The Government appointed commissioners to run KDC after huge cost blowouts to the Mangawhai Ecocare wastewater scheme and ratepayers refusing to pay rates.
The local community voted Curnow onto the first democratically-elected Kaipara council in 2016.
Two terms later she says the council is in a very different place.
"The biggest evolution since then is that we are now in a place of possibility. That's coming from a time under the commissioners where it was about impossibility - what could not be done, what had to be cut. Today it's about what can we do," Curnow said.
KDC voting returns are tracking well behind the last two elections, in line with councils around Northland. But voting in its new Te Moananui o Kaipara Māori Ward was the lowest across Northland, with only 4.1 per cent of voters having lodged their votes by mid-week.
Curnow said lower voter turnouts were ironic, given the KDC had no democratically-elected representatives at the helm for four years.
She said the presence of the commissioners, who started their work at much the same time she arrived, had been essential for the council.
"The commissioners set us back on our feet," Curnow said.
"Even though it was an awful, difficult time, without that period with the commissioners, we wouldn't be where we are now."
Curnow said the first public meeting commissioners held in Mangawhai after their appointment was terrifying.
"It was the most scared I have ever been," she said.
"The amount of anger and hatred in the room directed at the commissioners and in turn to me because I was working for the council," Curnow said.
The situation had moved on and effective democratically-elected governance was now in place.
She said these days meetings in Mangawhai were by and large about people looking at possibilities again.
"The majority of people at these meetings are looking at what's possible rather than hurling insults about what's not possible," Curnow said.
"There is always a range of views, some of which are voiced strongly," Curnow said.
But overall trust in the council had returned.
Curnow said she had learned from the commissioners about having to make hard decisions that were not necessarily popular.
She is not seeking re-election in this year's local elections, which close at noon on October 8.
Curnow is one of two current councillors elected in 2016 to the first elected post-commissioners' council and is standing down this year. Former deputy mayor and acting mayor, councillor Peter Wethey, is also standing down.
Wethey said the council had come a long way in its governance since the commissioners.
It was heartening to see the council's achievements since the commissioners, he said.
The current KDC politicians are part of the first elected council since the commissioners to have been at the helm without leadership change.
The first, from 2016-2019, had three mayors or acting mayors in just three years, as well as the council having four chief executives during that time.
Outgoing current Mayor Smith became the first full-term post-commissioners Kaipara mayor in 2018.
He said Kaipara democracy was in a much better place than it had been during the dark years of 2012-2016.
The council held its last council meeting of its three-year term this week (SUBS: September 28). The marathon six-hour final meeting ended with departing politicians' valedictory speeches. These heavily referenced the evolution of council governance and operations since the commissioners' four years at the helm.
Smith, Curnow, Wethey and David Wills are the four KDC councillors not seeking re-election on October 8.
Meanwhile, at the meeting the KDC also decided to buy a new block of land in Mangawhai for future sporting facilities development. The $6 million purchase was paid for with reserve contributions required by the council of developers.
Wethey said the council's sports ground land purchase was a positive move forward for the settlement. The land would serve as a place where different types of sports could develop into the future.
Wethey said the incoming council would need to ensure it listened closely to what the Mangawhai community wanted for sports facilities to be developed on the land. It would likely be three to five years before any sports fields were fully developed on the site.
KDC adopted its 2021/2022 annual report at the meeting. The council's external debt remained unchanged from last year at $44 million, and is $1.7m lower than planned. The council finished the year with an operating surplus of $33.5m. This was $4m lower than planned, mainly because of changes to the timing of when capital subsidies for major work on Te Kopuru and Raupō stopbanks.
Smith acknowledged the huge amount of work KDC had achieved despite staff shortages in some departments and challenges related to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The annual report's rearview mirror view painted an extraordinary picture of a small council getting on with doing its job, he said.
"We are proud to be one of the very first councils to adopt their 2021-2022 annual report this year," Smith said.
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
