Greetings and kia ora koutou

This has been a year of dramatic change with a new Council and a new direction designed to address a number of historical issues and provide a new platform on which to improve service levels and communications with our residents and ratepayers. The goal has been to re-establish both internal and consumer confidence in the Council and its operations. This includes a strong emphasis on engagement and building relationships with Iwi and hapu.

There has been an almost total change in personnel at a strategic management level and significant changes across the board in the way we do business. The new focus seeks to provide a more targeted approach and further advances in terms of cost-effective service delivery. Business plans are being developed to refocus the organisation on strategic priorities. It is fair to say the Council had been operating with resources which were below optimum levels and it is still in something of a recovery mode. One of the challenges has been to attract the right people to the right positions to ensure that strategy work and service delivery is more efficient. Most of the strategic appointments have now been made and we can look forward to getting on with the job.

There are two major capital projects forecast in the Annual Plan were not progressed for various reasons. The Kaitaia water scheme is under review and we are waiting for a report which we will take back to the community. We have agreed to take a staged approach to the Kerikeri sewerage project. Later this year, we will apply for resource consents to upgrade the treatment plant. We will also propose in the Long Term (10-Year) Plan to follow this work with an extension of the reticulation network to complete the servicing of the central Kerikeri area. It is anticipated that further network extensions will follow in subsequent years as funding becomes available.

From an administrative perspective, the extremely complex issues which have been raised and the changes which have been made have at times made it difficult to accurately measure movements in performance levels. We have, to a degree, relied on customer satisfaction surveys to provide a general picture of the trends which are emerging. I am pleased to report these are showing encouraging signs. This year’s Resident Opinion Survey has shown improvements in satisfaction in areas such as footpaths, coastal access, refuse transfer station services, water and wastewater services, parks, reserves and libraries. However, there was a disturbing fall in satisfaction levels for the roading network and ongoing concerns with high maintenance areas such as public toilets, cemeteries and stormwater management. Only 42% of those surveyed were satisfied with roading service levels and that was well below target. Deficits in the roading network will be specifically addressed over the next 12 months. The survey showed that, in general, our communication performance levels are improving and there is an increasingly higher satisfaction level for the customer and call centre services which are currently provided. Three-quarters of the customers making contact were either satisfied or very satisfied with their outcomes. While this is good news, it was still below target and the Far North lags behind similar districts against which the survey was peer-reviewed.

Because capital expenditure was below budget while changes were made internally and policy directions reviewed, we have finished the financial year in a reasonably satisfactory position. Public debt is down from $89.6 million to $71.6 million. However, in the next year, we will have to address significant outstanding infrastructure demands, which will require substantial investment.

I would like to thank Mayor John Carter, councillors and community boards for their support and assistance. Also, special thanks to our dedicated and skilled staff.

Nga mihi.

Colin Dale C.N.Z.M., J.P.
Acting Chief Executive