Councils Make Good

Christchurch and Hutt City are model municipalities and inspirations for their Canadian counterparts, according to the president of Canada’s Frontier Centre for Public Policy Peter Holle. “Hutt City is winning business excellence awards against private sector organizations and Christchurch is so efficient that other municipalities look to it for guidance,” writes Holle, who lists “six highly effective habits that turned these cities from zeros to heroes.” One example is Christchurch’s ‘traffic light’ system for ensuring its goals are met. If the water fails a test, a red light is lit, and the water treatment people are responsible for making it green again. If they fail, their light goes red, and so on until the person with the ability to solve the problem does so. The city’s 27 Annual Report shows what a result-focused organization looks like: More than nine out of 1 (91 per cent) residents say their overall quality of life is good or extremely good.”