Hamilton City Councillor Andrew Bydder has written a lengthy and detailed article for the Good Oil to help readers concerned about our local councils to get prepared for the next LGNZ elections. This is part five and the final. [Ed.]
PART E – HOW DO WE MAKE THE CHANGE?
“Somebody has to start, so it may as well be you.”
To make the necessary change requires control of the council by a majority of councillors working with a common purpose. I will refer to this majority as ‘our team’. It is not a political party that dictates every decision. Members of our team can have independence on issues outside the core matters. The team will include people outside council because, to be effective, the elected members of the team need support.
While it is beneficial to have the mayor as part of our team, it is not necessary. The mayor is just one vote, same as any councillor, with the only difference of having a casting vote in the event of a tie. If our team has a majority over an opposition including the mayor, then the mayor is irrelevant. We need enough good candidates for council to ensure a majority.
Our team can then direct the chief executive to implement the structural, financial and personnel changes. It is possible that the existing chief executive, being part of the present system, will resist and undermine the directives. In this case, it will be necessary to replace the chief executive.
The directives will include oversight from team members outside council to ensure staff also implement the changes. The chief executive does not have the expertise or the time to oversee every function of the council, so will need the support of the team.
Forming the team
Most good people who can see the problems in council are too busy doing good work such as running businesses employing local people. We keep society functioning, which has become so hard that we don’t have much time left for politics. The only way we can take on people already embedded in council with authority and resources to resist us is to share the load.
A personal message to anyone reading this – I have seen many good people get burnt out. Give as much as you can, but no more. Ultimately, the public need to do their part and support us. You can’t do it by yourself.
The team will function best with four layers:
1. Candidates for election
2. Steering group
3. Experts
4. Supporters
1 Candidates for election
To anyone contemplating standing for election – it is the easiest job I have ever had. There is some time reading reports prepared by the staff, and the council meeting allows me to ask a few questions. The decision making takes place in a debate where I get two minutes to speak. A vote is held. After that, the staff may have actions to carry out but I can leave. In my professional career, I never left a meeting without more work to do! There is no stress, because there is no accountability for three years and you can always blame other councillors for bad decisions. It is also obvious that half the councillors do not read the reports or worse (and more likely) do not understand them.
The mayor is a full-time position to do the public engagements, ribbon cutting and speeches, but a councillor role is a part-time position. The hours vary from week to week, depending on meetings and how many optional engagements you attend. I average 20 hours per week because I spend a lot of extra time helping people with individual problems. The purpose of the team is to have support and expert advice so that the workload is shared. Having control of the council means some meetings can be replaced with smaller, targeted, working groups. The team should be able to support a councillor giving 10 hours per week. This means it is possible to run a business at the same time, as I have done.
The pay varies from council to council and it is related to the population of the district. This is bizarre, because the issues facing councils are the same, regardless of size, and small-population rural districts have complications from large geographical areas that do not affect the urban councils. The pay is bulk funded, so the number of councillors affects the breakdown. As examples, Hamilton has 14 councillors with a base of $81,000 per annum, Tauranga has a smaller population but fewer councillors, with a base of $110,000, while Waipa, with one-third of Hamilton’s population has a base of $40,000.
Mayoral salaries have a different system and are set by the Higher Salaries Commission. Hamilton’s is $180,000.
Sadly, a lot of election voting is done on name recognition rather than policy. It helps to have a public profile, but as will be explained in the election campaign section of this guide, the team can overcome a lack of profile with effective marketing. What you will need is a thick skin. Left-wing media, social justice warriors, current councillors and other nutters will attack you. I simply don’t care what they think.
The key criterion for standing is recognising the need for change for the sake of the community, not just yourself. Ideally, the candidates will cover a range of core skills and practical experience in such areas as business, law, accounting, engineering, management, property development and information technology.
For the team, selecting candidates to support is a challenge. The steering committee has an important role here and some tough decisions might need to be made. A candidate with a higher profile might be more electable than a candidate with the best skill. I hate to say it, but we need to get candidates elected first in order to implement change, so if the steering committee doesn’t choose you, it is not a slight on your abilities. You can still support the team. The key criterion for selection has to be commitment to the team strategy and goals, so if you want to stand, you have to be thoroughly committed to those.
2 Steering Committee
To team organisers – gathering the team is your job. Start with the steering committee by getting a few others to kick it off. As your numbers grow, you can change the make-up of the committee, so don’t feel burdened to lead it or stay on it if you don’t have the skills or time.
