There’s something about Mary

Friday, 1 December 2023

From post-punk rock to managing people, parks and pipes - Christchurch City’s Council’s interim chief executive has a surprising past.

Mary Richardson, who will lead the council following the premature departure of chief executive Dawn Baxendale, used to promote musicians including Nick Cave.

As well as her punk past, Richardson has ties to the council dating back to the 1980s.

The 62-year-old officially takes on the interim role on Friday as Baxendale’s resignation takes effect. She has ruled out taking on the role permanently.

Baxendale’s departure comes 11 months before her five-year contract was meant to end.

In a statement last week, Baxendale said she was leaving before her contract expired for “personal reasons”.

Richardson takes on the role with her eyes wide open, she says, well aware of the challenges she faces.

She inherits issues of low staff morale, poor resident satisfaction and high staff turnover, and has a mammoth draft 10-year budget to get through in the coming months.

For much of the year, Richardson has juggled two general manager roles.

She had her own citizens and community portfolio and was also infrastructure, planning and regulatory services acting general manager after Jane Davis mysteriously left in February and then later resigned.

There have also been a series of other senior staff departures, including former chief financial officer Leah Scales, who resigned last week after being on sick leave.

The bosses of three waters and procurement have also left this year, and the head of people and culture is on leave.

When asked if the community could have confidence in the organisation to function effectively, Richardson downplayed the impact of the senior staff departures.

“The council is huge. There’s 2500 people and it just carries on.”

She said just a “handful of people” had left, but structures already in place ensured the organisation just kept going.

Richardson has been building the executive leadership team back up, temporarily promoting people from lower ranks, including Russell Holden, who is now acting chief financial officer, and head of parks Andrew Rutledge, who is now a general manager.

Former council general manager Jane Parfitt, who left in 2015, has been parachuted in to become interim general manager of infrastructure, planning and regulatory services.

Richardson does not shy away from acknowledging the challenges in front of her, and it appears she has a plan to tackle them.

“There’s a lot of projects we need to keep moving. We’re not letting the ball drop.”

Priorities have been identified with lower tier managers, and she will meet them each week to monitor progress.

Some of those priorities include the long-term plan and staff contract negotiations.

She will also ensure actions identified as a result of a damning KPMG report into three waters staffing are not just put on a shelf and forgotten.

The report, released to The Press last week under official information laws, found poor documentation and financial management within the council’s three waters unit led to a $6.5m staffing blowout.

Richardson said she also wanted to improve the internal culture, following at least two years of dismal staff survey results.

“We’ve got to turn that around. I walk the floors every day. Jane (Parfitt) always did and always will. We’re going to be more visible across the organisation.”

Other key priorities include bringing the parks unit in-house, building up the relationship with residents in the east, dealing with climate change and looking at the transport programme in light of revised Government funding.

Issues surrounding the wastewater treatment plant, including the insurance settlement, monitoring odour issues and keeping the plant running following a fire two years ago, are also on the list.

Improving the management of the council’s assets is also being looked at, following a leaked report that found a lack of leadership and accountability was putting billions of dollars worth of public assets at risk.

This is Richardson’s second stint at the top - she was interim chief executive back in 2019 prior to Baxendale starting. She will hold the role until a replacement is found, likely in the middle of next year.

It is also Richardson’s third time working at the council.

She first joined the organisation in the 1980s, when she co-ordinated the first two SummerTimes festivals. She was also involved in the establishment of a youth centre.

She returned to the council in 1998, when she held a policy role for six years, and then came back in 2014, initially as director of the office of the chief executive. She has held her existing general manager title for eight years.

Between her stints at the council, Richardson held an eclectic range of jobs.

In the 1980s, she organised events and promoted musicians including post-punk bands The Fall and The Birthday Party, UK punk poet John Cooper Clarke, Australian rock band Hunters & Collectors, and musician Nick Cave.

She also did a couple of full-time immersion courses in Te Ao Māori and for a time was chief executive of the National Youth Council.

Richardson said while promoting bands she got hooked into the needs of young people, which led to her taking on youth advocacy roles.

She was involved in creating the Ministry of Youth Affairs, which took her down the government path.

“As I got older I had to leave the youth sector, I could no longer be a voice for young people.”

Richardson was also executive director of Christchurch Methodist Mission before starting back with the council in 2014.

Going back to her post-punk rock era, Richardson said there are things she has carried through, including her belief in people and communities to make things happen.

She said she was always careful not to leave people out of decisions, and that was something of which she was still mindful.