The changes came as Mayor Dave Cull and his 14 councillors were officially sworn in at the inaugural meeting of the new Dunedin City Council yesterday, in front of a public gallery packed with friends and family.
The new councillors were quick to confirm changes to the committee structure yesterday, with the council's existing finance and strategy and economic development committees merged to create a new finance, strategy and development committee.
The new committee would be chaired by Syd Brown, the former deputy mayor, and supported by two deputy chairmen, John Bezett and Richard Thomson.
In other changes, Chris Staynes was confirmed as Mr Cull's deputy mayor, while Bill Acklin received a promotion to chairman of the community development committee, replacing Paul Hudson, who becomes his deputy.
Kate Wilson was named chairwoman of the planning and environment committee, while Andrew Noone retained his spot as chairman of the infrastructure services committee.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Cull said the merging of the two finance and economy-orientated committees would help streamline the way the new council operated.
The aim was not to save money, but to free more time for councillors to be involved in "grunty" working parties and workshops.
The new council would be focused on initiatives aimed at boosting the city's economy and cutting council costs, "and they will both go through that [new] committee", Mr Cull said.
Cr Brown said he wanted to find efficiencies from within the council's operation, but by "working smarter" and keeping an eye on expenditure, rather than by reducing staff numbers.
That could include looking again at the timing of some aspects of the city's large capital projects, although he would not say which projects were potentially in his sights.
"I don't want to give a signal to the community that some of the amenity upgrades and focus in the council's LTCCP [long-term council community plan] are not worthy projects . . . but in my mind they have got to be prioritised in relation to our debt.
"It's nice to paint the house, but sometimes it has to wait because the car's broken down," he said.
He also wanted to focus on making the most of next year's Rugby World Cup tournament, when anywhere up to 50,000 visitors could experience a slice of Dunedin, and the possibility of encouraging the oil industry to establish a base in the city.
A new working party would be formed to draw together the various strands of work under way in Dunedin aimed at luring the oil industry south, and would then try to "take it to a higher level", Cr Brown said.
He could not say exactly what shape that would take yet, but stressed the importance of grabbing the opportunity to help grow Dunedin's income base.
"It's an opportunity that only comes once and we need to make sure we drive it to fruition."
Mr Cull said the planned realignment of Lovelock Ave was "a perfect example" of a capital project that could be deferred.
Mediation over the harbourside plan change was continuing, and would need to be completed before the future of the project could be considered, but the possibility of attracting the oil industry to Dunedin was also a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity", Mr Cull said.
"I don't think we want to compromise it," he said.
Yesterday's meeting also saw councillors appointed to a variety of subcommittees and outside organisations.
The new structure would be in place for one year, but would then be reviewed to see how it was working, Mr Cull said.
Councillors also voted unanimously to approve changes to the way in which they were paid.
The overall remuneration bill would not change, but bonuses for deputy chairmen would be removed, and payments for chairmen and the deputy mayor reduced slightly, while all councillors were given a higher basic pay rate of $44,215.42.
The changes needed community board consideration before being sent to the Remuneration Authority for approval.
