Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
We can do a better job, say two councilors who want to be mayor
By Adam Roberts and India Lopez
Two popular Wellington city councilors, both representing the southern ward, say they can do a better job than mayor Kerry Prendergast.
Mayoral candidate Bryan Pepperell, who has been a councilor for 15 years, says Ms Prendergast is “just a figurehead”.
“She has her speeches written for her. She hardly has to think for herself.”
Ms Prendergast places too much emphasis on events like the Rugby World Cup, Mr Pepperell says. The topic “pales in comparison” to issues like leaky housing.
Mayoral candidate Celia Wade-Brown, who has been a councilor for 14 years and who leads the council’s environment portfolio, says she will introduce a more collaborative style of leadership if elected mayor.
Ms Prendergast is competent and hard-working, she says, but takes a “one person, one city” approach. “She doesn’t share leadership easily.”
The council should work more closely with other community groups when it comes to issues like housing, Ms Wade-Brown says.
She also believes the public should be consulted more, and that canvassing should take place before formal proposals are drafted. “You don’t necessarily wait until an issue has got to boiling point.”
If elected she will not stand for longer than three terms, she says. “People want a change of leadership after a while, whether they like someone or not.”
Ms Prendergast, who is running for her fourth term, says she sees no problem with one person serving as mayor for over a decade. “I am full of bounce and energy still and there is always lots to do to improve our great little city.”
She questions the abilities of the other candidates to secure public confidence. “There is nobody, in my opinion and that of many others who speak to me, who can continue the direction the city has driven forward in over the last 15 years or so.”
Voting will begin on September 17 by postal ballot.
Adam Roberts and India Lopez are students in the Massey University Diploma of Journalism course. The students are writing articles about the local body elections for wellington.scoop.
Kerry’s OK as a mayor, but I think three terms is enough for anyone. It’s time for some fresh faces and some new ideas, and out of the contenders to announce so far Celia Wade-Brown seems to have the most clues. It will be interesting to see if Bob Jones puts up anyone.
Celia would be great – focused on people, the environment and on building communities. She would bring a positive change to Wellington.
Celia is a really experienced councillor who’s got a great personal style. I think she’d be a Mayor to be proud of. She seems happier than Kerry, although anyone would be a bit down-at-mouth after three terms of leading that lot! On balance I think Kerry has been good for Wellington, but I’m pleased she has some real opposition in Celia.
Like many other Wellingtonians I still have not gotten over the fact that Celia as President of Living Streets Aotearoa managed to vote for the destruction of Manners Mall, the busiest pedestrian precinct in the country. And then the sellout on the Southern Landfill under her watch makes it very hard to support a candidate, styles or no styles, who gives away without consultation a ratepayers’ resource which has been transformed by Todd Energy into a renewable energy source and sold back to the rightful owners ( the Wellington ratepayers) by Nova Gas/Energy.
I can’t see how Celia could make a positive change after the damage she has done.
Celia’s interests in good transport choices for Wellington, using new technology effectively and building communities, are new directions for Wellington that I see as wholly positive. We need to support one candidate of integrity in order to get change. That’s Celia!
One candidate talks about the issue of water but does absolutely nothing when the city has already begun privatization. The other talks about improving transportation at the cost of increasing debt to the city without considering that there must be harmony between the business community and the resident community of Wellington. Many promises have been made in the past but none are being kept. I want a mayor who is not tainted with the politicking of Wakefield Street.
You know what – neither would do a better job. Why? Because they are part of the bunch of councillors that allowed Kerry Prendergast to get away with everything over the past 9 years. It’s no good coming out at the 11th hour and saying that you think things should be done better… WHY DIDN’T YOU DO BETTER WHEN YOU HAVE THE CHANCE.
Get rid of all the incumbents – sack the lot of them and get some new faces around the Council table.
Before we throw the baby out with the bathwater I suggest we take the time to check the voting history of our incumbents
We have councillors in NZ. I think you will find councilors in the USA. Or have you decided to adopt American English spelling?
