City in ‘extraordinary’ times, with array of issues
Hamilton is facing an ‘‘extraordinary’’ time, with a ‘‘staggering’’ list of difficult issues requiring ‘‘expert and decisive’’ leadership from councillors.
Those blunt messages from chief executive Lance Vervoort are outlined in a pre-election report for the public and prospective candidates.
The tone and language used is much stronger than the pre-Covid, 2019 preelection report by former chief executive Richard Briggs. ‘‘I want to be crystal clear – this is an extraordinary time,’’ writes Vervoort, who took on the top job last year. ‘‘The list and scale of issues that are here now and in the pipeline is staggering.’’ They included the pandemic and associated economic problems, inflation, the war in Ukraine, climate change, Hamilton’s growth, and reform of the local government sector, including Three Waters.
‘‘This all means we face some of the most significant leadership challenges in living memory.
‘‘We need expert and decisive leadership to embrace the situation we are in, guide our organisation and city, and make the inevitable difficult calls.’’
‘‘Business as usual’’ and ‘‘thinking differently’’ would not ‘‘cut it’’.
‘‘We are going to need to see a new level of innovation and agility to be ready for what is around the corner,’’ Vervoort said.
Asked in an interview last week about the bluntness of the report, Vervoort said: ‘‘That is my style.’’
He said Hamiltonians liked to hear things plainly.
‘‘We are in extraordinary times’’ and people seeking to get elected need to know what they are ‘‘getting themselves in for’’.
On local government changes, he said the scale of reform was probably unprecedented apart from perhaps the 1989 reforms which saw councils whittled down from hundreds to under 100.
‘‘So there is a lot coming down the pipeline.’’
With Three Waters, for example, significant assets and revenue were due to be transferred away from the council and 120-140 staff lost.
Two new Māori councillors were due to come on board after this year’s election and other fresh faces were likely. ‘‘We need governors who have done their research ... we need people who actually really know what they are getting themselves into and [are] up for the challenge.’’
Vervoort said this was no implicit swipe at the performance of current councillors, who he said had worked with staff in an ‘‘exceptional’’ way on responding to Covid-19 and made up a strong council overall.
On managing the risk of balls being dropped, given the multiple issues the council faces, Vervoort acknowledged the stress caused by wide-ranging local government-related reforms.
‘‘If I was the person running the country I would probably be looking at doing less better,’’ he said, while adding that he understood the ‘‘political drivers’’ for how things were being done. The key to managing risk was prioritising things. Clearing away ‘‘noise and clutter’’ to focus on the substance of what the council and Government were trying to achieve was important for Hamilton.
Vervoort’s greatest concern about the number of things on the go was the council failing to deliver on programmes and infrastructure.
But he was optimistic that, working with central Government and regional partners, progress could be maintained.
‘‘These are challenging times but we are confident that we will steer the ship through this,’’ he said.
‘‘The community, with the council, is up to those challenges . . . and I think we will be in a good space at the back end of those.’’
The report is available at https://www.yourcityelections.co.nz/stand.
‘‘I want to be crystal clear – this is an extraordinary time.’’
Lance Vervoort
Hamilton City Council chief executive