In a 45-minute informal question-and-answer-based North Otago Mayoral Candidates' Forum yesterday, the candidates discussed supporting jobs and bringing economic development to the district, the challenges facing the rural roading network, the council's customer service record and the future of shared services.
But in their opening remarks, both incumbent Mayor Gary Kircher and his challenger, Stephen Wesselingh, addressed choosing a new chief executive as a key issue in the coming term.
Mr Wesselingh told the small crowd of 15 at the Oamaru Opera House the current council had lost ''the art of communication'' and the appointment of the new chief executive ''would be a good time to find someone who could bring change to the council''.
He said ''the council has lost its way a wee bit'' and criticised its ''attitude and culture''.
''[The council] shouldn't be financing Bob the Builder of rest-homes and it shouldn't be financing Fred the Farmer in irrigation schemes,'' Mr Wesselingh said.
Mr Kircher said the next chief executive could be ''a bit more hands on'', but he believed the council had ''achieved some pretty good things'' in the last term. He called the appointment of a new chief executive ''certainly a challenge and an opportunity''.
He defended loans the council made to the North Otago Irrigation Company and the Observatory Retirement Village Trust as sound investments that were earning more interest than the money would earn if it had remained in the bank and in both cases the loans represented investment in the entire community.
