Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich was elected in October after the previous mayor and councillors plummeted to as low as a 25% approval rating in the Dunedin City Council’s residents’ opinion survey.
Over the previous term, when Mr Radich was a first-term councillor, the council often appeared divided over a range of issues.
Mr Radich said at the weekend he expected Dunedin residents would be even less satisfied with parking in the city’s central business district "because of the extensive roadworks taking place throughout most of 2022".
However, he was hopeful this year’s residents’ opinion survey results would include a a reversal of the sharp drop in satisfaction with the elected council.
"I certainly hope that public satisfaction with the mayor and councillors improves over the course of 2023," Mr Radich said.
"Residents voted for change in the recent local body election and the composition of our council has changed significantly.
"People felt they were not being listened to and while it is impossible to please everyone all the time, my expectation is that more people will feel that the council is on track overall.
"We have a major issue at hand that all councillors are united about, namely the new Dunedin Hospital, so it will be good to have a concerted effort on that front."
Mr Radich has warned Health Minister Andrew Little the mood in Dunedin presently was for "large public protest, which is not a good look in an election year".
Before the holiday break, Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand (HNZ) confirmed a $110 million boost to the budget of the new Dunedin hospital, but also said the hike to an overall cost of $1.58 billion included $90 million of reductions identified by project planners.
Those included a reduction in bed numbers, delaying installation of a PET scanner, not constructing a staff pavilion building, nor one of two planned link bridges.
Councillors are due to register their support for what was originally set out in the detailed business case for the new hospital, approved by Cabinet.
Cr David Benson-Pope late last month lodged a notice of motion for the first council meeting of the year, on January 30.
If councillors support his motion, it would commit the council to campaign for the new hospital being built to the specifications originally approved.
It would include approaching the Otago Mayoral Forum for its support and seeking the commitment of all parliamentary parties to adequately fund the work.
Already, councillors have indicated a willingness to fight for the future hospital.
When Mr Radich released his letter to Mr Little he said a draft had been circulated among councillors to canvass their thoughts on the cuts.
All of the councillors’ replies were in support of "retaining the full suite of structures and services for the new hospital", Mr Radich said.
"We have been promised that the hospital will be fit-for-purpose but with medical specialists and staff voicing strong concerns at this latest reduction, we are feeling that the Government is back-tracking on previous commitments," the letter said.
"The ‘final detailed business case’ has been in circulation for nearly two years and we feel that this design should be retained and that the savings proposed are relatively small compared to the total project cost."
Deputy mayor Sophie Barker yesterday outlined her 10 new year’s resolutions for the council, which included in the top spot, fighting for the new hospital’s budget.
