From running marathons to running city councils

Monday, 11 January 2021

Barbara McKerrow says her days as a marathon runner have stood her in good stead for a career in local government.

Three new faces have joined Wellington City Council's leadership ranks in the past 12 months, including one who is taking up a newly established position. Damian George reports.

Barbara McKerrow reckons there are parallels between running marathons and running a city council. And she would know, because she’s done both.

The Wellington City Council chief executive has forged a track record in local government spanning almost 40 years – and in the early years of that stint also carved out a career as a champion marathon runner.

She was so successful, in fact, that she was gifted Australian citizenship in 1985 so she could represent the country at the World Marathon Cup in Japan later that year.

“The connection between my working career and [marathon running], I think, is that I’ve learned over time that I have endurance and determination,” McKerrow said. “You’ve got to be resilient to be a senior leader in local government.”

McKerrow was chosen to represent Australia during a successful marathon running career in the 1980s and 1990s.

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She played a role in the development of New Plymouth’s Len Lye Centre, which opened in 2015. (File photo)

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McKerrow was selected to run for the Victorian women’s team while living in Melbourne in 1982, having moved there earlier that year with husband Barry.

The revitalisation of Te Ngākau Civic Square is one of McKerrow’s priorities as the council works towards developing its long-term plan. (File photo)

She went on to win the Australian championship in Brisbane in a time of 2 hours, 50 minutes, 28 seconds, and three years later was chosen to represent Australia at the 1985 World Marathon Cup in Hiroshima.

Citizenship was fast-tracked, and McKerrow finished 25th out of more than 60 competitors. She was the first Australian or New Zealander home, in 2.44.23, beating 1992 Kiwi Olympic Games bronze medallist Lorraine Moller, who did not finish.

McKerrow went on to win the 1987 Christchurch marathon in a personal best time of 2.43.50, and recorded several other top-three finishes before her career wound down in 1995.

The call of home beckoned after a few years in Australia and in 1986 McKerrow returned to New Plymouth, beginning a 31-year stint at the New Plymouth District Council that started as a librarian and ended as chief executive.

McKerrow took over from outgoing chief executive Kevin Lavery in March last year.

“I’d gone all the way to the top in that council, and I was really clear that I didn’t want that to be the start and finish of my career.”

McKerrow had earlier worked for the council in 1980 as a library assistant – her first local government role – before completing a postgraduate diploma in librarianship in Wellington in 1981. She worked in libraries while living in Melbourne.

“My days of working as a librarian are a very long time ago, but I always talk about it as a wonderful time in my life where I really came to appreciate what it is to work for a city, or a community … and, of course, libraries are relatively popular services in a council.”

McKerrow looks back fondly on her time in New Plymouth, where she held the roles of librarian, Puke Ariki Library and Museum manager, community services manager, general manager of customer services, and chief executive from 2008 until 2017.

“I had this amazing time in New Plymouth being able to contribute strongly to the evolution of that community … from probably what was seen at the time as a relatively quiet provincial centre, into a place today that’s recognised as a great place to live in terms of its lifestyle, and to visit in terms of its arts and culture, environment, amenities, and events.”

McKerrow was involved in the Puke Ariki and coastal walkway developments, and led the development of the Len Lye Centre, a contemporary art museum.

In 2016, shortly before McKerrow left for Wellington, Lonely Planet named New Plymouth the second best region to visit in the world.

Chief financial officer Sara Hay says the city faces a period of uncertainty.

“It became a pretty amazing place and I enjoyed being a part of the team that helped create that.”

But after 31 years McKerrow was looking for a new challenge, and Wellington popped up. She initially joined the city council as chief operating officer in 2017 before being appointed chief executive in November 2019.

“Barry and I decided that if we were to live in a city in New Zealand, Wellington was our preferred place, because we knew it from the old days, we had networks here, and I think it’s a great city, and we really enjoy living here.”

McKerrow took over from outgoing chief executive Kevin Lavery in March, just three weeks before the coronavirus lockdown.

Wellington City Council chief financial officer Sara Hay says she was struck by the damage to Wellington’s infrastructure when she returned to the city from Auckland. (File photo)

“There were a lot of quite challenging things at the time but, as I said, you’ve got to be resilient in these roles, so I expected a challenge.”

There have been, at times, well-documented disagreements between elected members over the past year, and McKerrow said she had tried to manage those without overstepping her mark.

