Palmerston North, Manawatu¯ split over marketing control

The Palmerston North City Council wants to seize control of its own destination marketing and three signature events from the Central Economic Development Agency.

The move would strip about $500,000 from the agency’s budget, and shift management of the Manawatu¯ Business Awards, New Zealand Agri Food Week and the Sort It careers expo in-house.

Mayor Grant Smith and deputy Aleisha Rutherford sought support for the change from the joint city council and Manawatu¯ District Council strategic planning committee yesterday, but lost.

However, that is unlikely to be the end of the issue, as the city council retains the final say about how much money it gives the agency, and what it puts in its contract.

Smith said the city council did not want to undermine the good work the agency did on economic development.

But the city had its new Palmy identity to promote, was about to celebrate its 150th anniversary, and did not want to be ‘‘hamstrung by this committee’’.

Smith described the city council’s stance as ‘‘a political decision’’, retaining the council’s prerogative to determine how its ratepayers’ money was spent.

Manawatu¯ councillor Michael Ford said he respected that point, but he said the agency was a relatively new entity doing impressive work and should be allowed to get on with it.

He said, if anything, the city council should be linking with a larger region, rather than taking work back in-house. It would harm the viability of the agency to be taking bits away.

Agency chairman Malcolm Bailey said it was the integration of many functions that helped it work efficiently. Fragmentation would undermine that.

He said he paid rates to both councils and did not recognise the boundary between the two.

‘‘This really will not work.’’

The city council lost the vote because city councillor Susan Baty voted with the Manawatu¯ councillors.

She said she had faith in the agency’s directors and the advice they were giving.

After a year dominated by Covid-19, city councillors were often told about problems with resourcing the work that already needed to be done within the city council.

After the meeting, agency chief executive Linda Stewart said two independent reports assessing the agency’s effectiveness supported the status quo.

‘‘The city and district have porous boundaries and are mutually beneficial to one another, with interdependent and complementary strengths and shared populations and workforce.’’

The functions of marketing, attracting business, investment, new residents and visitors were inherently linked, and should not be taken apart.

Stewart said the scale and effect of what the city council was proposing meant it should carry out wider consultation based on the facts before further steps were taken.