Candidates need to be supported by a group of civic leaders with knowledge, experience and community networks. Good candidates will have specialist skills, but the team needs to cover a broad range of abilities. The steering committee needs to find the best balance to form a team on council and a team off council, and it will also coordinate the campaigns.
Small is good. Four to six people is enough for a core group. Bigger can be less efficient and makes decisions harder. Bring in experts as needed for advice on particular topics and delegate to professionals amongst the supporters.
The steering committee will interview and select election candidates who are committed to the team strategy and goals. The broad solutions are outlined in this guide but there will be local issues that need special focus as well.
Candidate selection criteria will begin with a commitment to the team strategy and goals. What you are offering to the candidates is an effective election campaign and post-election support, so you expect their loyalty. Other criteria include their own personal profile, skills, honesty, integrity, presentation and communication. Current councillors who want to be part of the team have an advantage on re-election and bring value with an inside view on staff and processes.
The steering committee also needs to lead the fundraising for the campaigns. Bringing candidates together as a team is best done by bulk funding the team rather than the individual.
3 Experts
To team organisers – the expert role is critical to the success of the whole team. You may think it will be difficult to find them. Not so.
Every council district will have experienced professionals with a long history in the area, a good reputation and who care more about the future of their community than making a quick buck. These people are great at their jobs but do not have the time or skills to stand for election. They are frustrated because they absolutely know that what the councils do is wrong. As a property developer, I know the cost of building and I see councils spending four times as much as I could do the same project for. This has gone on for so long that many experts have given up hope of councils changing.
Once word of your team building gets out, you are likely to get experts wanting to join. However, if your team lacks expertise in some areas, then it may be necessary to shoulder tap people. You will find most are honoured to be asked.
You need experts in local advertising and social media to help with the education and election campaigns.
You need experts in accounting, law, management and community groups to either be on the steering committee or be available to support with advice and reviews.
You need experts in council core services such as roading, engineering and property development to advise on local issues and solutions for educating voters and election candidates.
After the election, experts are needed to review staff reports to give independent advice to councillors. Councillors will receive reports a few days before a meeting or a briefing session. They need to be able to email the report to a relevant expert to get a couple of hours of help free of charge. Councillors do not have a budget for this, which is one way staff control them. The expert can give feedback or suggest questions to ask to get more information. In this way, councillors get to make better decisions and break free of staff control. If more than a few hours are needed, councillors could vote to instruct the chief executive to get a paid external review from the team’s panel of experts, not the council’s panel of pet advisors.
External experts can also be engaged to oversee specific departments and direct the departmental manager on how to work more efficiently. To avoid conflicts of interest, the team can have its own panel of experts in each area to rotate the workload.
4 Supporters
To anyone thinking of supporting our team – I never expected to be a politician. I am interested in policy, but I hate politics. I can’t bring myself to play all the dirty games of behind-the-scenes deals. I speak my mind and I don’t hold back. I run my own business and I already do a huge amount for the community. Being on council costs me $100,000 per year in lost income. I understand why good and successful people like you would not want to do it. I happen to be at the stage of life and career where I can, but it may be too big a sacrifice for you.
The team needs support. Money is great. Think about the cost of uncontrolled rates rises on your family and business. Think about the debt burden on your children. This is our last chance to stop it. The team cannot do it without financial help. Please donate if you can.
Time and professional services are also great. There are two campaigns to run. If you can assist with those, we can reach more people and get more votes.
Your business and community networks are the key. Simply getting the message out that we can fix the council is a help. Voter apathy is the single biggest problem we need to overcome. Many people have given up on council elections because the councillors don’t listen and nothing changes. This time is different. We need you to do our marketing.
Building the team
To team organisers – For some people, the biggest reason for not speaking up is the belief that they are alone. You are not alone! Somebody has to start, so it may as well be you. Talk to people, let them know you want to fix your council. You will be surprised at how many people will thank you. Join up with anyone who shares your interest. Word will spread and small clusters will be drawn together to form a big group.
Share this guide. A lot of people will be scared of making a commitment, so make it clear that for most people, all we are asking is support in networking and promoting our candidates. The guide explains how those who want to contribute more can fit into the team.
The fact that you started talking doesn’t commit you to being the leader. If you can, great! But getting the group started can be your best gift. You too can be a supporter and let others take on the candidate or steering group roles.
Being a good team member
All team members – We have got ourselves into this mess by succumbing to the old tactic of divide and conquer. We have been led into a path of arguing about our differences. Diversity is not our strength. Identity politics is divisive. These are the tools of the social engineers trying to undermine us.
