A decade of service
He used to wake up in a cold sweat over the city council’s finances. Retiring chief executive Paddy Clifford reflects on his challenges, achievements and the city he grew to love. Janine Rankin reports.
Palmerston North’s retiring city council chief executive Paddy Clifford nearly didn’t make it to the city 10 years ago.
The former Hurunui District Council chief executive had several job options, and chose a different one, initially turning down the Palmerston North offer.
But former mayor Heather Tanguay was not prepared to take ‘‘no’’ for an answer.
Within an hour of hearing of his refusal, she was on the phone offering a weekend’s hospitality so she could show Clifford and his wife Maureen what they would be missing. They accepted the invitation. ‘‘She was really nice. She showed us around and made us welcome.’’
And she changed their minds. Clifford went back to the South Island and turned down the opposition job offer, and said ‘‘yes’’ to Palmerston North.
‘‘And we’re really pleased we did. The city has grown on us.’’
But that feeling did not happen straight away.
Within weeks of his arrival, mayor and hostess Tanguay was dumped by voters in the local government elections in favour of Jono Naylor.
Then Clifford took a look at the books and found they were in a horrible state.
‘‘I just could not get my arms around the finances.’’
The council had been spending beyond its means, merrily racking up debt to cover not just capital spending, but its operating losses as well.
The debt stood at $156 million, and nothing had been paid off the principal for 14 years.
Within months, Clifford and Naylor had to face the public, confessing to a $6m overspend for the year, and seeking an 11 per cent rates rise at a time when inflation was around 3.2 per cent.
‘‘I had never done anything like that. I was prepared to hang for it.’’ That was just the big picture. Clifford could not get an understanding of what had gone wrong below the surface.
‘‘The computer system did not work and the financial reports that came out of it were unreliable.’’ It was a nightmare. ‘‘I used to wake up at night in a cold sweat.
‘‘For those first two years, I worked seven days a week.
‘‘The ship was on a list and we had to get it back on an even keel.’’
Ten years on, Clifford was proud, but sharing the credit for a huge turnaround in financial management and performance.
‘‘We have the power to take money away from people without their willingness and with that comes great responsibility,’’ he told the Palmerston North Lunch Club.
Now routinely returning annual surpluses and with a debtrepayment plan that has brought the principal down to about $100m, the council holds an AA credit rating from Standard and Poor’s.
You can’t get better than that in local government.
While the dollars mattered, Clifford has been more than a numbers man.
An Irishman, Clifford grew up in a County Limerick police house until the family moved to London, where the children made the streets their playground.
He worked in local government, starting in Westminster, where he met his wife Maureen, and they had three sons.
Thirty years ago, the family made a break for New Zealand, first moving to Invercargill and then to Hurunui in 1994.
His rich background in local government and a firm belief in the importance of local democracy stood him in good stead in Palmerston North, which appealed to him as a city.
He found it tolerant, multicultural and reminiscent of ‘‘home’’.
Speakers at his farewell told of his deep respect for people, and the way he led by example in dealing with staff, the mayor and councillors, other councils and the public.
Sometimes, to outsiders, it might have looked like relationships were awkward. Like, for example, when he made his stand against Horizons Regional Council’s ‘‘sword of Damocles’’ hanging over the city council when it issued an abatement notice to stop polluting the Manawatu River.
‘‘It was a difficult time. But I said to [Horizons chief executive] Michael Mccartney that even though we had to take those different sides, we could talk in a civil way and with mutual respect.’’
Another potential friction was with Manawatu District Council.
But rather than embark on a controversial proposal for amalgamation, the two councils worked together, mutually promoting the boundary change that took effect in 2012.
Clifford said the city council’s relationships with other councils throughout the region were now strong, something that did not happen in every region.
One of his first major projects in Palmerston North captured his values of people first, financial responsibility and patience.
That was the building of Hancock Community House in King St.
Clifford was offended by the ‘‘appalling conditions’’ workers in the voluntary sector were enduring.
‘‘I feel this is the right time to leave.’’ Paddy Clifford