Murray Forsdyke is standing for a Districtwide seat on the Kāpiti Council. His Statement is below:
I was born and raised in Pukerua Bay within a very tight and friendly community culture which I value to this day. I moved to Paraparaumu in 1989-90 and raised my own family of three children here.
My background – My career has been within Telecommunications and for the last 12 years at TelstraClear to Vodafone leading customer service groups supporting large enterprise and Government customers.
I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Management with majors in Business Transformation, Change and Strategic Management
My small part time automotive business that has been going since 1995 so when I was offered voluntary redundancy in April this year I took the opportunity to free myself up to pursue other interests. I spend most of my time in the workshop but also being a musician, I play in two local bands, do a bit of relief truck driving and also some business consulting and leadership coaching.
Accountability and measured success criteria are very important to me. If stakeholders know what success looks like before embarking on a project/initiative then it is easier to celebrate and communicate the successes that come from projects and initiatives the ratepayers are being asked to fund. I want value for our money and this drives me to ask the questions and set timelines and success criteria. I want to offer good governance and good communication back into the community of council activates. I don’t believe the success messages are being heard which provides fodder for recreational complainers.
I am not running with any personal agenda. I will look at anything that comes to council with a logical and prudent set of eyes and when there is not enough information to make an informed decision, I will ask more questions.
“NO Bull” as I gather the qualified information, I will form a viewpoint based on cost to the Ratepayers, benefits returned to the community against those costs, risks and mitigations while ensuring success criteria are well understood within council and more importantly to the ratepayers. If it ticks the boxes I will support it, if not I won’t and will share my view.
Thoughts as at my current viewpoint while external to Council.
Housing I support council removing roadblocks to increasing opportunity for housing growth BUT I don’t support council being a landlord and owning housing. Being a landlord is challenging today and is getting harder with increased regulations and costs imposed for no financial benefit for property investors. I don’t believe it is council core business, however Council and central Government can definitely make it easier for private landlords and building development using community groups and local trade business.
Climate Change I believe humans adapt and the earth’s normal climate change cycles will help us prioritise things we need to adapt for. I don’t want to waste ratepayers money on something that might not happen or may possibly happen in 100 years human adaptation will prevail over time. People tend to exaggerate to gain urgency I am thinking of Al Gore’s bold predictions.
Economic Development Kāpiti is rich with successful small enterprises this tells me we are doing well for operational businesses but I still believe we have challenges with red tape that could be removed to support more rapid growth. New housing initiatives can feed our locals and employ our young people. “Trades are the new Black” There is either too much bureaucracy, or we are not good at getting through it within timelines that are acceptable to the community.
Opportunities I think there are still opportunities that can create our Kāpiti brand as an international destination. I am thinking, Trams, Whaling History, Kāpiti Island, Southwards, Marine Environment Centre(Raumati Pool) tied in with the Kāpiti Gateway, but they all need a good return like any business venture to get across this line otherwise rates will need to go up. This is where Council need to get smart to accelerate progress.
It’s awesome to see a big group of candidates for the community to choose from and I am humbled and excited to be part of the process
Authorised by Murray Forsdyke – Akatarawa Road, Waikanae
