West Coast Regional Council chairman Peter Haddock is bowing out of local government next month after 18 years. He spoke to Local Democracy reporter Lois Williams about the highs and lows of his time at council.
Peter Haddock’s motives for standing for council in Greymouth all those years ago were – you might say –less than noble.
But they led to a salutary lesson for the rookie councillor.
The enterprising builder had bought the historic Speights Ale House opposite the railway station and was busy saving it when he had a difference of opinion with a manager at the Grey District Council.
A mate – noting his frustration – suggested he stand for council and sort it out.
"Like a lot of candidates, I knew nothing about how a council works. I thought, 'right, I’m gonna change the world'."
After the swearing-in ceremony, attended by his proud Mum and Dad, he was approached by the manager at the after-match function.
"He said, 'you and I are going to get along just fine'. And I said, 'If I have my way, you won’t be here in a month'."
Haddock was swiftly enlightened by council chief executive Paul Pretorius, who informed him that councillors did not hire or fire staff – they were there to set policy.
"I was like every new councillor I suppose, but I learned in a hurry. And now I realise you can’t just change things.
"Councils have a long-term plan, an annual plan and a budget and if you deviate from those you have to go out to public consultation."
It helped that many of the sitting councillors in 2007 were well-seasoned with good financial experience, Haddock says.
"So I learned a lot. Back in 1990, I had PR Haddock Engineering and I’d built the Greymouth CBD floodwall and various roads. So the mayor [Tony Kokshoorn] gave me the roading portfolio."
He was also appointed to the Regional Transport Committee – which he’d never heard of.
"I never knew – but it sets the priorities for NZTA spending on highways and local roads and bridges. In my naivety, I immediately said, 'right, that Taramakau bridge has got to go'."
The narrow one-way wooden bridge for trains and motorists had been past its use-by date for years.
"The NZTA boss said it wasn’t even on their radar. But we got it on the list and pushed the living daylights out of it. He warned it could take 15 years."
After constant lobbying, paying for Geotech surveys, and a boost from John Key government’s infrastructure advancement fund, the new bridge was built and opened in 2018.
It remains one of Peter Haddock’s most satisfying campaigns.
Others include the transformation of the Arthurs Pass road, where the perilous zig-zag stretch was replaced in 1999 By the Otira viaduct.
"It’s actually in Canterbury but we pushed really hard for that. West Coast people go to Christchurch all the time for medical appointments, or family and it’s a crucial supply route."
The Transport Committee is now bending NZTA’s ears on the need to store some of its Bailey bridges on the Coast for emergencies, a campaign Haddock believes will be won, eventually.
But the best times on the Grey council, he says, were the days when local volunteers joined forces with councillors to work on projects such as Greymouth’s Aquatic Centre and sports stadium.
"We saved so much money because we all got stuck in together. I would leave my digger or truck down there and so many contractors helped out, clearing for foundations and so on."
His constant absences at weekends to hop on the truck drove his wife to take radical action, he recalls.
“In the end, Helen would come with me and we would spend the day together, in the truck – happily hauling gravel around."
Another DIY project – building the new Greymouth town square – remains strong in his memory.
"We had a rural councillor, Anton Becker, who strongly disagreed with the project. But the first weekend we had a working bee, he showed up.
"I said, ‘what are you doing here? You voted against this!’ And he says, ‘well, we made a decision – that’s democracy – let’s get it done."
Becker’s example is one Haddock admires and promotes to this day.
But collective responsibility has not been an easy principle to apply in the last three years of his local government career.
In 2022, he stood down from the Grey District Council, planning to retire.
But he was approached to stand for the West Coast Regional Council by people worried the council was dysfunctional after losing three chief executives in three years.
"So I was nominated but, then I got cold feet, so I didn’t put any signs up or anything. But I got in anyway … and I was voted deputy chair. And then Allan Birchfield rang me and said, 'you’ll have to take over as acting chair, for personal reasons'."
Birchfield – the council chair of six years – was an old friend.
"We’d been great mates over the years. I said, 'you’d better take some time off, Allan' – and then I got thrown completely in the deep end."
Birchfield had clashed with acting chief executive Heather Mabin, and her short-term predecessor Vin Smith, who left after claiming bullying and interference in staff matters. Birchfield denied bullying at the time.
More was to follow: Investigations showed the council had been losing staff and could not recruit; record-keeping, reporting and other systems were in disarray.
The council was now seen as unstable in Wellington and the millions promised for flood protection schemes were being withheld, Haddock says.
"The first thing Heather said to me was ‘all our funding for resilience projects has basically gone', I think because of all the discord there had been, and she was going to leave.
"But I said, 'You can’t, we’ve got a new council, we need you to stay while we fix this'."
She stayed until now chief executive Darryl Lew was recruited.
Under the new council, including Lew and the late Frank Dooley, a chartered accountant, things began to stabilise and the Government confirmed the funding for flood protection.
More unwelcome surprises were instore. Many of the region’s rating districts, who pay for flood protection, had not had meetings with the council for years.
The council had done urgent seawall work in Hokitika on a hasty verbal agreement and never been paid for it.
And this year it was revealed the council had been using mining bonds as operational funding.
"I think we’re finally at the stage where all the surprises are out of the box," Haddock says.
The council has fronted meetings with all its rating districts; it’s no longer using mining bonds as working capital, it now has a strict procurement policy; and the Westland District Council has agreed to pay $600,000 for the seafront protection.
Its books are in order – the accounts will return to surplus in two years, and although borrowing has risen to a planned $24 million for flood protection works its investment portfolio has reached nearly $15 million.
Once it does, interest could be used to offset rates, Haddock says.
But, over the past three years, Birchfield has been a thorn in the council’s side, objecting to rising staff numbers, the use of contractors, environmental reports, and delays in granting resource consents for mining.
Birchfield and Haddock have clashed frequently at meetings.
"At times, it’s been a wee bit toxic … I find it really difficult when one councillor votes against just about everything."
But what wounded him most, he says, was an attempt by Birchfield to bar the civil engineering firm, MBD, from winning major infrastructure projects because Haddock’s son is a director.
The well-known Greymouth company recently completed the upgrade of stop banks at Franz Josef and is now working on the second stage of the project after a public tender process.
Haddock says he took no part in the process and has no financial interests in the company.
But Birchfield tried unsuccessfully to move a motion to the effect that the chairman had an unresolvable conflict of interest and MBD should not get the council work, Haddock says.
"That’s caused a rift and upset in the family and it’s sad my son and I have drifted apart a wee bit.
“It’s a pity, because you know ... I’m so proud of what he’s done and where they’ve got with their company … it really hurts."
That’s "probably" the main reason he’s chosen not to stand again for council, Haddock says.
Birchfield denies his actions were a personal attack.
"I thought he should have had nothing to do with the whole Franz Josef stop bank project. It wasn't just about the tenders it was about the direction of the project and the placement of the banks as well. He should have kept right out of it."
There are other reasons too.
"Every day for the last 18 years, we’ve woken up and Helen’s asked 'what’s on at council today?' And there’s always something. Now we’d like to travel – I’ve and never been to Stewart Island or Rarotonga; Helen wants to see north Australia."
The 72-year-old also has a couple of community projects lined up – but he’s keeping mum on those for now.
It has taken three stressful years to restore the regional council, he says, but the result is a good note to go out on.
"It’s a pleasure to come here now. We’ve got a great team, a happy workplace and we’ve rebuilt trust with the government. I just hope it doesn’t all get unwound."
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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