Lewers ‘not chasing sugar-high’
Staring down criticism he’s an ‘invisible’ mayor, Glyn Lewers rates the first year of his Queenstown Lakes mayoralty a flattering 7.5 out of 10.
Lewers, who won the mayoralty last October after one term as a councillor, followed high-profile two-term mayor Jim Boult, whom he says had a different style of doing things even though their views mostly align.
‘‘I don’t court the media as much as probably Jim — hopefully Jim doesn’t take that the wrong way.’’
Lewers says Boult, during his second term, had higher-profile situations, like Covid, that required him to front up to the public a lot.
He adds his fixation on the ‘‘long-term stuff’’ might make him less visible to some — ‘‘I’m not really chasing that short-term sugar fix’’.
Lewers admits he missed a few functions early in his mayoralty as his partner, Prue Watson, was diagnosed with breast cancer during his
election campaign.
She was operated on before Christmas and had radiation treatment early this year — ‘‘but everything’s good now’’.
Lewers copped it when he didn’t turn up to a lakefront worker housing protest in March, but says he only got an invite the night before, and
already had family time planned.
He has no regrets about that and says he caught up with the protest organisers two days later.
That apart, Lewers maintains he regularly attends functions.
‘‘The people that say I’m not out there are probably the ones that aren’t engaged with the community groups I actually turn up to.’’
Despite the challenges of the past three weeks due to a water contamination crisis and rain-induced landslides that caused evacuations and
cemetery damage, Lewers says ‘‘I have thoroughly enjoyed this job’’.
‘‘I don’t get the Sunday night blues that I have to go to my 9-to-5 job [that] I used to have [with his engineering job].
‘‘You get to meet so many different and amazing people, it is intellectually challenging and it keeps the grey matter ticking over.’’
He says criticism is, still, water off a duck’s back ‘‘on most occasions’’.
‘‘I’m out and about in Queenstown most days and over to Wānaka most weeks, so I’m not shy of having a discussion, and I’m not shy to say I disagree or agree with you.
‘‘Criticism comes with the territory — I came in with my eyes open.’’
As to reports up to half his councillors feel left out and are even thinking of resigning, ‘‘I think that’s a couple probably speaking on behalf
of other councillors that are probably a little bit surprised by that comment as well’’.
‘You have to question their effectiveness if they think they have to resign.’’
Lewers points out seven of the councillors are newcomers.
Probably his major learning’s been ‘‘how long it would take for the new councillors to find their feet and then find their voice’’.
However, they’re now ‘‘really starting to hum’’.
On a mission to find more income sources
He says the biggest disappointment of his term came early when he realised the ‘‘massive’’ size of the leaky home claims ratepayers will
have to bear for, he suggests, 10 years or so.
‘‘It was a bitter pill just to settle [the Oaks Shores claim] but if we’d gone down the litigation path it could have been a bigger pill to swallow.’’
Speaking of financials, Lewers admits they’re ‘‘tight’’ as debt levels rise.
‘‘We’ve got to watch the pennies, we’re working through the long-term plan now and that goes out to councillors early April next year.
‘‘I think that will demonstrate how restricted we are on what we can and cannot spend on.’’
He admits to continued frustration with Otago Regional Council (ORC) and how unfortunately it, rather than Queenstown, runs our ‘‘not-fit-for-purpose’’ public transport system.
He says the general rate ORC strikes in Queenstown is $500 per residential property, versus $198 in Dunedin, but in terms of service levels, for the likes of emergency and pest management, we lag behind.
However, on the financial front Lewers’ biggest mission is to find more income sources.
In New Zealand, only Hamilton and Tauranga share Queenstown’s growth issues but they have large residential populations, he says.
Local services and infrastructure ‘‘are not keeping up with the growth, we can’t fund all of it off 26,600 ratepayer units supporting 120,000
[people] over peak [days]’’.
He’d hoped the current government could have revived the visitor levy Boult’s council got across the line pre-Covid, but ‘‘it just ran out of
time’’.
Though National, which has pooh-poohed a visitor levy, could be in government after today, Lewers is undaunted, and says he’ll keep the pressure on them.
‘‘We’ve heard from the right side of the political spectrum that tourism’s going to get us out of the financial headwinds we’re facing,
nationally, so why should the Queenstown-Lakes ratepayers pay for the privilege?
‘‘If you look at the last two weeks, I think it gives a pretty good idea of the need for extra capital for some of the much-needed [infrastructure].’’
Rates will always be a large proportion of funds raised, but the status quo can’t continue, he says.
‘‘If we get sustainable, alternative funding, I can probably walk away from this job satisfied.’’
Speaking of which, Lewers says he’ll most likely stand for re-election in two years’ time.
‘‘From my point of view, it’s pretty hard to enact change over three years, so you’ve got to look at it long-term.’’
Mayor Lewers on …
Temporary housing for homeless workers:
‘‘Even putting up a portacom, it’s probably a year away, and there’s no appetite from councillors from what I can see.’’
Frustrations with local government:
‘‘Things do take a fair bit of time — that’s not a criticism of the organisation, it’s probably a criticism of the Local Government Act.’’
Chief executive Mike Theelen’s 8% pay rise to $415,321:
‘‘We went to two third parties, and the equivalent salary for an organisation of this complexity and size, it’s $450,000.’’
Whether we’ll get more 14.5% rates rises:
‘‘I can’t guarantee there’s going to be single-digit [increases] … you can expect rates to increase in those mid-teens [though there could be a 24.9% reduction if Three Waters assets are ever transferred].’’
CBD parking fee rises:
‘‘If we reduce the parking fees, we just raise rates — it’s a simple equation.’’
