Napier City Council Report

From the governance to the operational level, Council should ensure its focus is an integrated one from decision-making to service delivery. Opportunities exist for Council to plan, lead and execute its functions more effectively as part of a clear plan to achieve its vision of ‘a vibrant and sustainable city for all’. In this way, Council will enable its communities to thrive.

Napier City Council

Leading locally

Variable

While Council is performing well in some areas, at its core it is an organisation that has endured difficult times and is urgently in need of consistent leadership to deliver a period of stability. Strategic capability and greater decision-making discipline would be beneficial at the governance and executive leadership levels to ensure deliverability of the capital programme and effective management of assets. This would also have beneficial impacts on financial management, staff morale, external relationships and service delivery.

Investing money well

Competent

Decisions made in relation to the 2021 Long Term Plan mean that Council will not run a balanced budget for several years. This results in heightened financial risk, especially in capital programme delivery.

Delivering what’s important

Competent

Low confidence in asset condition data, coupled with a historic renewals’ deficit, present significant challenges to service delivery and asset management, which Council decision-makers do not yet appear to fully comprehend.

Listening and responding

Better than competent

Council has the processes and capability in place to communicate and engage effectively. However, both staff and ratepayers indicate growing dissatisfaction with their ability to keep informed and ‘have a say’.