The NPDC has a new Interim CEO, who will also continue as the CEO of the Regional Council, Plus work on amalgamating the Taranaki Councils as part of the new RMA.

Steve Ruru is to be the new interim CEO of NPDC, while still doing his role as the CEO of TRC (Taranaki Regional Council) - and - also tasked with advancing a reorganisation plan, which can be amalgamated with the Taranaki 3 Local Councils and the TRC.

That’s 2 ½ to 3 jobs if we are counting correctly and a huge ask for any one person to do this function well.

The new Government RMA reforms intend to simplify Local Government and effectively abolish Regional Councils by 2029. Local Councils across the country are to be combined with Regional Councils, and then amalgamated with just one council for each region. In the case of Taranaki, New Plymouth, Stratford and South Taranaki will have one spatial plan and one Council covering the entire region. This is part of the upcoming RMA changes.

The overview of the RMA reforms from the Central Government is heavily based on all of the Community developing spatial plans and driving the reforms for their region. Spatial Plans will be approved and signed off by Central Government before being implemented.

Max Brough and the TRC Chairman, Craig Williamson, came up with the concept of a combined CEO role from discussions they had about the upcoming RMA Changes.

Their plan is for the TRC and NPDC to work together to “front-foot” the RMA changes.

Stratford and South Taranaki have not been involved in discussions about the work the TRC CEO will be doing. Both of these Mayors told Stuff they would prefer to look at RMA simplifications as a region, from the start, with a united approach, with their view being it will be more difficult for the other 2 Councils to fit in with the NPDC and TRC plan if they haven’t been involved in developing concepts from the beginning.

Both Stratford and South Taranaki being smaller regions, with less debt than the New Plymouth region, will also have concerns about how their regions needs get built in to future plans, and how the debt situation in New Plymouth affects what their Ratepayers will have to pay in rates.

Steve Ruru, as well as being the CEO of NPDC and the TRC at the same time, will also be identifying future structures, models and efficiencies for running one Council for the Taranaki Region.

Max Brough worked with the outgoing NPDC CEO Gareth Green on the logistics of Steve Ruru stepping into the 2 roles at the same time. Max and Gareth both believe this will work. Max believes Steve Ruru looking at the 2 organisations both together would have more of an impact on change than just tweaking each organisation here and there.

Steve Ruru starts in the new combined roles on 20 March. He will be in charge of over 800 staff at the NPDC and 300 at the TRC.

The detail of the new role has not yet been decided, but the new salary will look at rearranging the income of both current CEO roles. Green was reported as earning $412k at the NPDC, and at the TRC Ruru’s package was $394k plus a vehicle, superannuation and medical benefits. The new position is likely to have a pretty hefty salary.

Craig Williamson was confident Steve Ruru would handle the workload and with support from Senior Staff would start to swiftly shape Local Government in the Taranaki Region.

Williamson said they want to be early movers in looking for efficiencies, cost savings and streamlining Local Government.

We do agree with this last sentiment – but is this really the best way ?

How does an interim CEO – now take on 2 CEO Roles – plus - add to that how the new Simplifying Local Government will be structured for a Spatial Plan for the whole of Taranaki – effectively now doing 2 ½ to 3 positions going forward ?

A new plan is being developed from within the Council – but what are the community in Taranaki wanting in their one combined Spatial Plan for the region. Is what will be changed match with what the community will be asking for ?

Our very first thoughts when reading about this was both CEO roles, the TRC Role and the NPDC role, are full time positions. Gareth Green and Steve Ruru both had big jobs with the individual roles they have held. How is it possible for one person to do those 2 full time roles successfully – as well as add on a restructure and spatial planning for the entire region ?

The NPDC in particular has many issues that urgently need addressing.   2 failed Deloitte’s Audits which expose huge shortcomings with financial processes and systems (one example being the lack of a robust system for purchase orders and payments) 

How will one person with 3 new roles manage to get to the bottom of the gaping issues that already exist at the NPDC and get those fixed ?

Were none of the previous full time highly paid jobs, individually, actually a full time commitment - so this new person has so much capacity to now do 2+ roles ?

Is another new position - or two - going to fit alongside Steve Ruru, so someone is going to do all the work that each individual CEO was doing full time previously ?

It is not at all clear how this can actually work ? There is something like 100 —to 120 hours a week tied up in this new interim position – that leaves less time than a full nights sleep every day – if all the previous functions done by these CEO’s are still going to happen.

Are we missing something thinking that this new role is not doable ?

And, if we are truly looking at a massive reorganisation of Local Government, how about we include some expertise in change management from the private sector – not consultants – but successful proven change management specialists from Corporate NZ, who have successfully implemented change in large organisations.

Why can’t we have some “outside the box” successful expertise from people who truly know how to gain efficiencies, cost savings and streamlining – that has been proven to actually work in the real world (not the system of government).

The same mindsets from people with long careers in Local Government does not bring fresh ideas on how things can be done in a better way – as all they know is the Government System they have been involved with over many years. Of course these senior people will know what is required under Local Government Law, but change management that actually works is NOT a strength of people working in the Central or Local Government sector, or the Consultant companies they have traditionally worked with.

We would love to see some people from the “real world” get involved in discussions on how to bring significant change, using real life skills that have worked, which improves how the new “One Council” operates - so the savings for Ratepayers are actually realised.

This is the link to the announcement about the NPDC Interim CEO position on their website:

https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360962415/trc-boss-job-share-interim-chief-executive-npdc