Ratepayer’s SWOT Analysis rejects Rotorua’s Vision 2030 as Fantasy

Press Release: Rotorua District Residents and Ratepayers, 26 March 2017

When the Rotorua District Council (RDC) invited feedback only on its strengths and opportunities, to help revise its Vision 2030, the RDRR responded with a full analysis of Council’s internal Strengths and Weaknesses, and its external Opportunities and Threats. Vision 2030 was rejected as a fantasy preferred by Council and its supporters. It ignores the economic and demographic projections that point consistently to the need for a “selected growth and smart decline” development strategy.

“It is sobering that about a quarter of all respondents said that the RDC had no internal strengths” reported Chairman Glenys Searancke. “They see committee and portfolio structures and leadership appointments as patronage systems rewarding the Mayor’s cronies. Elected representation is partially paralysed. Upper management is politicised. Council has a weak customer focus. Poor debt management is a major risk, with silly spending on non-core services and white elephants. Decision making is commonly undemocratic, biased and hidden. Contracting and evaluation are ineffective. Human Resources need substantial reform. The accountability of Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs) is undermined by shallow desk-top reporting.”

“Our members want our Council to learn from other councils, use trustworthy research and revitalise its relationships with national government agencies,” said Secretary Reynold Macpherson. “They called for a fresh debt management plan with inter-generational equity and sustainability. Borrow only for strictly necessary capital expenditure. Replace “partnerships” with service providers with rigorous business contracts and systematic monitoring and auditing. Attract full-time and middle-class jobs instead of giving subsidies to mates running the low-wage tourism economy. Our members see Rotorua in danger of being placed under statutory management, despite the recent swing away from tribal and bureaucratic values towards democratic and progressive values. The greatest threat, however, is that the RDC’s Vision 2030 is promising continuous growth and jobs despite the most respected economic and demographic projections showing that Rotorua will stop growing or start declining over the next 30 years. We need a reality-based “selected growth and smart decline” development strategy, not fantasy.”

“RDRR members recommended a fresh vision of sustainable success” said Treasurer Rosemary MacKenzie. “They want the economic and social aspects of Rotorua’s community development integrated, not divided on ethnic lines. Council’s many internal weaknesses need to be converted into strengths by focusing on and reforming the productivity of core service delivery. The threats to Rotorua’s prosperity and quality of life need to be converted by innovation in the private sector, not by expanding the role of Council. The current committee and portfolio structures must be scrapped to stop wasteful spending on legacy and vanity projects. They need to be replaced by four Committees of Council that have oversight of Finance, Core Services, Infrastructure Works, and Regulations, each getting balanced input from the three policy advisory boards (Te Tatau o Te Arawa, the Lakes Community Board, and the Rural Community Board).”

The RDRR also recommended preliminary strategies and key priorities in each of the four areas in its submission to the RDC. The full text is available at http://www.rdrr.nz/wp/press-releases/

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