I believe that I possess the following attributes that will make me a good Councillor

Proven leadership skills through an extensive career in business spanning over 40 years.

Recognised achievement by industry awards in hospitality, export and business
support services.

A personal vision for our city that will see Rotorua  achieve its potential

Well developed management skills, a strong believer in team culture

Proven governance skills in the private and public sectors. An ability to see the bigger picture
and yet still focus on the important smaller steps

Strong analytical and financial  management skills. Experience in all dimensions of business.

An understanding of the local political system through years of advocacy on behalf of the business community

Chairmanship and meeting skills having chaired numerous committees in both public and
private sectors.

Listening and communication skills to be an effective representative voice

Top 5 Issues

1. ISSUE NUMBER ONE: GROWTH. Rotorua needs a strong policy for economic growth with strategies to attract new business. Rotorua is a great city but for some reason we are not attracting new business to set up here. Population growth will only come through growth in employment, which will come with growth in business. We need to set this as a priority for the next term of Council. Rotorua needs to diversify from its focus on the traditional core sectors of tourism, forestry and farming into higher yielding and higher wage sectors of business. However, we should not expect Council to take sole responsibility for economic growth. If it’s left solely to them we are unlikely to have the success we deserve. Past Councils have done a great job in providing the infrastructure, but now the time for continued spending on large scale developments (with perhaps the exception of the lakefront) is past. We need to focus our energy and resource on active economic growth. The only way that I see that we are going to achieve growth is for the whole of community to work as a team to drive us forward. But we can expect our Mayor and Council to lead us forward, to be the flag bearer, to bring us all together in striving for a bigger and better Rotorua.
2. ISSUE NUMBER TWO – A CAN DO ATTITUDE. We need a business friendly and supportive approach from Council with a ‘can do’ attitude when dealing with development proposals. Differences of opinion are evident. Council maintains they have a very positive attitude, but many in business consider they fall well short of having a positive 'can do' attitude to development. We need more transparency from Council. If the Council attitude really is positive, then better transparency will prove the case. If it the business view of the situation is correct, then let’s not cast the blame, let’s work actively to fix the faults and make a better system that welcomes development. Development contributions for brown field developments should be removed. In many cases the property owners have paid through their rates for many of the infrastructural developments we have today. It is double dipping. If we want businesses to invest in our city to bring more employment and more people then why are we taxing them for doing something that is to our benefit? It doesn't make sense.
3. ISSUE NUMBER THREE: THE SIZE OF COUNCIL I have been very public in my concern about the increased size of our local authority. The RDC is the second largest employer in Rotorua. When the Super Service Centre was opened, ten staff were made redundant, but eight more were employed in a variety of positions. I believe that Council has got involved in an increasing number of activities that are not core business. This has resulted in corresponding increases in administrative and support staff, accounts, IT, HR departments and such. I am not going to get into a battle to say that Council is not running those departments efficiently. They may or they may not be, we just don't know. But a number of departments could be considered for an alternative management model that could take them outside the direct management of Council. I think the time is right for an external independent review of these units to see if there is a better way of doing things. Privatisation or contracting out some work does not necessarily mean a loss of revenue to Council, nor a reduction in service standards. Management rights or contracts for service could continue a revenue stream and could reduce costs and lower the rates burden.
4. ISSUE NUMBER FOUR – BETTER MANAGEMENT OF RATES
   In the past six years, rates have risen considerably. This last year prior to the election, the rates increases were kept at 1 per cent. However, that low level of rates increases were achieved by deferring major project work. RDC administration are suggesting that such a low level of rates increases are unsustainable and future years budgets will need to see these deferred projects re-introduced possibly resulting in a higher level of rates increases. Although I support the development of infrastructure that we have seen in recent years, we need to realize that we cannot expect existing residents to keep paying more and more through individual property rates. So how do we manage future development? It needs to be by increasing the number of ratepayers, both residential and business. Hence the imperative for growth. I firmly believe we need to develop and articulate a vision that sees Rotorua with a population of close to 150,000 in 2060. It’s quite possible if you consider that just 50 years ago we were close to 10,000 in population. This level of growth will allow increased rating revenue from a larger number of ratepayers rather than consistently increasing individual rates as they have done over the last 15 years.
   
5. ISSUE NUMBER FIVE: IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF ROTORUA'S AIR AND LAKES WATER. I support the continued development of sewerage schemes around the Lakes. I firmly believe that the only viable long-term option to reduce the nutrient in-flows is to consider major land use change. Although this strategy is clearly stated by EBOP, Rotorua District Council can manage further encroachment of high nutrient exporting farming land by defined District Plan policies. Air Quality is one of the important issues facing Rotorua over the next term of Council. Although EBOP have indicated in their annual plan that they are introducing initiatives to manage the quality of air, there are strategies that the local RDC can introduce. The key areas are those older residential areas were many of the wood burners are non compliant. I support the introduction of a by-law that seeks to manage ongoing compliance. I recognise that there were problems with the suggested legislation in this year’s RDC annual plan, but there should be a commitment to sort those problems out and come up with a workable solution

Personal Profile

Since becoming Chief Executive of the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce in 2004 I have raised membership of the Chamber from 275 to a record 700. In 2008 the Chamber won two national awards for its membership recruitment and networking programmes. This year the Chamber was recognised twice in the Vero Excellence in Business Support Awards. I have worked closely with Rotorua District Council and have presented a number of major submissions.

Before that, I operated six hotels throughout New Zealand, gaining recognition in the national Tourism Awards and the international Choice Hotels Awards. I was a tourism consultant working with major tourism organisations and funding agencies. I wrote the initial tourism industry unit standards and five books for the Hospitality Industry Training Organisation.

In a 20-year association with Waiariki Institute as a consultant, faculty member and finally Director of International Affairs I played key roles in developing the Diploma in Hotel Management the Bachelor of Tourism Management. I lectured in financial and managerial accounting on the hotel diploma programme and presented many seminars on hotel related topics and on subjects such as chairmanship and meeting procedure

I am the past Chair of RBHS Board of Trustees, past chair of Rotorua SKAL and past chair of Rotorua Promotions Society, a member of the Rotary Club of Rotorua, a Senator and life member of International Jaycee and a former Bay of Plenty Regional Governor for Jaycees. I am a member of the International Institute of Hospitality, the NZ Institute of Travel and Tourism and the NZ Institute of Directors. I have lived in Rotorua for 25 years and am married to Jo, with three grown children.