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NOVEMBER 30, 2023
Dyet: a run to the finish By Roy Pilott
Waipā District Council chief Garry Dyet will effectively be sprinting to the finish line when he finishes at the end of June. The chief who started work as health inspector for Waipā County Council in 1980 – nine years before the formation of the district council – announced his departure date this week. He has been planning the announcement since the middle of last year when he shared his plans with a select few, including me. But having not had a day in 15 years where he hasn’t been bound in some way to work calls or emails, a change is due - ahead lies a decent holiday with wife Donna, and then further work in local government. “I’m really interested in anchor institutions and managing risk – councils are big and complex businesses,” the father or two – and grandfather says. “You manage in three dimensions. There is the
governance section, the staff section and then there is the issues ratepayers have. It’s a pretty pressured environment, so being able work on future policy issues would dial back to a pace which is more sustainable.” Dyet has been a highly active chief who has empowered his senior staff, but he grins at being told he has also maintained a low profile. His inbox is constantly filling though, and he has no qualms when it comes to responding to criticism by picking up the phone. When he has had issues with stories in The News, it is almost always to come to the defence of the best leadership and executive team he says he has worked with. Back to the sprint. Dyet, lauded at the Celebrating Waipā event by his mayor Susan O’Regan for his service last week, has unfinished business in the form of a hugely challenging long term plan – plus key performance indicators. There will be no jogging
to the finish line. He wants to leave the council in a place where his successor can hit the ground running. “A big part of this year is about setting up the council for the future of local government – and though three waters is being repealed, they still have to plan for what life might look like – the status quo is not an option and councils will have to look at business cases for what a different entity will look like. “Waipā has been a passion of mine for 45 years so fundamentally I need to leave it in a really good place. “We also want to land our first spatial plan, Ahu Ake which has been a really good process engaging with the community.’ Ahu Ake is council’s planning blueprint for the next 30 years. “The other piece of work is setting Waipā up as an anchor institution.” Anchor institution – such as universities, hospitals and councils - invest in their communities as a way of
Cambridge’s Brooke Dillon clears the wire fence while competing aboard Jupiter in the round the ring jumping at Sunday’s Cambridge A and P Show. Jeremy Smith reports now how the Cambridge show has changed in recent years. See Page 19.
My famous friend Garry Dyet
doing business. For the district council that would involve “taking steps to keep money local where, now, least-cost service delivery through a tender process often sees money go out of the district and in some cases offshore”. Dyet is a champion for the anchor model which he has studied overseas – Preston in England being cited as a good example. It would involve partnering with anchor institutions in the wider district to deliver on
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Cambridge was guinea pig central last weekend as the Town Hall hosted a North Island championship for the first time. Among the winners was a social media superstar called Bean – pictured with owner Nicola O’Neill. See story page 35.
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