And the winners are...
While humble electors still have to wait right through the silly season before choosing who they want to replace GK Taylor - thus allowing the full quota of bread, circuses, smoke and mirrors to be delivered by the Diva - Wanganui Inc have wasted no time in appointing his replacement to that body.
That choice was up to the remaining members - none other than the Diva, Ron Janes (the chairman), Nygllhuw Morris, Bruce Nicholson and Rangi Wills.
They've picked Lesley Jones, described as a marketing director, and intend to seek Council's permission to appoint tourism promoter Niko Tangaroa as an alternate director.
Meanwhile, Wanganui Holdings have decided to appoint from within to replace outgoing chair David Warburton - shifting sideways to the CEO's seat at Council - choosing existing board member Matthew Doyle to chair the company. He's an accountant. He in turn will be replaced by a new appointee Michael Eden – the supreme winner of the 2005 Wanganui business awards and founder of the GDM Group.
Other board members are Matt Edmond, Harvey Green and, staggeringly, Dot McKinnon.
The nominations will be considered by the Finance and Administration committee on Tuesday and are expected to be formally ratified.
We'll leave it Watchers to add their thoughts and comments on the latest appointees - bearing in mind comments are moderated, and we're interested in opinions on their appointments to these positions, not extraneous matters of any sort.
Comments on this post are now closed.
10 comments:
Note to Michael re SST column.
Mike, when you say that a group of people exhibiting certain behaviour are subhuman and should be exterminated, not only do you duck the issue, you reveal your own provenance.
It was the entire congregation of the Exclusive Bethren Church last time. This time, we get an insight into how exactly those who "shouldn't be allowed to breed" would be prevented from doing so.
Michael's premise is flawed. Genes have been identified that make individuals more or less likely to commit crime. Environmental factors have also been identified as having causative effect.
Simplifiying the issue to win votes is the opposite of doing something about the problem.
I couldn't agree more with the first posting.
Terry Sarten for president. His column today is a gem.
Interesting to see an item labelled "events" on the agenda for tomorrow's meeting -- in the confidential section, of course.
More trouble at (River Queen) mill perhaps?
And strange that a big advt in yesterday's Sunday Star Times for the Jimmy Barnes "Long Hot Summer Tour" mentioned and gave dates for gigs scheduled for such hot spots as the Mangawahi Tavern, Coroglen and Waihi Beach pubs, Lake Hawea and Chch but not a word about about anything scheduled for WangaVegas, Events City.
That press release regurgitated by the Chron on Friday had a whiff of desperation about it.
Re the SST column -- some would say that politicians who blatantly use their children for political advantage shouldn't be allow to breed.
Hopefully, the new people surrounding Laws can 'manage' this volatile individual and get on with their jobs. We all want Wanagnui to 'go ahead'.
Council has been fortunate to have people of the calibre of Michael Eden , Lesley Jones, and Niko Tangaroa make themselves available to be Directors of Wanganui Holdings and Wanganui Inc. Each one of them, I believe, will have a progressive input into these organisations.In particular, the Board of Wanganui Inc which was a little lacking in tourism involvement will benefit from the involvement of Niko ( a succesful Whanganui river tourism operator) and Lesley who has a strong brand marketing background. The CEO John Quigley is making a promising start, and Wanganui Inc will prove,in my opinion, to be a major advance in the marketing of Wanganui after the initial settling in period.
For me, Mayor Michael Laws initiative to establish Wanganui Inc has been his best achievement to date, although the start was rocky after early on questioning the worth of our volunteer sector.
Rob Vinsen said...
Council has been fortunate to have people of the calibre of Michael Eden , Lesley Jones, and Niko Tangaroa make themselves available to be Directors of Wanganui Holdings and Wanganui Inc.
I agree this new crop of directors and appointments bodes well but the myth of independence took a battering with Nigel Morris and Laws himself - not to mention Graeme Taylor) on the original board. That's card-carrying three Vision-ites after all.
This new lot will have their work cut out trying to keep political interference at bay.
Look at Wanganui Holdings -- also supposedly independent and business driven -- which is just being used to turn the assets it's supposed to be managing for long-term returns into quick cash.
Warburton's report shows they are clearly unhappy at being prostituted to the mayor's ("Vision") need for ready cash, in clear conflict with their business plan.
It would be interesting to hear your views on this, Rob.
The problem with Wanganui Inc is that it has been saddled with the Michael Laws' events city "brand" and will be judged on that.
No matter how talented these new directors or CEO, if River Queen, the Mayoral Mile, Jimmy Barnes or any of the myriad one-day mayoral wonders turns to custard, their credibility will go with it.
After all, Laws is looking at siphoning off $200,000 of community contracts money for them to allocate to his choice of events.
That's a helluva lot of accountability to the ratepayers of this town and they will want to see more than glossy brochures in their mailbox, posters and billboards etc for their money ...
... and I don't know of many Castlecliff ratepayers who will be placated by the knowledge that the deputy mayor has the Full House sign up on her establishment as a result of the rates rises that help fund this bullshit.
It was good to see this morning that the Chron actually knows we're going to have a by election but they may have been barking up the wrong tree (or sculling the wrong boat) in picking Baker Hogan as the Vision candidate of choice.
Apparently Michael has been casting his net in his new-found rural constituency. Perhaps he's worried at the appearance of Allan Anderson on the lists of independent wannabes.
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