Independent assessment holds us to account says Council chief
Published on 28 April 2020
A recent assessment under Local Government New Zealand’s CouncilMARK programme has found Whanganui District Council to be performing competently under experienced leadership.
A comprehensive, independent evaluation of the Council’s performance across a range of key areas was undertaken under the programme, resulting in a BB rating for Whanganui in its first assessment.
Council Chief Executive Kym Fell says the CouncilMARK report found Whanganui District Council benefited from experienced leadership and that the Mayor had drawn a diverse group of elected members into a cohesive unit.
“We scored particularly well in the delivery of core services,” says Mr Fell, “and our strength in this area has served our community well in recent weeks as we have focused on maintaining essential services during the nationwide restrictions under Alert Level 4.”
He says, “I was pleased to see the report commended our highly capable finance team and noted that we have a robust foundation for effective transparency.
“Our water supply is safe, we use up-to-date flood modelling to improve the management of stormwater and our roading management was found to be ‘excellent’.” says Mr Fell.
“Dog management was described as a notable success in a city with a high concentration of dog owners and our library services were commended for being innovative and increasing levels of access and participation.
“It was good to see these comments,” says Mr Fell, “and to receive a respectable rating our first time around, but to be honest, that wasn’t our reason for choosing to enter the programme.
“We wanted an independent assessment that would provide us with insights and guidance towards making improvements, so we will be paying attention to the advice given, building on our strengths and addressing any perceived gaps or areas we can tighten up on.”
One area identified was that the Council has too many strategies in place, which is confusing and creates some operational inefficiencies. Mr Fell says that is already being addressed and some strategies are being consolidated or reviewed to ensure they are well-aligned, necessary and well understood by staff.
“The large number of projects on our plate was also noted and I acknowledge we do have an ambitious work programme,” he says.
“Now is not the time to pull back on those things, though,” says Mr Fell, “as we need to get right behind the Government’s efforts to stimulate our economy by delivering our planned infrastructure programme. We are looking to make organisation-wide improvements to our project management approach though, and this is where independent advice through a programme like CouncilMARK can provide some clarity.
“We are independently audited on our Annual Report each year and held to account by the public and our elected members, as we should be, but this additional overarching review has been helpful and I hope it also reassures the public that its council is on track, performing well, comfortable with scrutiny and committed to continuous improvement.”
ENDS