Just a few days into his new role as chief executive at Hauraki District Council (HDC), David Speirs has already hit the ground running.
The former Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency director of regional relationships was welcomed into the council with a formal pōwhiri last week, following the retirement of Langley Cavers after 23 years in the top seat.
Since then, David has been on a tight schedule, meeting his staff and getting his head around the council’s current work programme.
David brings with him a career’s worth of experience in local government, operations management, and natural resource management in fields such as flood protection, river ecology and roading. And with former roles at Waikato Regional Council, the Department of Conservation and NIWA, David said he understands the needs of farmers and the local environment.
“I understand the challenges that go with trying to farm on flat land that floods and doesn’t drain well, and the challenges around managing nutrients… I understand the challenges that go with a large gold mine and all of the issues that go with that and the interaction that has with the conservation estate… I get the role of the flood protection scheme,” he said.
“I understand the value that the services that council provides can make for those communities.”
David said he was focused on what he could offer HDC, and the people of Hauraki.
“My career’s been about public service and I really value that. One of the reasons I wanted to come back to local government in this kind of a context is I really like the fact that you are close to your community,” he said.
“I think the role of local government is an enabling role. It’s about making communities thrive. It’s about enabling people to live their best lives.”
One of David’s goals is to ensure people feel they have a voice with the council. And he’s an open book, he said; happy to have a yarn with anyone who’s got something to say.
“Things you do that are positive and work well, you get real-time feedback.
“The things that aren’t going so well, you get real-time feedback. And the fact that I can literally walk across the road to buy a coffee and those are the people that are paying me to do my job – that’s really important to me.”
He’s already looking ahead to next year’s local government elections, and planning on getting the community as engaged as possible with the process. But for now, there was little that needed to change, he said.
“I don’t think that this is a council that’s broken. I think this is a council that’s actually doing really, really good work. It’s a really high performer in the context of local government around New Zealand,” David said.
“So I’m not intending to rock the boat next week, but I’m also really conscious that there’s always room for improvement.”
One of the ways David said he could encourage improvements was through having a different perspective.
“How do we make Hauraki District the best district in the country, how do we bring development while we manage that?” he said.
“How do we make this a place that people want to come and be for a day and spend their money, or be for the rest of their lives and bring their family? And how do we balance that while we still maintain the character that this district has? I’ll see opportunities, I think, that are unique because of where I’ve come from and it’s about using those opportunities to better the council and better the district.”
In the meantime, David is just happy to be settling in. While he and his family currently live near Morrinsville – his youngest child still has a few years of schooling to go – he’s spent a lot of time in and around East Waikato and is looking forward to getting reacquainted with the area.
“We are a very active family. We do a lot of tramping, camping, we have a holiday home in Coromandel at Whitianga, So, we do spend a lot of time out and about, and we’ll be doing a fair bit of that in and around Hauraki in the summer.
“I’m really keen to meet lots of people, so I will be wandering around the streets and saying hi.”
