Community involvement at a grass roots level is the priority for the Central Otago District Council (CODC) and that attitude has won the council plaudits nationally and from across the Tasman.
Building on a report which highlighted the importance of maintaining a healthy community to ride out turbulent times, written last year by the council's chief executive John Cooney, the council worked with community organisations and groups at the beginning of any project or proposed plan change to ensure the changes were what the community wanted.
Using the British-based Systems Thinking model, Think, Design, Deliver, the principals of sustainability, regional identity and destination management (tourism) had to be considered for all work carried out by council, and was the basis on which all decisions were made.
The model was also used successfully by the Toyota company.
Such was the interest in the radical local body governance that the council's district development manager Anne Pullar was asked to present a paper and run workshops on the way it worked at a conference for the Municipal Association of Victoria, the equivalent of New Zealand's Local Government body.
Ms Pullar had attended a workshop run by international specialist on community networking and community resilience Peter Kenyon.
His praising of the CODC had led to the invitation.
Ms Pullar told the Municipal conference that Central Otago's whole focus was on building a resilient community and making Central Otago a great place to live, work and play.
The Central Otago region covered 11,000sq km and was populated by a diverse group of people.
Bringing all those communities together to formulate a district brand was a challenge, she said.
"We have inherited a magnificent natural and historic wealth.
"Together we can build on its uniqueness and make it a better world for those that succeed us.
"In achieving the vision this will result in a community that is resilient, able to withstand changes and maintain its key points of difference."
Those were the core values for destination management.
Tourists enjoyed the unspoiled landscapes, which were protected in the District Plan, as well as having good roads to drive on, but they also enjoyed meeting people, and that came from making sure the community was happy.
"If we love our place and we're proud of it then we will want to share it with others," Ms Pullar said.
The council secured Sustainable Tourism Advisers in Regions (STAR) funding through the Ministry of Tourism for the destination management programme.
Having a set of core values underpinned the successful community.
Several years previous, the council had formulated a brand for the district after asking the community what it valued.
Those values became the core values incorporated into the Long Term Council Community Plan when decisions about the future were being made.
While consultation was a requirement under the Local Government Act 2002, Ms Pullar said most councils simply drew up the plan for any new development or change, laid it on the table and said "now we are consulting".
But that was not how the Central Otago District Council worked.
Under the community planning umbrella, the council worked with communities to develop new play areas, sports facility or town upgrades.
Their ideas were put into a document which went to the wider community which also had a chance for input.
Community strategies had been developed to ensure the arts, tourism and outdoor recreation were advanced in keeping with the core values of the region.
Preparing a community plan for a small town like St Bathans, with a handful of permanent residents and most landowners living outside the area, such as Dunedin, was a real challenge.
Those from Dunedin had modern conveniences and valued their isolation and peace and quiet when they went to St Bathans, while the people of St Bathans wanted to see some progress in the town.
Our communities were often surprised to see council's CEO John Cooney or Mayor Malcolm Macpherson turn up to a community plan meeting but it was important to have buy-in from all levels of council if the programme was to work.
The final result ended up being something the whole community agreed with in general, and that included council staff and elected members who sat around the table to make the final policy decision on the project.
Management also had a role to play as it "clears the blockages" to enable the community to achieve what it wanted, Ms Pullar said.
The council staff were continually challenging themselves on how they were doing things.
"Is it efficient, and is it what the customer wants?" and that was the philosophy of the programme, Ms Pullar said.
