A YEAR AS MAYOR
Helen Harvey speaks with Mayor Neil Holdom about his first 12 months in the position.
New Plymouth mayor Neil Holdom likes to start council meetings with a bit of a speech.
It is a new innovation that Holdom, who has just reached his one year anniversary as mayor, has started.
He doesn’t have a secret agenda or anything hiding in a cupboard it’s just he wants people to know what he is thinking, he said.
‘‘We have a small video audience there and it’s really about saying, well these are the things we are thinking about. It reflects the thinking of comments around the table.’’
On Tuesday Holdom began the New Plymouth District Council’s monthly meeting talking about his desire to see New Plymouth become a lifestyle capital. This is something he campaigned on and now a year on the idea is the framework for the long term plan (LTP) the council is starting to put together, Holdom said.
‘‘I think that is our differentiator. Rotorua’s got its thermal wonderland, Auckland’s got its City of Sails and Wellington is the windy city.
‘‘This place is where you can have an awesome job doing something you love and still be home in time for tea, watch your kids’ sport and go fishing or surfing or mountain biking.
‘‘There’s a real work life balance here and the only other place where I’ve seen anything like it is Wanaka.’’
While Holdom’s comfortable in the role of mayor now, he admits he was terrified at the beginning.
‘‘It had been so unexpected. It was a real shock, but you have to take the initiative straight away, that’s what leadership is about.’’
And along the way there have been a couple of unexpected hitches.
First there were resignations. Deputy mayor Craig McFarlane resigned in June for health reasons and Holdom missed McFarlane’s energy, intellect and enthusiasm, he said. And then chief executive Barbara McKerrow left for another job.
‘‘On the upside we’ve secured Craig Stevenson, who is excited about joining the team on November 1. It was a unanimous decision by the council so it shows when it comes to big stuff we can make unanimous decisions which is great.’’
Hiring a new chief executive is one of the most important things he’s done in his first year, he said.
‘‘I’ve been really fortunate coming into this role at a time when Taranaki really is shining. There are a lot of good things happening despite the rain.’’
And then there were the less shiny times, he had to pull councillor Murray Chong into line.
Twice in two months comments by Chong on social media attracted complaints that they were racist.
Holdom censured Chong for
"I've been really fortunate coming into this role at a time when Taranaki really is shining."
Neil Holdom
breaching the council Code of Conduct.
‘‘All Councillors are free to express their opinions and at the same time we have all agreed to abide by a Code of Conduct which requires us to conduct ourselves in a manner which is not likely to cause offence or bring the Council into disrepute,’’ he said at the time.
Despite that, Holdom is pleased that community interaction has doubled from the previous year.
He believes people are generally disconnected from what happens in local government, he said.
‘‘I meet young people who say, ‘I don’t vote because it doesn’t make a difference’.’’
He wants to have more community engagement, more polling, to see what people are thinking, he said.
‘‘The Waitara leasehold land was a really complicated piece of work and we’ve been really fortunate to get it through to a second reading. We’re hopeful that bill will reach a third reading and become law before the end of the year. I think the bill will be a game changer for Waitara.’’
After the LTP is finished next June, Holdom wants to look at sources of revenue for the council outside of rates.
One way would be looking at city partnership programmes like they have in Tauranga, he said.
‘‘Businesses who want to invest in the district put money into a fund and then the council works with them to identify projects that will benefit the community. It’s really about providing alternative sources of revenue, so it’s not ratepayers picking up the tab for the growth that’s coming.’’