On voting record Bryan Pepperell is the clear choice.
On Manners Mall he voted to keep it closed to buses.
On switching the rates from business to homeowners
he voted against.
On the MEC on the South Coast he voted to save the Point.
He voted against giving water management to Capacity and he voted against the big pay increase to Capacity’s directors.
He never sold out like Wade Brown. It’s no contest.
Bryan Pepperell voted against the Indoor Community Sports Centre at Kilbirnie and is against selling assets. I like his stance on stopping water privatisation. He wants open space on what is left of the waterfront and he opposes rate increases when the others keep spending our hard earned money.
Me and my friends are supporting Bryan Pepperell
Despite the voting records, there are annual rate increases. Despite the voting records, Manners Mall has become a bus lane at the cost of $11m to the ratepayers. Despite the voting records, water privatization is on its way. Despite the voting records, the Indoor Sports Centre is on its way up, at a cost of more than $50m to ratepayers. It’s all talk and no action except that everybody has higher bills to pay, so when will all the talk end?
Let’s not forget the average wage of a councillor – disregarding their free mobile phone, laptop and car park in the middle of the city – is $88,087. This at a time when the average annual wage in New Zealand is just under $28,000. So are we voting for the same thing at our expense?
It’s time for a change.
I’m sick of the current Mayor’s divisive style, poor consultation record, and foisting the horrible Bypass on us. I’ll be voting for a candidate who has a constructive track record and fresh ideas. Although I admire Pep’s non-aligned style, he doesn’t have the ability to lead a team of councilors, so he won’t get my vote.
I would like to state the voting record on the destruction of Manners Mall at a cost of $ 11 million to the rate payers as follows
FOR: Kerry Prendergast, Ian McKinnon, Ngaire Best, Iona Pannett, Celia Wade-Brown, Ray Ahipene-Mercer, John Morrison, Andy Foster.
AGAINST: Bryan Pepperell, Hayley Wain, Leonie Gill, Rob Goulden, Jo Coughlan. Conflict of Interest: Helen Ritchie. Absent: Stephanie Cook.
Celia Wade-Brown has my vote. We need to get rid of Kerry Prendergast and get someone in who believes in consulting with the public, and in public transport. This city can’t go on forever fighting traffic issues with more roads. There is only finite space.
The trouble with Bryan Pepperell is that he always votes against – he was against Manners Mall, against pay increases for Directors, against Capacity …. all well and good, but what has he ever voted FOR?
How is the city going to be better for being run by someone who’s one claim to fame is continually voting down other people’s proposals? That’s not leadership, it’s the abdication of leadership.
A matter of public record
Part of the Save Capital Power Campaign
Voted not to sell the parking buildings
Voted to not sell the airport shares
Formed the Clean Water campaign in the early 1980s
Called for the peoples’ bank which became Kiwi Bank
Voted for the Embassy when it was going to be sold.
Voted for retaining city operations when Council wanted to sell
Voted for better cycle ways
Introduced lower speed limits around schools
introduced the idea of public advocate
Introduced Newtown alcohol ban to Council
Voted to not sell public land on the South coast
Voted to stop business rates being switched onto home owners
Introduced and voted for income related rents for social housing which resulted in a rental cap.
I’ll give more examples when I’ve gone back and looked at the past 14 years.
Bryan – I don’t think anyone is terribly interested in the past; we’re more interested in the future. If you’re going to stand for mayor, then we’d all like to know what it is that you’ll do to make the city better. Kerry Prendergast wants to run a big Rugby World Cup bash and kick cars out of Lambton Quay in 20 years, Celia Wade Brown wants a light rail system, Jack Yan wants free wifi …. what’s your big dream for Wellington? Simply putting up your voting record doesn’t tell us anything much at all.
What I have learned in my political busking, is that councilors are in Council protecting their employment (as anyone should protect their income) for how they can be paid in a way that best suits how they want to spend their day. Of those standing for Mayor in the Wellington incumbent Council, I pledge my vote to Bryan Pepperell. This is because when it comes to matters like fundamental water right protections (we all drink) and peak oil (we all use markets) he appears to command the strongest human focus off a politically wired brain.
