fact that if we have, say 5000 properties paying a fixed charge of approximately $450 pa which reduces by about 50% (for many homeowners the potable/drinking water charge went from $450 pa to $250 – $300 pa) and would have left a shortfall of close to $1M pa. Again, I was told this is not the case.
So, what happened? Those without meters picked up the difference, and many homeowners saw their water rates increase from $450 pa to $800-$1800 pa after the actual usage rate was increased.
Community Empowerment
Led by Mayor Revell and Deputy Grant, who both spouted support for this, Council signed away the Terms of Reference and adopted the Accord. In doing so, they neutered Community Boards.
Maori Wards
A unilateral decision only to be overturned by way of a binding referendum.
For TCDC to squander money on consultation; for Councillors to claim they have listened to the community and then vote against the community is, in my words, sheer HYPOCRISY.
So, what is the problem?
The problem is a lack of Leadership. From the outside, it would appear that the elected arm and staff work in vacuums.
If my information is correct, middle management and junior staff, rarely, if ever, see the CE, senior staff, or the Mayor. In fact, there would appear to be a clear divide between the staff and elected arm.
The buzz statement amongst Council staff these days seems to be ‘I feel unsafe.’
It seems we have created an industry around this statement.
I say harden up, buttercups. The one way to feel safe is to know your stuff and to have confidence in your peers.
A solution
Let’s take a look at the 2010 Leach-led Council – an all-but-one new Council and a Mayor with a clear vision and objectives; – a Mayor who took his elected representatives on the same journey. The Mayor and Council set the agenda. Staff provided support as outlined in S42 of the Local Government Act 2002 – that is: ‘Provide Accurate, timely, and unbiased advice’.
Roles and responsibilities were assigned to Chairs, Committees and Community Boards.
The elected arm and staff worked together.
Communities were empowered and did have budgets. Stuff got done.
So, what was different on Glenn’s watch? Our elected members, particularly Chairs, had direct access to key staff. This helped us understand the issues and options for resolution. The Mayor and CE’s had regular contact with all elected members and staff at all levels.
In Mercury Bay, the Area Manager, Community Board Chair and Councillors met informally every second Friday (thanks to my colleague and good friend Murray McLean) to review local issues, swap notes on meetings that we had had, consider items for the pending Order Papers and generally keep our fingers on the pulse. At the end of these informal meetings, a tipple or two could be had.. Mercury Bay was the benchmark for other communities during this time.
From time to time, we would have small but informal functions attended by our elected arm and staff at both a Council and Community Board level. Murray would often host a post-Community Board gathering at his place, attended by staff and Board members.
Senior staff would often seek us out when in town to catch up. How are your families? How is work? How can I help?
In my military terms, we were developing Esprit de Corp.
Maybe the fact that we had Councillors with RMA and Liquor Licencing accreditations, and that many RMA and Liquor Licencing matters were managed in-house, enabled us to communicate with staff regularly and, of course, save the Council External Commissioners’ fees.
Suggestions to get TCDC functional again:
1. The Mayor and CE need to hold hands and get on the same page
2. We need to rid ourselves of the ‘we’ and ‘they’.
3. We need to consider holding 2 or 3 one-day workshops where all staff attend one of the workshops and all elected members plus the CE attend all workshops
4. At these workshops the topic should be Teamwork and a better way to manage.
5. Hire the DVD ‘THE GOYA EFFECT” (Get off your …)
6. Find out what people like about their jobs and what they don’t like
7. Then workshop ‘How to make a better working environment’
8. With this done, the CE and Mayor should make a point of making contact with as many people in the TCDC workforce as possible. Where possible – on the job.
9. Practice the GOYA effect and watch the Council grow.
How would we fund these workshops?
My suggestion: cancel the external Audit and Risk Committee Chair’s contract. Councillor Rasmussen, a practising lawyer, is well qualified to chair the Audit and Risk Committee. We can spend the significant savings on rebuilding the team.
Summarising –
• TCDC lacks Leadership
• TCDC has too many square pegs in round holes
• Successful managers delegate and review
• The solution is simple – GOYA.
Some reading for those interested
I suggest:
• From Third World to First World by Lee Kwan Yew – a better book on leadership will be hard to find – this is the bench mark for Leadership.
• The Combat Medic by Dr Dan Pronk – a high-end combat/SAS Doctor with multiple Afghanistan deployments. If you want to understand ‘unsafe’ and leadership, read this.
