First Wellington City Council Crown Observer report released

Wednesday, 5 February 2025

“Personalities, politics and process” are affecting the performance of Wellington City Council, the council’s Crown Observer Lindsay McKenzie said in his first report to Government.

The report dated December 13 detailed McKenzie’s belief that the “perceived performance [of the council] is shaped in part by the interplay between elected members’ personal styles and political ideologies in meetings”.

“It seems that all members don’t give due weight to other relevant matters such as the governance principles that all councils must follow,” McKenzie wrote.

McKenzie began the report by noting that the Council shared many of its challenges with other councils across the country.

These included economic conditions, significant central government policy initiatives, and shifting attitudes towards public institutions in a post Covid-19 world.

But, Wellington City Council also faced its own challenges, such as dealing with legacy decisions, the focus of the media, being the capital city and “in [the] Parliamentary line of sight”, he said.

The then-Local Government Minister Simeon Brown appointed McKenzie to be his eyes and ears at council after a series of governance issues culminating in the council having to re-do its 10-year plan.

Now, McKenzie’s report back to Brown dated December 13 has been released by new Local Government Minister Simon Watts.

McKenzie also said the decision to amend the Council’s Long-Term Plan (LTP) continued to be “massively disruptive”.

He acknowledged, however, that the amendment project had been well structured and resourced, and said that “risks are being managed”.

“Officers are focused on aligning both the LTP and water reform decision-making process.”

This alignment also spoke to the council’s “two critical issues” - addressing its debt and balance sheet issues through the LTP amendment, and the water reform processes.

Amongst the issues McKenzie intended to explore in the future was a belief amongst some councillors that advisers were, in essence, overstepping.

“Some councillors are concerned that the council has been reduced to a rubber-stamping role,” he said.

McKenzie said councillors had cited examples of officers’ providing selective advice or a lack of timeliness as examples that had “eroded trust and confidence” between the two groups.

“The officers’ approach to supporting decision making is thorough and enabling,” McKenzie found.

“While mistakes will occur from time to time there is nothing to suggest that these are in any way deliberate or designed to constrain elected member’s role sand responsibilities.”

Speaking about his own appointment, McKenzie said: “Anecdotally at least, the appointment has moderated much of the conduct that has called governance performance into question”.

He added that the appointment of the new chief executive, due to start in April, was well managed through the recruitment, selection and appointment steps.

Since McKenzie’s first report to Brown pre-dates the final council meeting of 2024, no reference is made to Teri O’Neill calling her colleague Ray Chung’s submissions “racist”, a move that may yet land her in court.

McKenzie previously signalled issues he has found with the council in a letter, seen by The Post, that he sent to councillors before Christmas.

Here, he criticised a decision to hold an extraordinary meeting in October that saw councillors vote to stop the controversial sale of the capital’s 34% stake in Wellington airport.

That move, borne out of strong opposition to the sale from Labour councillors, forced the council’s 10-year plan to be amended.

But McKenzie said the decision could have been taken at a scheduled meeting in December where a final vote of the long-term plan would have been passed.

“It is surprising that the organisation hasn’t totally wilted under the pressure,” he wrote. “It didn’t need to be this way.”