I agree with John Clarke on this. Voting records do not mean anything if you have done nothing to affect policy. For all those voting records, those policies ended being passed anyways.
Politics is all about compromise to get your policies out for the benefit of the public. Simply stating fact on voting records will not cut it, if those policy votes went against you and got passed anyway. I want a Mayor who has vision forward for Wellington without the excess baggage. I want a Mayor who can unite the WCC and the city! In what I have read so far, I have not seen the beef in the message.
Suggest Mr Clark vote for Miss Wain as Mayor and the wonderful thing is “democracy” allows him to choose. (Maybe Ms Pannett as Deputy).
Mr Pepperell has always been consistent and continues to relate to community needs and the people within the community.
Stop hating on the Pep. It’s no use having a vision for the future if all the city’s infrastructure is falling down around it. We need a strong foundation of reliable and affordable services first and then you can start thinking about your pie in the sky visions. I think you’d attract a lot more people to a city where they could rely on their basic needs such as water, power and transport being affordable without excessive rates being used to fund such necessities as an electronic stock market sign.
I am voting for a Mayor who really puts Wellingtonians first by making sure that things work for business and community. It would take excessive rates to fund transportation as good as cities like San Francisco, Tokyo, Hong Kong or even Adelaide.
It’s not a matter of “hating on Peps” … it’s a matter of Peps being prepared to say how he will run the city and what his priorities will be if elected Mayor. These are entirely reasonable questions for the electorate to ask.
And I agree with Alfred that getting anything done will depend on the new mayor building a united and effective council. Right now, it’s hard to see how a collaborative way of working is going to come about when Peps has voted against many of the proposals put up by his fellow councillors. Surely this is a model for more confrontation around the council table – and I think the city has seen enough of that.
I hate to bring it to you but in most cases WCC officers and the CEO pull the strings. Councillors are just puppets with the exception of a few who have remembered their oath and are serving the citizenry to the best of their abilities, I believe Pepperell is one of them. In conclusion it is easy to see what has happened here: the figurehead being around too long has contaminated the lot.
I have a lot of respect for the Political Busker Mr Easton as I do for Mr Evans. They have different perspectives but since both speak well of Bryan Pepperell I think he is in a good position to lead the city. I find a lot to think about after reading both their comments, as well as Maria’s.
Talking about voting record not being relevant makes me think Alfred and John are newcomers to politics.
I think it is very important to know that Celia Wade-Brown always voted to shift business rates onto the home owner and that she supported the Marine Education Centre, the Indoor Sports Centre and voted for Capacity and the profit takers, along with taking the extra money as part of the Mayor’s A team.
“He voted against giving water management to Capacity and he voted against the big pay increase to Capacity’s directors” – Bertrand Brown, 18 July. Is this the Bryan Pepperell who was a director of Capacity from 5th Nov 2004 until the election in 2007? I don’t remember him being loudly against Capacity as he pocketed $10,000 per year in directors’ fees!
http://www.huttcity.govt.nz/upload/Calendars/2712%5CAppendix1WellingtonWaterManagementLtdAnnualReportForTheYearEnded30June2006DraftCapacityReport.pdf
Yes I was a director of Capacity between Nov 2004 and 2007 and I rejected the pay increase to the board each time it was asked for. That was also supported by a majority of elected representatives on the board of Capacity so it did not come to Council for approval.
When I was asked if I wanted the position on Capacity by the Mayor I called for a vote at a meeting of the Wellington Residents Coalition. That was supported by a well attended majority with one objection. The issue was simple, did the coalition of residents want me to represent the people on the board of Capacity. The answer was yes.
Upon my removal from Capacity the board was voted a fifty percent increase by Wellington City Council. Once again I voted against the increase. The insights that I gained while on the board of Capacity were useful. I have often talked about my time on Capacity and what happened when I was removed and replaced by a selected representative. There are now only two elected representative on the board as the rest are selected appointments. There were originally two elected representatives from each Council.
