Former Editor Calls for a Rewrite at Council – Jeremy Muir #8

Now That's an Idea - Election Edition

It’s a strange turn of events interviewing your old boss. Jeremy Muir ran the local paper here for nearly 20 years and has a deep knowledge when it comes to everything Gisborne, from the council to the Trust Tairāwhiti, the farms, the businesses and the community. Jeremy may know the goings on better than anyone.

Jeremy’s idea focuses on a theme I’ve been hearing again and again from candidates: council inefficiency. The organisation has become risk-averse, overly focused on compliance, and in the process has turned itself into a bureaucratic machine. The result? A culture that pleases no one: not the councillors trying to set direction, not the employees doing the work, and not the ratepayers footing the bill.

Something has to change.

As Jeremy and I discuss, there are limits. Most of the really big levers sit with central government. Councils are piled with expectations and new direction without being given a map or an extra dollar.

Still, that doesn’t mean we can’t do our best here in Tairāwhiti as we don’t have another choice.