Despite three years of almost constantly putting out proverbial fires, and copping his fair share of criticism, Queenstown mayor Glyn Lewers, 47, had no hesitation putting his hand up for a second term.
Issues include the months-long cryptosporidium outbreak of 2023, ongoing housing and infrastructure pressure, the Shotover Wastewater Treatment Plant’s disposal fields failure, continued controversy over the $2billion-plus mixed-use Lakeview development, and criticism of wasteful spending — council’s long-term plan, adopted last year, outlines a $2.4b capital expenditure programme, while this year it adopted "historically high" rates rises, an average increase of 15.6% for 2024-’25.
On spending criticism, Lewers replies: "I push back quite heavily on that.
"I can’t think of any major project ... that I’ve been the mayor on, and made the decision on, that has resulted in a budget blowout."
There was the controversial arterial bypass road, dubbed the "road to nowhere", the cost of which ballooned from $50million to more than $128m, but Lewers says the trigger was pulled on that project "under a previous mayoralty".
"I’ve run a pretty tight ship.
"But I’ve also had to deal with huge inflationary pressures on construction materials."
The district’s roading maintenance budgets are one example.
Tender prices are about 50% higher than anticipated, while the bitumen price index, to which the contract is pegged, rose 57% in about four years.
"When you’ve got to deal with these inflationary pressures that we’re seeing in the construction sector, it’s hard to absorb those costs.
"Our salary base is only 18% of our cost structure, but our ... rates-derived revenue is only 52.9% of our revenue. That’s why you see us looking at things like parking revenue, tables and chairs and fees and licences, so the people that use the service pay a little bit more, and [we] stop leaning on mum and dad ratepayer."
But it all feeds into a seemingly increasing anti-council narrative throughout the district.
Just 17% of respondents to council’s first Community Insights Survey were satisfied, or very satisfied, with the leadership of the mayor and councillors — of the 3400 people sent the survey, 445 responded.
"It’s probably a fair reflection on the way we communicate — it’s not as proactive as we could be, but then again, when we have tried to do that, we’ve been shot down, and that’s not just from the public, but a couple of ... elected members that don’t like to see the council actually tell a good news story, which is a bit disappointing," he says.
"It’s a definite work-on."
Reflecting on the communication over the Shotover wastewater issues, Lewers describes that as "unfortunate".
At a public-excluded briefing to councillors, Lewers says elected members agreed to talk to Otago Regional Council (ORC) and iwi partners before informing the public of plans to pump at least 12,000cum of treated sewage into the Shotover River, daily.
Before that happened, Cr Niki Gladding publicly blew the whistle.
Lewers: "The way it unfolded, it was all short-circuited and those relationships were damaged because of one individual, which was very disappointing.
"We were going to communicate it to the public, and that is truthful.
"But when someone unilaterally thinks they have a better idea, and they don’t, it was pretty poor form.
"And that was expressed by the councillors."
At a subsequent extraordinary meeting, elected members voted 8-2 to remove Gladding from her two council committees.
The pair have a visibly fractious relationship.
In May, Gladding told Mountain Scene she wasn’t seeking re-election for Queenstown’s council, intending to stand for ORC.
One of the reasons was because she and Lewers should "never be on the same council again".
She flip-flopped, though, and is now standing again for the district council, this time in the Wānaka-Upper Clutha ward.
As to if the pair can work together, should they both be successful, Lewers says his focus will be on the job of the mayor and "protecting the ratepayer".
"I’ll maintain the office and make sure that our budget and our spend and what we do is above board, and make sure that we move forward.
"We’ve got some great incumbents that want to see a better future ... and we’re working towards that."
Looking to that "better future", Lewers points to central government as one of the district’s biggest handbrakes, and accuses them of "punching down on local government".
"You get the impression that they’re trying to make local government fail so they can step in.
"I think it’s counter-intuitive because ... if central government truly want to actually reach their aspirations and kick some goals, they need local government to help them out.
"That’s probably where the regional deal framework [comes in], we can start changing that conversation."
Should he get a second term, Lewers says his immediate priority’s onboarding a new chief executive — Mike Theelen will finish in February after 10 years in the role — while he also wants that regional deal nailed down before October next year.
It’s a "hard ask", he says, "but I’d really like to see that one come to fruition".
For the record ...
Is there a conflict of interest with regional deal negotiations given Rod Drury’s backing your campaign?:
"No. If the gondola goes ahead, they’ll be under the fast-track consenting regime. There’s no conflict when you’re talking about regional deal negotiation considering we have our own negotiator, and I’m one of six members on the negotiation committee."
On criticism of his campaign team:
"I think, as a mayoral candidate, to actually show that example, we can get a team together and actually work together under a common purpose is probably what you want from a mayoral candidate, and the fact that I’ve got many donations coming in gives me the confidence that actually I do have a strong case to prove, and a very strong mandate."
Do you still have confidence in outgoing CEO Mike Theelen?:
"Of course. He is a very high-performing chief executive. The independent review of culture within that organisation is in the upper quartile, internationally. His legacy will be very long-lasting."