The experience of serving on Capacity certainly allows me to speak in an informed way. The Council and the board knew I was opposed to Capacity when I was appointed. Capacity failed to meet its original savings target and its key perfeormance indicators. Water management should come back in house. I said that to the board at one of the last directors meetings that I attended in 2007. Over the last three years I have been calling for a review of Capacity. Earlier this year I moved to have water management brought back into Council. This issue of Capacity’s failure to meet its savings target and key performance indicators was reported on by The Wellingtonian earlier this year if readers are interested. I have also written extensively about water management on Scoop and my website http://www.pepptalk.net
I understand having just relocated at great coast Capacity now wants to move .again.
Bryan Pepperell
I can’t leave Cr Pepperell’s view of the world and ongoing attacks on Capacity unchallenged. It just doesn’t accord with reality !
I replaced Cr Pepperell and Alick Shaw as WCC’s councillor rep on the Capacity Board 3 years ago. My impression was that the Board wasn’t functioning well – putting Crs Pepperell and Shaw together was bound to do that I suppose. Cr Pepperell has been described to me, quote, as ‘the worst director I’ve ever seen on a board’. I’m also told that it was only when he left the Board (and remuneration) after three years, that he declared ‘well I never believed in the Capacity model anyway’. That suggests Donald McGregor is 100% correct. Let’s also have the whole truth about remuneration. At the beginning of this triennium there were increases in Board fees recommended by external specialists in this area. They recommended the first increases in fees for all Councils Boards and Trusts since establishment with the exception of the Waterfront Company where a reduction was recommended. Those fees are paid to all directors – the vast majority of whom are not councillors.
Capacity is working – despite that rocky start with the Board. Now the Board is working very well. All KPIs under Capacity control are met. Savings in the first five years are less than projected before Capacity was established (remember too that the savings were Council’s numbers – Capacity didn’t exist at that stage) but importantly there were savings of around $800,000 to our ratepayers, and more savings to Hutt ratepayers, in direct operational costs. There were also savings in the Capital Programme. Some capex savings have come to fruition, others are identified for upcoming projects. We are talking around $20 million saved here. Back to operating costs. Capacity delivered $400,000 in operating savings in the year just completed, and is budgeting to save an ongoing $700,000 per annum, achieved through improved processes (put in place post the Pepperell era on the Board) and through doing a lot more design work in house by Capacity. Unaccounted for water (includes leaks on public and private pipes, fire hydrant use, pipe flushing, unmetered parks and gardens etc) is down from mid 20%s to 15.6% latest. There’s excellent work being done on area water metering, mointoring water flows to detect leaks, pressure reduction to reduce pipe bursts, etc. Upper Hutt City is a customer and wants to join as an equity partner. Regional co-operation is a good thing. Logically we will see more of that. It is the failure of Auckland Councils to cooperate that was the major driver in the Super City’s establishment. Oh and finally on moving accommodation – ever heard of rental increases anyone ? Who’s moved house becasue the landlord put up the rent ? The costs of moving (just along the road) were approved by the two shareholding Councils. I’ll finish by suggesting Cr Pepperell think about the impact this kind of ongoing cheap politicking has on the excellent staff who actually look after our water, stormwater and sewage systems.
Cr Andy Foster
Director Capacity Infrastructure Services
Having had a go at the Capacity – Water issues, can I also respond to several other items.
1 – The Manners Mall project will not cost ratepayers anything like $11 million. Approximately half the cost is transport related and that is entirely offset by NZTA subsidies and by increased parking revenue from 40 proposed additional carparks. I hasten to add I would personally prefer to drop some carparks to create a really brilliant sunny people space in lower Dixon St/Te Aro Park. The other half of the budget is about urban development improvements. At worst we should be talking $5.5 million, at best you could argue we are going to get some public space improvements. (also worth noting there were hundreds of thousands of dollars required to refurbish Manners Mall had it stayed).
