A painting of Invercargill Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt hanging on the wall leading to the council chambers is prophetic, according to an independent observer tasked with helping the council improve governance in the deep south.
Invercargill Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt's council came under scrutiny following an independent review late last year. Photo: Otago Daily Times / Stephen Jaquiery
The piece, titled Seriously Tim, has hung in an Invercargill City Council stairwell since 2013 when it was purchased for $7000 from Cromwell-based artist Deidre Copeland.
It shows the nine-time Invercargill mayor pulling away a mask of his smiling face to reveal a pensive expression underneath.
"It's quite prophetic of the issues the organisation is facing. There's two Tim's," Lindsay McKenzie says.
In December, the council appointed McKenzie as an independent observer alongside Jeff Grant on the back of concerns raised by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA).
Ex-Environment Southland chief executive Lindsay McKenzie flies down from Nelson for his role. Photo: Supplied
Under extraordinary circumstances, Grant and McKenzie were given a budget of $730,000 for up to 18 months of work. Their job description: to improve governance.
Tension at council was at an all time high, and their appointment followed a damning independent review which took particular aim at the mayor, his deputy, and the chief executive.
''He [Sir Tim] is increasingly unable to deliver on the kind of leadership that might unite a struggling council," Thomson wrote at the time, highlighting a leadership 'vacuum' with Sir Tim at the helm.
Six months on, Grant and McKenzie provide a glowing report card of council as a whole and a mixed one of the man who heads it up - New Zealand's longest serving mayor.
Despite ongoing difficulties with Sir Tim, they say council has ploughed ahead with its goal of turning dysfunction into results.
"We're not sitting in a room now with a bunch of councillors who are just bloody slaying each other," Grant said.
"They've taken the responsibility … and they've been delivering."
Council observer Jeff Grant has held director and chair positions for multiple organisations across Southland. Photo: Supplied
The pair put the turnaround to two things - a chief executive who had appointed sound senior management, and councillors realising they had an obligation to step up and perform for their community.
"I think they've done really well, and we've been impressed … councillors focus on issues rather than the individuals," Grant said.
It's a much brighter picture than what Thomson painted in November when he highlighted a total lack of working relationship between Sir Tim and chief executive Clare Hadley, a "polarising" deputy mayor in Nobby Clark, and a feeling amongst councillors that the community perceived they could not work together.
The observers now described the working relationship between the deputy mayor and chief executive as ''pretty impressive'', and said councillors were getting on with the job at hand.
Thomson did concede the city was "generally well run" by a council that, despite its struggles, was not materially better or worse than other councils.
And Grant backed that up, saying there was not anything happening in the building that would concern him as a ratepayer in terms of what council was trying to achieve.
Part of the reason for that was because others had stepped up around Sir Tim and plugged the hole.
"Having been a chief executive in local government, I kind of know what the statutory obligations on a mayor are, and Tim doesn't operate in that space," McKenzie said.
"That's created pressure for others to fill that void, and that's proven to be challenging for folk."
It was a mixed review.
Grant said Sir Tim was still engaging, and described him as someone he enjoyed spending time with. McKenzie pointed out he had been ''resistant'' to their presence and
did not meet what was required for the position.
"The things that are evident to me are evident to anybody that observes a council meeting. He clearly struggles with the agenda. It's observable," McKenzie said.
"Our task is to support others to ensure the business gets done."
While it was not within the council's "remit" to confront the mayor's capacity directly, McKenzie said they were providing "arrangements, frameworks, and mechanisms as work-arounds".
He also believed Sir Tim had become more engaged and supportive of the independent observers' role in the past few weeks and described him as "quite reflective".
What's next for the observers?
Although their contracts had provision for up to 18 months of work, both indicated it was time for them to peel back responsibilities.
So far, they had come in massively under the $730,000 that was originally budgeted for their stint down south. Grant drove one hour from Balfour for meetings while McKenzie, an ex-Environment Southland chief executive, flew in from Nelson.
At the end of May, the pair had billed the council a little more than $55,000 for a total of 400 hours, or 50 full days of work.
Grant said they had expressed to Hadley that they saw themselves having a reduced role going forward, with hopes they could be out before the end of the year.
"As a farmer, I'd call it 'weaning the flock'."
McKenzie said the biggest challenge ahead for council would be delivering on the projects they had approved in their Long Term Plan.
He believed councillors had the skill set, but enlisting consultants and contractors could be a challenge for a small southern city.
"An organisation that's been under siege, like Invercargill [City Council] has been, can get down.
"We've been reminding them they are doing bloody well, so they don't get into that dark
space."
Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the News Publishers' Association and NZ On Air.