Not everyone of us will agree with everything the team wants to do. We will have different agendas, pet peeves, ideas and methods. Nor is anyone of us perfect. We need to accept this and still work together. I have seen too many groups lose focus and argue amongst themselves, becoming ineffective. I agree with 80 per cent of my group, and they agree with 80 per cent of my ideas. That is more than enough. I am sacrificing focus on my pet issues of resource consents and building consents. I may get a chance to work on them once the team strategy and goals are achieved.
As a candidate for election, you will have freedom to vote how you wish on non-core issues. But you must put the team first on the core issues.
As a steering committee member, you must focus on achieving the outcome. It is a case of the ends justifying the means. We are stuck with a political system.
As an expert advisor, your help is valued but the team is often forced to compromise.
As a supporter, the team may not be perfect but, when you look at the alternative, we are the best option you have.
Key dates
· Candidate nominations open 1 July, close 1 August.
· Voting packs mailed to voters 9–22 September and voting opens.
· Mail-in voting closes 7 October.
· In-person voting closes 11 October midday.
· Results 11 October.
Councils have their own rules on advertising and campaign budgets. For instance, Hamilton prohibits election signs prior to nominations opening and councillors are not allowed to spend more than $20,000 on their campaign.
Education campaign
We need voters to understand that they can make a difference this time. We need them to know what the issues are and that there are real solutions. We also need them to realise what the consequences of inaction are. We need to scare them into active participation.
This will take time – longer than the election campaign. The sooner we start, the better. The steering committee needs to lead this, with the help of experts and professional supporters, and financial supporters are essential to fund it. All supporters will need to use their networks to spread the information.
Much of the campaign information can be shared between teams across the country because the same issues affect all councils. Because the steering committee is focusing on issues and not candidates for this campaign, it is not subject to electioneering rules.
Election Campaign
Candidate advertising is restricted to close to election time. The steering committee needs to coordinate the candidates to get the message across that a team approach is necessary to fixing councils. Name recognition is important, so our team’s candidates need to promote each other as well as themselves. Candidates have maximum campaign expenditure limits, but other people are allowed to express their opinions publicly through social media and the team can use signage as long as local planning rules are complied with.
The whole team is needed to help. Those who can’t donate money can donate time for door knocking, handing out pamphlets, waving street signs or anything else that may show your support. My Hamilton team will be getting some expert advice on the most effective way to campaign and I am happy to share this with any teams across the country.
Voting Strategy
There are now a variety of voting systems across New Zealand’s councils. Some are still the traditional First Past the Post (FPP), where there might be, for example, four seats in a ward, so you get four votes and the four with the most votes get elected. Other councils have different systems such as Single Transferable Vote (STV), where you rank candidates in order of preference. There might be six seats in a ward, but you still only get one vote. If your first choice doesn’t make it, your vote is transferred to your next choice. If that doesn’t make sense to you, you are not alone!
The steering committee will need to work out the best strategy. Contact me if you need help and I can get my experts to look into your local system. This will need to be communicated to voters because a lot of votes are wasted.
Councils issue voter packs to registered voters, including a booklet with a short biography of each candidate. This bio is supplied by the candidate, so the steering committee can coordinate our team’s candidates to include voting instructions, such as identifying the other team members and how to rank them under STV.
Post election
We can continue to share information and experiences with successful candidates and teams. But you need to be prepared to resist the Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) indoctrination that will start immediately with council staff running induction programmes. One of the messages you will be given is that ‘governance’ (councillors’ roles) must be kept separate from ‘operations’ (staff roles). This is a deliberate misrepresentation of the Local Government Act section 39(C). Firstly, this clause refers to regulatory decision making, not governance, and secondly, LGNZ omits the words “so far as reasonably practicable” from their documents. It has become clear that it is no longer practicable to separate governance from operations. Therefore, you are legally allowed to make decisions affecting operations, and in fact, you are obliged to do so for the good of the community.
This is part of a process I have termed “staff capture”. The staff will make councillors’ jobs easy, giving them reports and briefing sessions from internal experts to make councillors believe they have all the information they need. Predetermined options will be nicely presented with a staff recommendation, which appears very easy to agree with. Unimportant issues will be left wide-open for debate to let councillors think they are in control and making big decisions. Staff capture is why most councillors have failed.
CONTACT FOR ADVICE
There will be teams all across the country this year, so we can share information. I am willing to give advice to any team and set up video calls to talk to team members. You can contact me via my personal email andrew.bydder@xtra.co.nz.
Ed: This is the fourth part of a series. Part A is here, part B is here, part C is here and part D is here.
