Collaboration key to community revitalisation and workplace awards

A collaborative project to revitalise Kaitāia, Ahipara and Awanui has won the top award at the 2022 LGFA Taituarā Local Government Excellence Awards, one of three awards collected by Far North District Council.

The council was recognised as the 2022 LGFA Supreme Award winner for its collaboration on Te Hiku o te Ika Revitalisation Project with the Kaitaia Business Association, Te Hiku iwi, Te Hiku Community Board, and the wider community. The work includes 81 urban development, restoration and revitalisation projects identified through community consultation undertaken by Te Hiku o te Ika Open Spaces Masterplan working group.

Te Hiku o te Ika Revitalisation Project also won the Minister of Local Government’s Award for Council/Community Relations. 

Judges said the project “is an exemplar of how modern local government acts as leader and broker of solutions that promote community wellbeing and achieves tangible results. This pragmatic and focused wellbeing initiative is exactly the outcome that Parliament had in mind when it restored wellbeing to the statutory purpose of local government.”

The Te Hiku o te Ika Open Spaces Masterplan was developed by a working group that included Councillor Felicity Foy, John Paitai (cultural specialist- iwi liaison), Suzie Clarke (Awanui ratepayers), Adele Gardener (Community Board Chair), Delwyn Shepherd (landscape architect), Kevin Hoskins (project manager-Hoskins Civil) and Andrea Panther (project manager-Hoskins Civil). Councillor Foy prepared a successful $7 million funding application to the government’s Provincial Growth Fund, and the Te Hiku Community Board also provided financial support to the project.

A key goal of the project has been to boost community wellbeing by ensuring that local businesses have been included in delivering 81 projects. This has increased local skills and employment and will help Te Hiku-based companies bid for future council contracts.

Councillor Foy says that a good leader and a good organisation empowers and delegates so that others can succeed. “An empowered team can deliver so much more in much less time, for much less cost. Council staff, elected members, technical experts, iwi and hāpu, community members, and project managers are all part of the working group work. In my view, this project portrays the true intent of local government. It is community led and outcomes focused."

Far North District Council also won the Capability Group Award for Organisation and People Development at the Excellence Awards with its Great Workplaces entry.  

This initiative emerged from the first 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, when most staff successfully transitioned to working from home. Great Workplaces was launched to retain remote working productivity and wellbeing gains. Judges said they were impressed by the meticulous process that the council had taken to make remote working ‘business as usual’. 

“Far North’s attention to documenting the actual costs and benefits of the approach also captured our attention. All rural and regional councils could learn from this pragmatic programme for overcoming distance and a multiplicity of locations.”

Taituarā or Local Government Professionals Aotearoa is the national organisation for local government professionals. Each year, Taituarā holds a series of awards to showcase and celebrate local government sector successes.