“You’ve got to be acutely aware of your place in building a relationship that is an effective one between the entire organisation and all of your elected members, including the mayor.”

She was focused on developing a long-term plan that addressed building resilience and a plan for Te Ngākau Civic Square. She also wanted to further lift the council’s customer service, and improve its relationship with central government and other local councils.

Hay says the shock to council revenue from the coronavirus pandemic highlighted the vulnerability of assets such as Wellington Airport. (File photo)

“In the role of chief executive, you don’t own the vision for the city … the mayor and councillors are the leaders of the city, and ultimately they determine the vision and the priorities.”

Uncertain times ahead

Less than six months into her role, Sara Hay knows she’s got a challenge on her hands.

The council’s chief financial officer, who spent five years at Auckland Council before returning to Wellington, says the capital’s upcoming 10-year plan, to be signed off by June, is shaping up to be the most difficult she has been involved in.

“Just the sheer volume of decisions to get through a council process will be challenging. The level of uncertainty in this long-term plan is the most complex that I’ve ever been involved in, and I thought I knew complexity in Auckland.”

Hay grew up in Wairarapa before moving to Wellington for university and spending 15 years in the city. Following a range of central government roles, and a stint in the private sector establishing the Wellington branch of national IT company New Era, she held a number of managerial positions at Auckland Council.

She was struck by the damage caused to Wellington’s infrastructure by the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, having returned to the city with her husband and two daughters following the coronavirus lockdown last year.

Karepa Wall has been tasked with improving the council’s relationships with local Māori.

It is that sort of vulnerability that Hay believes may require the council to purchase asset shares beyond the Wellington region to safeguard its finances.

“If I think of our balance sheet at the moment other than rates, our non-rates revenue streams are really vulnerable to a shock.

“Our shareholding in the airport, as we saw through the pandemic, that’s vulnerable to a shock.

“An investment portfolio is an easy way to diversify risk. At the moment it’s very centralised in the Wellington geographical area and, so if a shock hit Wellington and Wellington City Council, it hits our revenues streams.”

Hay suggested an investment shares portfolio could be managed by a third party.

“That’s an opportunity, and that’s something we want to consult Wellingtonians on, potentially.”

Selling shares was also an option, but those were decisions to be made by elected members, not council staff, Hay said.

The council owns 34 per cent of the airport, and mayor Andy Foster has previously floated the idea of the organisation divesting that share.

“We both know there won’t be universal support for that, but there could be support. That’s definitely a political decision.”

Overall, Hay believes the council is in a strong financial position.

“If I look at the other growth councils – Auckland, Tauranga, Christchurch, Hamilton – they have already got immense pressure on their balance sheet. Wellington is probably in a better starting position than that.

“Ever since we sold Wellington Electricity [in the mid-1990s], we had this massive cash reserve that we kind of were able to use to deliver the wonderful Wellington of the ‘90s … we’ve only started eating into debt in the last couple of decades.”

Strengthening partnerships in new role

Karepa Wall says his role in building council relationships with Māori is not a complex one. Until now, it just hasn’t been done.

Wall, originally from Waitara in Taranaki, took up the inaugural role as the council’s head of Māori strategic relationships in October, and plans to use his connections to bolster the council’s support for local Māori businesses.

“The challenge has been coming in and identifying what we need to do from a strategic point of view,” Wall said.

“How do we strengthen some of the partnerships? The partnerships are there, but [they’re] not necessarily as deep and strong as they should be.”

Wall comes from an education background, having completed a bachelor of education and master’s degree at Te Wānanga o Raukawa, in Ōtaki.

He spent about six years teaching in Wellington primary schools, and the past 10 years as senior manager of te reo Māori at the Ministry of Education.

He is also on the board for Te Mātāwai, an independent entity which aims to promote the use of te reo in homes and the community.

“I’m really keen to use that influence in the council to [help us] become the first and only te reo capital in the world.”

That meant encouraging things like te reo signage and titles of people, Wall said.

“We can’t force companies to do it, but we can support companies to do it.”

Wellington had many Māori-led small businesses and start-ups, and Wall’s role would be to help them form working relationships with the council.

“It’s literally just about forming partnerships through people that you know, letting them know we’re here and that we can help them, [and finding out] how they can help us.

“It’s not a complex thing to do. It’s just not been done, for some reason.”