Waipā mayor Susan O’Regan says pausing the council’s Long Term Plan (LTP) process last year in favour of a one-year one was wrong.
Susan O’Regan faces questions in a media conference after the first international Jetstar flight arrived in Waipā, at Hamilton Airport with from left Jetstar CEO Stephanie Tully, Hamilton mayor Paula Southgate, MP Andrew Hoggard and airport CEO Mark Morgan. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
She made the comments ahead of three days of LTP hearings, which began on Tuesday. The hearings included presentations from 42 of the 143 submitters.
By later today (Thursday) the plan is expected to confirm average rate increases of 15.5, 10.7 and 6.9 per cent over the next three years.
These follow a 14.8 per cent increase last year – significant hikes for a council that traditionally avoids going beyond inflation.
In an exclusive column for The News today, O’Regan said she had instructed staff to “sharpen their pencils” even further.
“I wanted to be absolutely sure that every proposed dollar was necessary.”
Reflecting on the decision to defer the LTP and adopt an enhanced annual plan instead, she acknowledged it was the wrong call.
“But you know, hindsight’s a beautiful thing, right?
At the time, we had hoped we would get greater clarity on a handful of things – and the reality is, we didn’t. Looking back, we probably ought not to have made that decision.
“It was a unanimous decision, so we have to collectively take that one on the chin and deal with it,” she told The News.
The decision added pressure to an already strained council grappling with rapid growth and rising debt, all in the lead-up to a local body election and following an unfavourable Audit Office decision.
O’Regan admitted to feeling under pressure personally but said she was elected mayor three years ago on a mandate of change both around the council table and within the organisation.
Waipa District Council shortly after its election in 2022, from left Takena Stirling, Mike Montgomerie, Clare St Pierre, Roger Gordon, Liz Stolwyk, Susan O’Regan, Gary Dyet, Marcus Gower, Andrew Brown, Lou Brown, Bruce Thomas. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
“I always wanted to be a mayor that included and drew on the expertise of the people around the table and that is borne out through the course of the process.”
She said elected members were involved at every stage and unanimously supported the council’s direction.
“It doesn’t mean to say that we all love where we’re at.
“At the end of the day, we’re all human, we all want what’s right, the best things for our communities.
“The fact is our collective decisions that were unanimous the whole way through have got us to where we’re at.”
O’Regan described Waipā’s unprecedented growth and unusually high inflation as a “perfect storm.”
“I came in on a mandate of change. The organisation needed that change – Waipā needed that change. The things I’ve done in terms of ushering in new leadership are ongoing and we’ll deliver the change that people are wanting.”
O’Regan said public service – contributing to the community you grew up and live in – ran in her blood. Her mother, the late Katherine O’Regan, was a Waipā county councillor and member of Parliament.
She, elected members and council staff did not seek to make lives difficult for residents – “it’s just not what public service is about”.
Susan O’Regan speaks at the Cambridge Connections drop in meeting watched by, from left Bryan Hudson and in the background Jo Davies-Colley, Clare St Pierre and Mike Pettit. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
O’Regan acknowledged Cambridge Connections – dubbed the “Blue Blob saga” after staff proposed a third bridge route through an established suburb – will hang over her through the upcoming campaign.
“People may well judge me for it, but I’d like them to see that I had the strength to apologise, understand and show empathy for the predicament a number of people in Cambridge found themselves.
“That is not only regrettable but should never have happened.”
She said her apology was genuine and that she took steps to pause the project and commission an independent review.
“Was it the outcome we were expecting? What were we, as elected members, led to believe? There were a lot of mistakes.”
It was the response from her and other councillors to a situation “not really of my making” which she wanted residents to remember.
“Being accountable is a critical part of this role,” said O’Regan.
See: Long term plan: the background.
Susan O’Regan on her first day of mayor. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
