Mayor and former National MP Nick Smith recommended Wellington observer

Tuesday, 12 November 2024

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau reacts to plan to have a Crown observer

Eleven-term National MP Nick Smith put forward Lindsay McKenzie to be the government’s eyes and ears at the Wellington City Council but the fly-in-fly-out observer says he is proudly “politically agnostic”.

Smith, now mayor of Nelson, confirmed he put McKenzie’s name forward for the role when he heard Local Government Minister Simeon Brown was looking for an observer at the troubled council.

Smith described McKenzie as “capable and experienced” and said he was well-suited to the Wellington appointment having helped the Invercargill council through “difficulties around governance“.

“We wish him the very best the very best in a very challenging situation in Wellington city,” Smith said.

Lindsay McKenzie has been named as the Crown observer to the Wellington City Council.

That situation is that the council, after deciding to keep its 34% stake in Wellington Airport, now has to amend its long-term plan and make up the money the sale would have made. It has just nine days from Tuesday to figure out what it plans to spend on and what spending it wants to cut with everything from a Golden Mile revamp to saving a pool to a skate park all in jeopardy.

Brown announced he was going to install an observer soon after the council voted to keep its airport shares but also due to “recent incidents such as walk-outs, refusal to participate in votes, and representatives engaging in repeated public criticism of one another and council staff”. It took him 20 days to appoint McKenzie, who starts in Wellington on Wednesday.

McKenzie on Tuesday said he was aware that Smith “put my CV” in for the job but said he also applied for it. He only found out he was successful on Monday afternoon.

Despite Smith’s hand in the process, McKenzie said the role was not political and described himself as “politically agnostic and proud of it”.

Nelson Mayor Nick Smith confirmed he put Lindsay McKenzie’s name forward.

He planned to stay living in Nelson and would commute to Wellington for what he imagined would be a two-day-a-week job. There may be some more work at the start, he said.

He would report back to Brown monthly and saw his job as being about completing a new long-term plan the council and community could accept by the end of June.

He had until now internationally kept out of council business so he could come to the job with fresh eyes.

McKenzie currently sits as an independent member on the Nelson City Council audit, risk and finance committee. He stepped in as the council’s interim chief executive from December 2022 to April 2023.

“When Invercargill City Council was facing governance issues, Mr McKenzie was called upon as an external appointee to support its governance performance improvement programme,” Brown said.

“He also has strong financial acumen, which is reflected in his current appointment as an Independent Member of the Nelson City Council Audit, Risk and Finance Committee.”

Mckenzie’s LinkedIn page shows he was a committee adviser to the Christchurch City Council from August 2020 to October 2022. He was an external appointee for the Invercargill City Council, helping with governance support. from December 2020 to May 2022. He was previously chief executive an Environment Southland, Gisborne District Council and Tasman District Council.