KEY POINTS:
Vijaya Vaidyanath says her elevation from running a rural district to heading the bureaucratic machine of New Zealand's fifth largest city is "a challenge that excites me".
Quietly spoken, unflinching in the line of fire at rowdy community meetings and friendly and attentive over tea and scones with ratepayers, the Rodney council chief executive is packing her corporate gumboots for wading into the swifter waters of Auckland suburbia.
Mrs Vaidyanath has been appointed to replace her counterpart at neighbouring Waitakere City, Harry O'Rourke, who is to retire in March at 65. He has more than 35 years' experience in local government administration in what was once dubbed the "wild west" because of its warring politicians.
He was Waitemata City town clerk when the 1989 local body reforms created Waitakere City.
His successor started her local body career when she came to New Zealand in 1994 after working for the Reserve Bank in India and taking up a full scholarship to earn an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh.
"From Pittsburgh to Hawera," she laughs, recalling her first post as director of corporate services for South Taranaki District Council.
She and husband Gopal had decided to rear their two children in a clean, green and crime-free environment.
Soon she will be managing council operations in the eco-city - in a new civic building with a "green roof"' and wind-turbine power generator.
Back in her Orewa base, there is blazing hostility toward having high-rise towers, but Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey believes a 10-storey tower or two "gives a city true character".
After council posts in Taranaki and Palmerston North, the family wanted to move to Auckland and Mrs Vaidyanath was appointed Rodney's group manager, finance, economy and democracy services.
Her appointment - a week before council elections in 2001 - came after a turbulent period when the council had been dismissed by the Minister of Local Government, the chief executive and six senior executives had resigned and the district was run by the Crown-appointed commissioner Grant Kirby.
In March 2003 she replaced Wayne Donnelly as chief executive when he moved to Wellington where he now heads Land Transport New Zealand.
Staff numbers at Rodney have grown from 249 in 2001 to 350.
Mrs Vaidyanath explains that in this time, Rodney has been the country's fastest-growing district.
"As Rodney has grown, there has been a shift in managing growth ... our core business used to be roads, rates and rubbish. But policy has to be built around social, environmental, economic and community wellbeing.
"So I had to bring in new skills, such as in urban and landscape design and get that expertise in-house whereas we had relied on consultants."
Rural Rodney covers 40 per cent of the region's area and Mrs Vaidyanath says she is excited by the challenges of dealing with urban issues in managing council operations in a city.
"The demographic dynamics are changing in Waitakere City and I want to be part of that change."
Mr Harvey said Mrs Vaidyanath won the job from many quality candidates. "She is one of the most respected officers in local government with impressive credentials and a truly visionary approach," he said.
