Nick Mills: Can the Wellington City Council cope with their new office?

EDITORIAL:

I just want to talk about something this morning that, honestly, feels like a perfect snapshot of where Wellington City Council is at right now. 

Office space. 

Not rates. Not pipes bursting. Not businesses struggling. Not the Moa Point mess. No, no — they’re concerned about office space.  

Who’s on what floor, who’s got the view, and who’s looking out at a car park. 

Now, I’ve got to ask — who actually cares? 

If you’re a city councillor, if you’re the mayor, aren’t you there to do a job? Getting paid for that job by us. 

Aren’t you there to serve the city, make decisions, fix problems, and represent the people of Wellington?  

Since when did the quality of your harbour view become part of your job description? 

Because I’ve worked a long time, and I’ve never once walked into a workplace and thought, “Gee, I hope I’ve got the penthouse today.” You go to work to work. If you want a view get one at home.  

And here we’ve got reports of councillors grumbling, talking of a boycott of a blessing ceremony, and frustration that council executives are sitting upstairs with the nice outlook while elected officials are on level one. 

Level one!  It’s convenient. 

One flight of stairs and you’re there. You’re accessible. You’re close to the public. You’re not hiding away at the top of a tower somewhere, disconnected from the people you’re meant to represent. 

Are you supposed to look down and look down at your people? 

And if the mayor’s looking out at a car park — frankly I don’t give a damn.  

You should be out in the city – or if you're at your office you should be looking at your computer, your emails, your meetings, your city’s problems. That’s the job. 

To me, this is a mountain out of a molehill.  

But worse than that, it’s symbolic. It tells you something about priorities of our council.  

Because while all this noise is going on about who sits where, Wellington still has massive issues that actually matter. 

And I’ll give credit where it’s due — some councillors have said exactly that.  

Turn up, do the job, don’t worry about the furniture.

Do you care where your office is when you go to work? And should we expect more focus — and be a little bit more humble — from the people running our city? 

Because right now, this just feels like a small, small deal, when we have bigger issues. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talks ad B.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
I just wanted to talk to you this morning. That
honestly feels like a perfect snapshot of where Wellington City
Council is right now. Office space, not rates, not pipes bursting,
not businesses struggling, not the Mowa point mess No, no, no,

(00:36):
none of those things that concerned about office space. Who's
on what floor, who's got a view? And who is
looking at a car park? Now I've got to ask you,
because I asked myself, who really gives? Uh? Who actually cares?

(00:59):
If you're a city councilor if you're the mayor, aren't
you there to do a job, get paid for a
job by us. Aren't you there to serve the city,
makes decisions, fix problems, and represent us the people of Willington.
Since when did the quality of your harbor view become

(01:23):
part of your job description? Because I've worked a damn
long hard time and I've never once walked into a
workplace and thought, gee, I hope I've got the penthouse today,
Gee I like the view I've got out of my window.
You go to work if you want of you get
one at home, and we've got reports of counselors grumbling,

(01:45):
talking of a boycott, boycotting a blessing ceremony, and frustration
that council executives are sitting upstairs with a view with
a nice outlook, while the elected officials are on level one.
Level one. That's convenience, isn't it. That's one flight of stairs.

(02:08):
You're there, You're in your office. That's accessible, isn't it.
You're close to the public, the people that put you
in here, aren't you. Why do you want to be
hiding away at the top floor with a view where
somehow you're disconnected from the people you're meant to represent.
Are you supposed to sit up on the top office
and look down and think, oh, my people, those are

(02:31):
my people. And if the mayor is looking out at
a car park, frankly, I don't give a damn. You
should be out in the city, mayor. If you're in
your office, you should be looking at a computer. You
should be answering your emails, your meetings, your city's problems.

(02:52):
That's a job to be complaining about a view of
a car park. To me, this is a mountain out
of a Molehille. But worse than that, it's symbolic. It
tells you something about priorities of our count because while
all this noise is going on about who sits where,
and Wellington has still got massive issues that actually matter.

(03:16):
And I'll give credit where credit is due. Some counselors
have said exactly that, turn up to the job. Don't
worry about the furniture. Do you really care where your
office is situated when you go to work? And should
we expect more focus, be a little bit more humble

(03:36):
from the people that you're running the city for, because
right now I feel it's small, small deal when we've
gotten far bigger issues.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
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