Editorial: New chief well placed to take helm of Super City

Opinion

Doug McKay, chosen as chief executive of the new Auckland Council, deserves our congratulations and sympathies. An experienced corporate leader with a positive demeanour, he was picked ahead of candidates steeped in the blended world of business and politics.

And not just any politics, the undeclared party politics of local government at a time when politicians and officials alike are at high risk of losing their positions of influence. A time when eight councils are being merged and 1.4 million customers will let him know if services from building consents to rubbish collection do not come together to their daily satisfaction.

Mr McKay will need all his skills in people management and communication, upwards to the Super City's first mayor and councillors and outwards to a large, unsettled staff and unsure ratepayer base.

An appointment from outside the existing organisations was perhaps inevitable. Had the Auckland Transition Agency appointed from the ranks of the incumbent chief executives, there could have been the impression one city was in the ascendancy.

Skilled public servants including Leigh Auton from Manukau City, David Rankin at Auckland City and Peter Winder from the Auckland Regional Council will not sit at the mayor's right hand. Institutional memory and experience will be lost. Overcoming that deficit is crucial in the executive appointments to follow Mr McKay's instalment.

The Super City transition is mired in controversy over the Government's decision to retain the right to make appointments to the council-controlled companies which will, counter-intuitively, control much of the city's budget. The man who appointed Mr McKay, transition agency chief Mark Ford, is also a former CEO of Watercare and chairman of the regional transport authority, two of the CCOs. Like many Aucklanders, Mr McKay may soon wonder just who is controlling whom.