Media release from the KCDC:
Wayne Maxwell is currently Group Manager, Corporate Services with the Kāpiti Coast District Council.
Mayor K. Gurunathan says he’s confident Wayne is a great fit for the Council and Kāpiti community.
“We carried out a robust, thorough recruitment process and we’re delighted to be able to appoint Wayne to the position. He has a proven track record of leading and managing in changing and challenging environments. Local government is a complex business and we needed to choose someone who can promote growth within the realities of our financial constraints.”
The position attracted over 40 applications and four candidates were shortlisted for an interview with the full Council.
“All four candidates were of high calibre, with a broad range of experience in senior roles here in New Zealand and overseas.”
“A member of the Council’s senior management team for the last four years, Wayne is an experienced, respected manager with a great knowledge of the wide range of Council activities and services, and has demonstrated what he can deliver for this community and the council.”
Wayne has over 15 years experience in local government, including roles in strategy, operations and finance. Before joining the Council he worked as an advisor for a range of councils across the country, and held the role of Director of Strategy at Wellington City Council.
Wayne said he’s delighted to be appointed and looks forward to building new relationships within the community he calls home. “I’m honoured that the Mayor and Councillors have put faith in me to build on the direction this Council and community is heading in. We have some challenges to work through, but I’m confident that strong relationships with stakeholders and our community, and good policies and plans will help us deliver the outcomes that are so important for the Kāpiti region.
“I love Kāpiti and my family and I are well-established here, so I’m honoured to be able to take on this role within a community that has such an exciting future.”
Wayne will take up the position on Monday 22 January 2018 and has been appointed for an initial term of five years with an annual remuneration commencing at $295,000. This is $17,000 less than Mr Dougherty’s salary at the time of his departure.
Our views
This appointment makes sense as there will be no loss of ‘Corporate Memory’. In contrast to Mr Dougherty, Wayne Maxwell has impressed us as being very competent, as well as pleasant to deal with. What he is like as a superior, however, we don’t know: the measure of that will be the rate of staff turnover. Some staff turnover in an organisation like the KCDC is normal and in fact a good thing as poor performers shouldn’t stay. But the overall rate shouldn’t exceed 20% a year.
One of the obvious signs of Mr Dougherty’s incompetence was his increase in the council’s ‘group managers’ from four to seven during his tenure, most disconcertingly of them his appointment of Tim Power as his internal legal counsel.
We hope that there will be no replacement for the job title held by Wayne Maxwell of ‘Group Manager, Corporate Services’, and other Dougherty appointments including Tim Power need looking at. This will be an immediate saving for ratepayers of over $200,000 a year with potential for a lot more.