What are your priorities for the year ahead?
Key local objectives for our council are to fully restore Queens Park following the October storm, complete the build of our new museum within budget, contain rates increases to a minimum, resolve the future of the burned-out Briscoe building and fully operationalise our water services delivery plan.
What opportunities do you see in the year to come?
Invercargill already has a strong economy, which is likely to strengthen further this year resulting in low levels of unemployment and excellent growth prospects. There is an optimistic mood in the city about 2026.
What challenges do you see? How do you plan to navigate these?
From the council’s perspective the tsunami of legislative changes announced by government just before Christmas has created a mountain of work which will inevitably take a significant portion of staff time. We don’t view the proposed changes negatively, but there is a real risk of staff distraction from working on local issues and the risk of a blowout of consultant costs if not very tightly managed.
What New Year's resolutions do you have for your city ...?
In terms of ambitions for the city it is to achieve the objectives above but overall to see Invercargill flourish.
... and your council?
In terms of ambitions for the council itself it is to continue to build on an excellent start, working collegiately and putting the interest of the city first always.
How did you spend your holiday break?
I spent Christmas week in Fiji with a family group. The first time we’ve ever spent Christmas Day away from home.
