Mr Goudie worked as treasurer for the Tuapeka County Council in Clutha three days a week and in Lawrence two days a week for the first year of his council career.
In 1989, when Otago's councils merged under the the Local Government Reorganisation Order, Mr Goudie was transferred to Central Otago and moved to Alexandra.
‘‘Everything turned to dust because we had to combine the ledgers and rating systems for six contributing authorities to one,'' Mr Goudie said.
‘‘It was quite an undertaking - one of the things that stick in your mind.
‘‘And then we had to prepare rate estimates for a three-month transitional quarter because they changed the financial year from March to June.''
Along with supervision of the council financial systems, Mr Goudie was responsible for managing production of the annual report and the annual plan as it relates to rates.
‘‘It's my role to translate the estimates for expenditure to what people pay on their rates.''
The introduction of the computer made his job easier but raised people's expectations, he said.
‘‘The standard of what we once would have accepted in reports, we just won't do it these days, because we can do it better,'' he said.
Any changes to rates were now assessed for different sectors of the community and if any group of people were disadvantaged, the council decided if a remission was appropriate, he said.
Although the water nearly came inside the council buildings in both the 1994 and 1995 floods, Mr Goudie has a vivid memory of the 1999 floods.
‘‘In 1999, it actually came into the building.''
The job of cleaning up included lifting all the carpets.
‘‘But the glue they used was water soluble and you were left with this sticky floor.
‘‘When you went to move you actually stuck to the floor. It was like that for three months.''
For the past three years, Mr Goudie has been converting the council's accounting system to international financial reporting standards.
Mr Goudie decided upon completion of the project, he would retire. ‘‘We're putting so much work into it and it's of no value to ratepayers at all,'' Mr Goudie said.
The conversion was part of the Long Term Council Community Plan. ‘‘Once we did that, I made the decision, ‘I don't really want to do this again','' Mr Goudie said.
He is looking forward to developing his 4ha property on the outskirts of Alexandra with his wife Claire. The two bought the property 15 years ago and have lived there with their sons Logan, Simon, and Nicholas (14), who is still at home.
