Media Release
5 April 2013
Council needs to show leadership

Wellington City Council needs to start showing the type of leadership that befits a capital city, says Wellington Employers’ Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Raewyn Bleakley.

“What is going on in the council? It seems to be in a total shambles.

“The latest debacle, where it seems half the councillors were not aware that 150 jobs had been axed from the council’s infrastructure unit, is staggering.

“Councillors are the decision-makers and for them to be finding out about these things after the fact shows something is very wrong.

“And it’s not as though this is an isolated incident.

“It comes less than two weeks after the mayor and her councillors were surprised by a $350,000 allocation in the budget for renovations to the mayor’s new office. Thankfully the mayor jumped in and cut that back.

“WECC said then that she needed to demand answers from officers as to how that sort of money had been allocated without her or councillors knowing about it, and now we have this.

“There are clearly systemic problems in council processes that need sorting, and fast.

"Wellingtonians need to be mindful of the skill set required for quality leadership and governance when they vote in local body elections later this year.

"It must have been a very interesting first day for the new CEO. Perhaps the scope of the challenges he faces just became a little clearer." Ms. Bleakley concluded

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