Big regional job on offer in new HB councils strategy

A new regional role will report to the Hawke's Bay councils chief executives forum, currently chaired by Central Hawke's Bay District Council CEO Monique Davidson (pictured).

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A new high-powered role regional local government role run by the chief executives of five Hawke's Bay councils is expected to be filled in the next few months.

The role is that of a "Director, Regional Strategic Procurement", possibly a national first and reporting to the Hawke's Bay councils chief executives forum, currently chaired by Central Hawke's Bay District Council CEO Monique Davidson.

According to an advertisement placed over the last fortnight, applications close next Wednesday, and the appointee will be based with the Hastings District Council and report "day-to-day" to its chief executive.

Davidson said the Napier City Council, Hastings, Wairoa and Central Hawke's Bay district councils, and the Hawke's Bay Regional Council created the role "to lead, develop and implement a strategic and sustainable procurement model to support the councils to meet their regional collective objectives and deliver a positive impact on economic, environmental, social and cultural wellbeing for our communities".

She said the appointee will be responsible for developing strong and effective cross-council strategic procurement leadership, business partner relationships with external service providers as well as key stakeholders, and integrate with business leaders to form on-going strategic partnerships — "Demonstrating our commitment to regional collaboration".

It will be based with Hastings District Council and will be funded by the five councils as a shared-resource reporting to the CEOs' forum for direction on priorities and other external regional or national stakeholder groups as required, she said.

"We are not aware of other roles that exist similar to our approach across regions in New Zealand," Davidson said.

But she said there are Local Authority Shared Service (LASS) Council Controlled organisations who support aspects of procurement for their regions, such as those in Waikato and Bay of Plenty.

Davidson said the Hawke's Bay regional economy is buoyant and poised to expand further with $1.5 billion of local government investment planned for the region, with "more-recently" an extra $68 million from the Provincial Growth Fund to invest in transport infrastructure, digital connectivity, water storage and skills and employment.

"New infrastructure projects provide us with an opportunity to improve resilience, create new businesses, employment and our desired social outcomes for the Hawke's Bay region," she said.

The councils are looking for someone the advertisement says will "have an immensely positive impact on the wider Hawke's Bay region".