2 – Water Privatisation? No chance unless some very very right wing (don’t vote ACT ?) Government forced it on Councils. I’d say that would be a very short lived Government. I’d bet WCC would vote 15 – 0 against privatisation too.
3 – Cost of Light Rail ? We don’t know the full answer on that yet. A feasibility study is programmed for 2011/12. Ball park number is about $200 million to get a system to Newtown hospital plus rolling stock which could be used on other lines too. Put that in context – it’s about the same as one tunnel (give or take); the Basin Reserve could be close to $100m depending on solution, Transmission Gully is around $1 billion and has a benefit cost ratio last I saw of about 0.2. Government and Greater Wellington are spending over $300 million on current rail upgrades. For LRT to happen it would have to be supported by Government funding. The biggest questions to me are how it would work with the bus system, but it is increasingly clear that we will need a step change in public transport sooner rather than later. Manners St incidentally is the best route through the CBD.
4 – Finally Maria – You say officers make the decisions and councillors are the puppets. I agree most of the time Councillors take officer advice, but there are plenty of questions asked and changes, sometimes fundamental, made. There’s also the work that goes on behind the scenes. There are certainly times when the majority of councillors does just adopt the officers’ recommendations and that can frustrate the minority (and we’ve all been there on one issue or another) The level of impact councillors make varies enormously. Some make a huge contribution.
Cr Andy Foster
Wellington City Council
As a matter of public record: I had no serious disagreements with Cr Shaw while he served on Capacity with me. I was one of only two Councillors who voted against the formation of Capacity; the other was Cr Cook. That is a matter of public record.
I’m sure I was not liked by the Chair and CEO of Capacity as I resisted moves to increase payments to the directors. In that respect I was supported by a majority of board directors. Upon his appointment by Wellington City Council to Capacity, Cr Foster’s director’s fees increased by 50 percent.
As a further matter of public record this year I made the following recommendation to the S&P committee.
CAPACITY ( WATER MANAGEMENT FOR WCC AND HCC )
I put forward the following amendment
Recommend to Council that:
(a) it agree to consult under section 88 of the Local Government Act 2002 on a proposal to bring water management back in house and instead pursue joint venture with local authorities and Wellington Regional Council.
(b) it instruct officers to prepare the necessary consultation documentation for approval by the Strategy and Policy Committee
MOVED Cr Pepperell
SECONDED Cr Ritchie
Voting for the amendment were Councillors Cook, Pannett, Pepperell, Ritchie
Voting against were Councillors Ahipene-Mercer, Best, Coughlan, Gill, McKinnon, Morrison, Wade-Brown, Wain and Mayor Prendergast.
Abstaining was Cr Foster ( Capacity Board Member)
Absent Cr Goulden
I don’t think that resisting directors’ fee increases was the reason, Cr Pepperell, for others’ view of your poor contribution as a director. If that was your main focus as a Board member, then you were not doing the job you were put there for. As with any Board, there were a lot of real issues that would have been usefully focussed on. I also can’t imagine why a Board would spend any time at all talking about Board remuneration given it is something that Council decides. There are more important issues to focus on.
This is precisely the reason why I am not voting for Bryan Pepperell. I cannot expect a Mayor to be petty over such things. Of all things being a seasoned politician, one should know better than to nitpick especially with a fellow councillor. Leadership is the management of expectations of a collective. Now that is mayor like!
Some rather disingenuous statements have been made on Wellington.Scoop regarding my integrity, but this half page advert placed in City Voice in 1997 is a matter of public record. From memory it cost $700.00 and was paid for by me.
The capacity of a person to be a successful Mayor obviously requires a quality of ownership and an ability to stay atop of controversy, infighting and administrative pressure. Unlike Alex I don’t see the debate between Andy and Bryan on the leadership of capacity as petty. The discussion is between a mayoralty candidate and a Councillor who replaced him on a portfolio. What is obviously different between the two is their philosophical approach to politics. I consider this is more likely the reason for the change in leadership. It is reasonable to note that the Mayor took over the transport portfolio mid term and for whatever her reasoning – and look now at what is happening to transport.