You’d have to be a pretty decrepit hound to get swung around by your own rear end. When I hear politicians like Michael Laws talk about council staff being the “tail wagging the dog” it just sounds like a confession.

In this scenario, either the actual decision-makers – elected members – are not doing their job or staff-blaming is an easy out when you don’t want to take responsibility for the decisions you made.

This council has its rear appendage firmly under control.

One of the first things I determined to do when I became mayor was to take active charge of the council’s Long-Term Plan (LTP). The LTP is a 10-year plan, renewed every three years, which sets out what the council will spend money on. It is the basis for setting the rates. Developing an LTP is required by the Local Government Act 2002 and everything about it is highly prescribed by legislation, including the language.

For example, two weeks ago in the Beacon, the council was criticised for proposing service level improvements in the LTP, arguing that current levels are good enough. However, “improving service levels” doesn’t mean gold-plating things. Almost all the water consents the council needs to renew over the next few years require “improvements in service levels” to meet new national standards. There is simply no choice.

Under the Local Government Act it is the mayor’s job to lead the LTP development. This means leading the council, working with staff to develop a process that allows all councillors to have a say, that respects everyone’s input and that looks for a collective result while providing clear direction and guidance.

This is the fourth LTP that I have been involved in as an elected member and the quality of staff reporting to councillors is the best I have seen, allowing us to evaluate the options against our strategic priorities. We need to find a balance between limiting rates increases, meeting our growing legislative requirements, investing in emergency preparedness, addressing the lack of housing that is stifling our people and our economy, and delivering the facilities and services that people expect council to provide.

But please be assured that getting on top of rates rises is a priority for all councillors. This means cutting costs through working more efficiently, sharing more services with neighbouring councils, reducing consultant costs (sometimes by taking on new staff where this makes sense and is cheaper) and by saying no to a bunch of new projects, even ones that really do deserve to be funded. We are also doing substantial work on increasing non-rates revenue.

We’re working through the building blocks of the LTP 2027-37, which will see a draft budget in December and public consultation in February 2027.

Meanwhile, we all await the outcome of the national elections, although we probably won’t know who will form the Government for some time yet.

It’s unlikely we will know what is happening with local government reform until next year. Having been given very tight timeframes to respond to the Government’s reform agenda, this is frustrating. Local Government Minister Simon Watts recently blamed the proximity of the election for putting the amalgamation decisions on hold. That was exactly the point that mayors had been making since the programme was announced by Ministers Watts and Bishop.

The difficulty with the Government deferring decisions on amalgamation is that we have had no signal at all about whether an Eastern Bay Unitary Council is seen in Wellington as viable.

So, we need to ensure that we have an ability to adapt and respond to whatever comes. We need to be smart, disciplined and strategically united, even while encouraging diverse views and out-of-the-box thinking.

I am enormously thankful for the great team we have around the council table. Everyone brings unique skills and perspectives to our discussions, and every elected member is there for their communities. We have highly effective chairs of all our committees, hard-working, well networked and skilled members of our various working groups and co-governance boards, wise and experienced councillors around the table and new councillors who bring fresh thinking and who are rapidly getting up to speed with the workings of the full council.

We also have great staff: A chief executive who brings solid experience in the public and private sector and an entrepreneurial background, general managers who are effective and collaborative, and highly competent, and hardworking staff at all levels of the organisation.

We have been working over several years now to get council in the right place internally – IT systems up to scratch, our project management systems in order and an effective organisational culture. It’s this investment that I see reflected in the quality of information presented to council this LTP round. We have come a long way since I was first elected to the council in 2016.

I feel enormous confidence as mayor in our collective ability in council and the community to not just weather whatever is thrown at us by Central Government, the global economy and a planetary life system in crisis, but to act intelligently to turn these challenges into opportunities.

We must continue to work with partners across the district to support initiatives that will help deliver more housing, economic development and equitable outcomes for all.

I was very proud to attend the recent opening of the Kawarehe Kāinga Māori development led by Te Tohu o te Ora o Ngāti Awa as an example of local initiative, innovative, holistic thinking and mana motuhake.

The recent Toi Te Ihi Regional Prosperity Summit was another great example of collaboration.

Toi EDA, the Eastern Bay Chamber of Commerce and Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi put together an inspiring day that brought together thought leaders, businesspeople, local government and the community sector to talk about what real economic prosperity looks like and how to build it.

Ngāti Awa te Toki last weekend was a showcase of the strength and resilience of Ngāti Awa as a people. The presence of te Arikinui Kuini Nga Wai Hono i te Pō and te Ariki Te Rangimaheu Te Heu Heu was a mark of the esteem and the impact of Ngāti Awa across Aotearoa.

Finally, I have been attending award evenings with fire services in the district. It is a great privilege to be part of those events and to pay tribute to these extraordinary volunteers. To see younger people stepping forward to join the various brigades is encouraging because it means that there is succession in place. Volunteering and community service are not dead.

An extreme El Nino weather pattern is predicted to be with us this summer. Fire services will be particularly important. At the Eastern Bay of Plenty Emergency Management Joint Committee, I have asked for a briefing to be clear how we are preparing for the heightened wildfire risk. Making sure that as a region we are prepared for any eventualities is crucial.

Having said that, I have enormous confidence in our emergency management teams, who have proven their dedication and their ability time after time.

We are in good hands.