Auckland Council Reaching Two Year Milestone

Auckland Council will be two years old on 1 November. Auckland Council chief executive Doug McKay says the Council has come a long way in a short time and completed one of the largest mergers in New Zealand history, put in place a new innovative governance model and provided business as usual for the people of Auckland.

Chamber of Commerce members can have confidence that their council will continue to deliver on the promise of amalgamation, and doing that in the right way around our core values of accountability, service, pride, respect, innovation and teamwork.

Auckland Council is now focused on transforming our organisation to free up the resources needed for us to deliver on the Auckland Plan, the strategy to create the world’s most liveable city, and also deliver value for money for ratepayers.

We are:

• Transforming the customer experience by putting the customer at the heart of our organisation
• Moving from operational stability to operational excellence
• Creating a high performance organisation that works for all Aucklanders

We have identified 24 opportunity areas to do things as one organisation that we could not as the eight old councils, which will lead to a more innovative, effective and focused council.

Our successes and continued delivery would not have been possible without our staff who worked hard through a period of almost continuous change. Their continued efforts have ensured that our service level has remained of high quality, while providing value for money. They have enabled our exciting innovations and are building an organisation Auckland can be proud of.

Our staff survey engagement scores are generally good, with 78% of employees saying their manager treats people with respect. I am looking to improve on this good foundation.

With over 6000 people, we are one of the largest employers in New Zealand. Through the transition, we combined many cultures and brought together people with different reporting lines, processes and work practices. Overall we are making excellent progress, building a strong workplace with committed employees and empowered teams. I continue to be heartened by our employees’ hard work and desire to create a great council and a great Auckland.

Every day I hear from regular Aucklanders who comment on how well local government is working and how our staff have gone the extra mile to help them. We are now becoming a truly customer-focussed, can-do council, one that will help Mayor Len Brown’s deliver his vision for Auckland to become the world’s most liveable city.

Doug McKay
Chief Executive