South Wairarapa District Council [SWDC] is preparing for the arrival of a new chief executive.
The council announced yesterday it had appointed Janice Smith to the role.
Smith is currently the group corporate services manager at Far North District Council [FNDC].
SWDC mayor Martin Connelly said the council is pleased to have appointed Smith, who “has a proven track record of leading and managing in changing and challenging environments in senior management positions”.
Connelly said he is confident Smith will be a good fit for the council and the South Wairarapa community.
“Local government is a complex business, and we needed to choose someone who is well placed to understand the ever-changing landscape and the upcoming reform programmes,” he said.
“The position has been ably managed by Paul Gardner as interim chief executive for the last seven months.”
A statement from SWDC said Smith brings more than 40 years of public sector experience in the UK and New Zealand to the role, as well as more than eight years working in strategic leadership roles in local government.
“She was acting chief executive for three months, which coincided with Cyclone Gabrielle when she acted as liaison between the Emergency Management Centre and the Mayor to ensure the channels of communication were maintained,” the statement said.
Smith has also held a key leadership role in the Far North Waters Alliance, which manages water services in the district with an estimated annual budget of about $33 million.
Smith is a public sector-trained accountant who moved to New Zealand in 2005 with her husband and two daughters.
Connelly described the in-house recruitment process as “robust”. More than 100 expressions of interest for the role were received, with nine candidates interviewed. Three of the nine had an interview with the full council.
“All three short-listed candidates were of high calibre, with a broad range of experience in senior roles in New Zealand,” Connelly said.
Smith said she and her family are looking forward to being part of the team in South Wairarapa.
She has been appointed for an initial term of three years. -NZLDR
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Three distinct councils with full staffing, vehicles, accommodation plus all the other add-ons. Why are wairarapa citizens 🙄 so bent on being individuals and complain about their rates 🤔. Wellington regional council is slowly getting bigger and bigger and wairarapa citizens cannot see that united We will be strong and decided weak. As stated before we have one member of parliament and we should have one united wairarapa council.