Pahia Turia given green light to return to Whanganui & Partners board

Pahia Turia says there will be a few hard years ahead economically. Photo / Supplied

Pahia Turia has been given the all-clear to return for a third term as a director of the economic development agency Whanganui & Partners.

The reappointment had to be signed off by the Whanganui District Council as current CCO (council-controlled organisation) policy states a member of the board has to stand down for a period of a year after a second term.

“The policy for CCOs is not, by any means, perfect or considered best practice,” Whanganui District Council chief executive David Langford said. “It is due for review.”

Councillors weren’t being “railroaded” into the reappointment and could choose the option of the normal recruitment process, Langford said.

That wasn’t needed, with the council voting unanimously to reinstall Turia who is the board chair.

Councillor Josh Chandulal-Mackay encouraged stability and continuity.

“We are in a time right now where quarterly inflation is around 7 per cent. It’s a time of instability economically.

“Dovetailing with that you’ve got an economic development agency that’s gone through multiple change points, not only over the past year or so but further than that.”

Turia’s next term will begin on January 4 next year and runs for three years.

He said there was still a lot of work to do in the Māori economic space, particularly around building relationships with iwi.

“There are a number of different projects under way as a city and I want to lend my hand to that,” Turia told the Chronicle.

“We’ve got some big things on the horizon too, with the port and the Sarjeant Gallery, and potential hotel development that we are trying to find potential investors for.”

There would also be “a few hard years ahead” as a result of the economic impact of Covid-19.

“I’ve been really lucky to be there during the good times and being part of a rock star economy, so to jump out when things start getting hard is probably not a good look either,” Turia said.

He said the agency had worked hard to build the confidence of the council and the community in what it was doing.

There are seven directors on the board.

Whanganui & Partners became a separate CCO in March, similar to the council’s commercial arm, Whanganui District Council Holdings.

That transition means internal processes, such as HR and IT, are maintained by Whanganui & Partners rather than through the council.

The council remains the agency’s 100 per cent shareholder.