McGrath said there were some strong candidates around the council table for the role \u2013 five told Hawke\u2019s Bay Today they were uninterested in the position \u2013 but he chose Roger Brownlie because of his governance experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe brings freshness to the council table, has a strong presence in the room and a lot of experience around governance,\u201d McGrath said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Napier needs, and regionally what Hawke\u2019s Bay needs, is proven business experience, local connections and commitment to a strong future for this community, and commercial board experience.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said Brownlie, the highest-polling Ahuriri ward councillor, was in his first term, but he was trusted and respected, and he brought decades of commercial experience.<\/p>\n
Brownlie said in a statement he was looking forward to working together as a unified council focused on \u201cgetting the work done\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am no-frills when it comes to the job of council. I am focused on upgrading infrastructure and prioritising ongoing maintenance. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur region must be future-proofed, resilient and stable so it can grow and contribute to New Zealand\u2019s economy and wellbeing,\u201d Brownlie said.<\/p>\n
In his first phone interview with Hawke\u2019s Bay Today since he was inducted as mayor, McGrath said he had no problem with his Deputy Mayor challenging his decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s democracy. But when things aren\u2019t right, and there is no trust, you have to take steps.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sally Crown and Richard McGrath in happier times. Photo \/ NCC<\/p>\n
He said Crown\u2019s claims of poor leadership had not been brought up to him before.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I think something isn\u2019t right. I\u2019m prepared to take action.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole thing has been a distraction we didn\u2019t need, with all the government changes coming, whether it be rates caps, simplifying local government, RMA changes, it\u2019s just been a real distraction.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can either let it continue or take steps to stop it continuing, which is what I believe I\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Crown had brought some strong skills to the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat hasn\u2019t changed and none of her other roles and responsibilities will change.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t control how Sally responds and reacts into the future. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut as long as her decisions are in the best interests of Napier and the community, we can move on.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he loved being mayor, but didn\u2019t want to be seen as arrogant.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe role is everything I thought it would be. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t call it an easy job, but I have the skills for it. I have checked my blood pressure a few times, but it\u2019s been all good.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he had a lot of support around him and people he called on for advice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI certainly don\u2019t wake up one morning thinking \u2018I\u2019m going to do this\u2019 or anything. I like to get a 360-degree review.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if he thought things took a turn for the worse at the council table in December when he proposed not to include mana whenua voices and voting rights in the council\u2019s standing committees, McGrath said what happened that day was democracy in action.<\/p>\n
\u201cI certainly hold no ill will to anyone on that. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a mayor sitting here saying everyone\u2019s got to be loyal toward me. <\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone\u2019s got to make their own decision. In fact, I was impressed by how capable some of the new councillors were.\u201d<\/p>\n
McGrath\u2019s executive assistant resigned after that vote and claimed in her resignation letter it was because of McGrath\u2019s \u201cdisregard for Treaty principles\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said his family had handled the recent publicity well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are used to it. My kids were young when I first started as a councillor 11 years ago. We had a landline, and they liked to answer it. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople would start yelling and swearing, probably not realising it was a kid on the other end. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey have grown up with social media, so they have had good training over the years on how to deal with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he\u2019d voted against significant council decisions such as the Long-Term Plan in 2025 because of the decision in it to spend $110 million on the council and library building precinct.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think our decision-making just wasn\u2019t right when it came to the library. We had a Government saying, \u2018Do your infrastructure; don\u2019t build \u2018Green Star 5 buildings, build buildings\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, bouncing off a cyclone, it wasn\u2019t the time, in my view. Now the Government\u2019s making radical changes to get back to infrastructure, whether that be water, regional councils or rates caps.\u201d <\/p>\n
There has been criticism in parts of the community of McGrath\u2019s availability, with Ng\u0101ti Kahungunu chairman Bayden Barber noting he could not reach him on the day of Crown\u2019s sacking. <\/p>\n
McGrath said if anyone in the Napier community wanted to talk to him, it was as simple as booking a time with his new executive assistant.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019ve got some information or knowledge you want to share about Napier, come and talk to me. \u201d<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McGrath said there were some strong candidates around the council table for the role \u2013 five told Hawke\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,806,167657,4611,38290,10808,33092,6097,20211,3602,71,5420,10934,56454,2683,10136,21409,3607,117,111,43,139,69,15160,6372,205,8909,312,17218,1961,686,102],"class_list":{"0":"post-306756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-after","9":"tag-as","10":"tag-brownlie","11":"tag-confident","12":"tag-councillor","13":"tag-crown","14":"tag-deputy","15":"tag-down","16":"tag-dumped","17":"tag-earlier","18":"tag-from","19":"tag-hes","20":"tag-mayor","21":"tag-mcgrath","22":"tag-move","23":"tag-named","24":"tag-names","25":"tag-napier","26":"tag-new","27":"tag-new-zealand","28":"tag-news","29":"tag-newzealand","30":"tag-nz","31":"tag-richard","32":"tag-roger","33":"tag-role","34":"tag-sally","35":"tag-says","36":"tag-stood","37":"tag-this","38":"tag-week","39":"tag-with"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}