Andrew von Dadelszen Former Regional Councillor

I recently spent the weekend at a Rotary Conference in Napier, and I was so impressed with that city.

In contrast to downtown Tauranga, Napier is clean and vibrant, with a real atmosphere of charming elegance. The Napier waterfront is also vibrant and well-planned. It just made me think what a ‘head in the sand' bunch of councillors we have in Tauranga. Can I suggest that they get in their cars and go visit the likes of Napier and New Plymouth (another progressive city) and get some ideas to bring back for Tauranga. We need a real forward-looking vision, and not the current looking-over-the shoulder penny-pinching bunch – no it's not even penny pinching. It is about building a strategic vision and planning how to get it.

My one ray of hope is that Gary Poole (the new Tauranga City Council CEO) can inspire our councillors to have a real vision, and then also manage our risk-averse Tauranga City staff to get out of their planning chairs and build us a modern vibrant city. Yes, it will cost money. But it's about redirecting the money available and not necessarily about increasing rates. This city has never been known for managing its financial resources too well. So it will take strong financial governance to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. What we really need is a new breed of councillors to drive this.

People say that we can't get our best and brightest to stand for council. But it is time for some strong business orientated governance, and this will need some of our established business men and women to stand up and give back, say six years, to our community. Certainly this will likely require a drop in pay, but unless this happens our city just won't prosper. Council is not for the retired (or the tired) and council elections are just around the corner. So we can't just grumble – it is time for the business community to stand up and turn our elected councillors into a true Board of Directors, with strong fiscal skills and a commitment to progressive strategic direction.

If you have a view on these or any other local government issues, I invite you to email me at: andrew@vond.co.nz or visit: www.vond.co.nz