Real Life: Whangārei mayor Vince Cocurullo says role can be ‘very lonely at times’

Former civil engineer Vince Cocurullo won the Whangārei mayoral race by a resounding majority in October 2022.

The mayor of Whangārei says he’s grateful to be in a position to find solutions to the district’s trickiest problems – but concedes the role can “be a very lonely place at times”.

Former civil engineer Vince Cocurullo has been in the district’s top job for over a year, having won the mayoral race by a resounding majority in October 2022.

In a wide-ranging interview with Newstalk ZB’s Real Life with John Cowan on Sunday night, Cocurullo said being a successful mayor comes down to putting aside personal gains for the sake of your community.

“When you take the role of mayor, it’s not about you – it’s about everybody else, about making sure the district has a very strong plan going forward.

“Sometimes it’s the long game, not the short game. When you’re going into the mayor’s role, your main focus should not be about, ‘what am I trying to get out of it?’ but about ‘what is going to be best for Northland and Whangārei?’

“It’s about making sure the bigger picture is there – and that does become a very lonely place at times.”

Last week, Whangārei District Council proposed a record 17.2 per cent rates increase, which Cocurullo said was needed to enable the district to maintain its existing infrastructure.

Whangarei Mayor Vince Cocurullo at the Brynderwyn Hills, northern side of the Brynderwyns. Photo / Michael Cunningham

He said not a single person in the council – from councillors to staff – wanted to hike rates by that much, but the decision was made after exhausting “every possible option”.

“It just comes down to the pure basics,” he told Cowan. “We have underinvested for too long in infrastructure, and if we want to keep the infrastructure lasting longer, we need to invest in it. And that’s a really hard pill to swallow.

“With the district, we’ve got what we’ve got. So we’ve got to fix what we’ve got and bring everything else up to up to that standard – and that’s the hard part.”

Cocurullo told Cowan it’s challenges like this that he enjoys most about being Whangārei mayor.

“I’ve been a district councillor for quite a few years, dealing with people and their issues and trying to solve problems. Mayor is just that next step [up], so probably the best thing about it is being able to find good solutions to problems.

“We’re no longer dealing with making sure this pothole’s fixed or that pothole’s fixed, it’s about trying to find the best system going to work for Whangārei.

“Do we change how we do procurement, or how we tender the process? How are we getting the best quality system here? Rather than tending to individual potholes, how are we dealing with the bigger picture?”

Elsewhere in the Real Life interview, Cocurullo spoke about the death of his parents, his penchant for flamboyant suit vests, his Italian heritage and his years doing aid work overseas.

Real Life is a weekly interview show where John Cowan speaks with prominent guests about their life, upbringing, and the way they see the world. Tune in Sundays from 7.30pm on Newstalk ZB or listen to the latest full interview here.