Hutt City Council joins select group with gold award

Hutt City Council today received a gold Business Excellence Award which places it amongst the top performing organisations in New Zealand.

It is the first council to receive the gold standard and is only the fourth organisation in the country awarded this level of recognition in the past 15 years.

The New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation runs the New Zealand Business Excellence Awards. Applicants are assessed under the same rigorous conditions and are evaluated in a similar manner to the internationally recognised Malcolm Baldrige Awards in the United States.

Mayor Ray Wallace says being assessed independently and against such high standards signals the significance of the achievement.

“Being recognised with a gold level award is a fantastic result for our city.

“I was a Hutt City Councillor when we won the silver for business excellence in 2006. That experience helped the organisation sharpen its resolve to strive for even better results for our city.

“Receiving this award is confirmation we are certainly on the right track. Our city has achieved efficiencies and gains and this has included our ability to partner with other councils in the region. Our financial model also demonstrates our prudence and care in managing our finances to ensure infrastructure and services are provided while keeping a close watch on debt," says Mayor Wallace.

Hutt City Council Chief Executive Tony Stallinger says the award “recognises the energy and enthusiasm across our organisation for excellence in all we do and finding new, innovative ways to produce results for the people of the Hutt.

“Our vision is to create a better city every day by understanding our communities’ values, building strong partnerships and delivering fresh solutions.

“A lot of work has gone into elevating Hutt City Council from silver to gold and along the way we’ve achieved some fantastic results. We are especially pleased with achieving such high customer satisfaction levels while minimising rate increases.

“Receiving this award is confirmation we are on the track to achieve our vision. Our Mayor, councillors, staff and I are all proud of what we’ve accomplished,” says Mr Stallinger.