Mayor dismisses report,
Invercargill mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt describes ongoing criticism of him as a ‘‘celebrity roast’’ as he dismisses yet another report in which his colleagues have taken aim at him.
Included in a recent survey of the Invercargill City Council’s elected members are anonymous comments from councillors that again question Shadbolt’s performance.
‘‘An effectively missing mayor continues to be a difficulty that everyone has to work around. Staff are mostly stepping up to new levels of competence,’’ one comment said.
‘‘Top marks to CE [chief executive] and staff. Most councillors are strongly committed to the task to which they were elected. Mayoral leadership sadly diminished to the stage of almost nonexisting,’’ another said.
Eleven of the 12 elected members surveyed ‘‘strongly disagreed’’ when asked if they had confidence that the mayor was on top of key council issues.
The council used a consulting firm to conduct the survey to gauge progress made since the Department of Internal Affairs raised concerns in August 2020.
It surveyed Shadbolt and 11 councillors. One unnamed councillor declined to respond, citing privacy concerns.
The report was presented at a project governance group meeting yesterday.
Shadbolt said discussions on these reports often developed into a ‘‘celebrity roast’’ of him and he had become used to that.
He believed the survey failed to address some important questions.
‘‘Why are there no questions such as ‘Do you think the mayor has sufficient admin support?’ and ‘Have you witnessed any activity that shows support for the mayor?’ or ‘Have you talked to the mayor about any issues that he has raised?’ ’’
Deputy mayor Nobby Clark said he could not let Shadbolt’s comments slide.
‘‘I’ve made a lot of time and effort for the past year and a half to try to resolve issues the mayor has raised around bullying, around PA [personal assistant] hours, and cellphones, and around IT. On each occasion the mayor has defaulted on the support offered.’’
After the meeting, Shadbolt said the Working on Working Together programme had a budget of $10,000 for mayoral support, but none of that has been used. He said that was telling.
The survey has helped the council put together a legacy report as it wraps up Working on Working Together. The project has come at a cost of $558,000 and was initiated following Internal Affairs’ concerns.
Following the meeting, Shadbolt described the exercise as an expensive Band-Aid.
The initial plan was for the external advisers, Jeff Grant and Lindsay McKenzie, to depart on June 30.
However, Grant and McKenzie said it was time for them to go as the election draws closer.
He suggested they finish after the May 30 full council meeting when the legacy report is expected to be adopted.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Internal Affairs representative Richard Hardie said if Grant and McKenzie were to finish a month early, the council would need to think carefully about ‘‘media lines’’ and getting the right statement out there.
The legacy report says it’s time for the council to move forward, suggesting residents can have confidence in the leadership and governance skills of elected members supported by staff.
However, in the survey, 45% of the elected representatives who responded believed there had only been a small amount of progress, or superficial change, towards strong, unified governance and leadership.
The legacy report said a common theme was that Shadbolt was an isolated mayor, more than just politically.
One comment said: ‘‘Leadership hasn’t improved, but our work-around has been effective.’’
Shadbolt said it was easy to cherrypick comments out of the report, but the scenario the report presented was far from a perfect council where individuals were listened to.
Stuff asked Internal Affairs if it was satisfied that the council had addressed its concerns raised in August 2020.
In a statement, the department said it had seen good progress against the plan outlined. However, because the legacy report is yet to be adopted, it would be inappropriate to comment further, the department said.
The report is expected to be adopted on May 30.