Ed Said - New management taking shape.

 

Two names have recently come to the fore in regard to the immediate if not long term future of the Kaipara.

The first is that of Graham Sibery who has won the appointment of Council CEO and will take over the post from acting CEO Jill McPherson in early July when nominations for a new council will open.

That he has been employed under a 5 year contract is interesting as he has held four different posts in Australia over the past eight years including the last year on leave. He may well have had family commitments in his native England which are, of course, none of our business.

He is coming in ‘cold’ to a completely unknown quantity though the internet will have provided him with anything and everything he would ever want to know about the Kaipara. It’s also interesting that his past posts all have a close relationship with rail travel. That will give him an inherited posse of supporters or opponents depending on whether he sees rail in the north as an issue given also the spate of recent deaths through logging truck accidents on sub-standard roads.

While expected to have above average managerial skills, he will also arrive to a clean slate as, in October, a new Mayor and council will also be elected to pilot Kaipara towards a pattern of stability, growth and sustainability for the immediate future.

At the same time we understand Ruawai farmer Greg Gent will be throwing his hat in the ring in July to bid for the Mayoral seat. Greg is something of an un-sung local hero. A Kaipara man through and through yet with a solid industrial and political grounding. In 1993 he became chairman of the Northland Co-operative Dairy Company and played a key role leading to the merger into Fonterra.

He is a director of the Southern Cross Group, is chairman of the Farmers Mutual Group and now has a ministerial appointment as a member of the Northland District Health Board. A talented horseman in his youth, he also now holds the voluntary position of director on the Equestrian Sports New Zealand board. He not only has local knowledge but first-hand experience of the more recent Kaipara workings in being a part of the three man Governance team in the period between the resignation of Council and appointment of Commissioners.

There may yet be more applicants but such a worthy one may serve to encourage others to step forward to help form a solid band of capable, inventive, enthusiastic and energetic Councillors in whom the populace can feel confident and who are firmly focussed on throwing off the shackles of the past decade, which cannot be changed, and press forward.

While these are leading roles, they are still only two members of council and require a commitment from the entire body if Kaipara is to gain the stability it now demands and deserves.