The Engineer with Dr Tim Maltby

The elections are now behind us. Mahé Drysdale has been elected mayor, along with nine ward councillors - a team of 10 very competent Tauranga folk. We wish them well. There is a lot of work to do for Tauranga over the next four years, so they will be busy.

The inaugural council meeting was held on Friday, August 2, for the swearing in of the mayor and eight of the nine councillors. Mikaere Sydney was absent because of illness. We wish him a speedy recovery.

Here is a link to the YouTube recording of the event. It is well worth watching, if you have not already watched it.

During the meeting, Drysdale nominated Jen Scoular as deputy mayor. Scoular has lamented that she is the only woman on the council. As a result, Scoular is the lone rose among all those thorns. But is that a bad thing? She will be the undisputed queen bee on council, with no competition. One bright ray of colour among all those drab suits. I am an engineer, and not a fashionista, but apricot is my favourite rose colour (did I get the colour right?).

On the subject of fashion, a big shout-out to Drysdale for not wearing a tie. If that’s good enough for the mayor, then he is setting the dress standard for the councillors to follow.

Tauranga is lucky to have a very competent team of 10. They have spent the last week or so being briefed and attending meetings to decide committees, standing orders, remuneration, delegation authorities and many other things.

The feedback is Drysdale is very collaborative and the team is working well together. This council is vastly different to the previous council under former mayor Tenby Powell - its members had started infighting even before they were sworn in. The collaborative leadership by Drysdale bodes very well for the future and Tauranga.

My own experience as a candidate during the election was of a very congenial and collaborative atmosphere between most of the candidates. That has obviously continued on to the elected council, which is a very good thing. Tauranga does not want to see a repeat of the previous debacle.

The first proper meeting of the council is to take place on Thursday, August 15. At that meeting, the committees will be announced, standing orders, remuneration and delegation authorities approved, etc.

There will also be serious business. There are various issues hovering in the background which might come to the fore in the first meeting. We will wait and see what is on the agenda.

All the best to the incoming council.