Napier mayoral candidate calls for change in culture and leadership

Kirsten Wise pictured shortly after her 2019 election victory. Photo / Paul Taylor

Napier mayoral challenger Nigel Simpson's call for change has had a swift riposte from incumbent Kirsten Wise, who says change is the last thing her council needs.

Simpson, a first-term Napier City Council councillor, has announced his candidacy with a traditional call for change, based on what he has learnt over the past three years.

The Taradale ward councillor says he entered local politics at the 2019 election because he "couldn't figure out what was wrong in Napier City Council".

"After a short period inside I figured it out alright," he said.

"It's time for change in our city's elected leadership and culture.

"A significant number of opportunities have been missed by the current council," he says.

"It's time to get Napier back on track."

Simpson argues that significant change will be forced on local government in the next few years.

Wise agrees, which is why her counterargument is that the NCC boat should not be rocked.

She says her council has become a cohesive unit which needs anything but change.

That cohesive unit is now getting things done and ready to face looming local government reform challenges coming out of three terms of turmoil, she says.

Accepting the challenge of the next three-and-a-half months, Wise said: "I welcome Nigel's candidacy. That's democracy, and I don't think it's good for anybody if we don't have an election for the position."

Wise has experienced her own mayoral first-term turmoil, being confronted with the November 2019 'Napier Flood' and the Covid-19 pandemic, which threw New Zealand into lockdown just four months later.

In more recent years, the 2013-2016 term was dominated by the local government amalgamation issue, with a merger rejected by a referendum vote in September 2015.

The 2016-2019 term, Wise's second as a councillor, was dogged by War Memorial and Napier Aquatic centre issues, leading to what Wise says became a "quite divisive" council, which was also hit by the sudden illness of its Mayor, Bill Dalton.

In addition to Wise's own elevation to the mayoralty, the 2019 local elections also saw five new faces among the 12 councillors at the table, including Simpson as one of two new representatives in the Taradale Ward.

At this October's elections, for which nominations are open for four weeks from July 15, just two of the elected 12 are not seeking re-election, both for personal reasons and changes of circumstances.

Simpson was a manager in local government when significant reform occurred in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s.

Nigel Simpson, who is standing for election as Mayor of Napier this year after just one three-year term on the Council. Photo / Supplied

Simpson is the first mayoralty challenger announced among the five local councils from Wairoa in the north to the Dannevirke-headquartered Tararua District in the south.

Wise is one of four mayors who have reaffirmed their intentions to seek re-election, while Wairoa Mayor Craig Little has been reconsidering his original plan to step down, after three terms in the job.