A second priority was to continue Hastings District Council's drive to create 1000 new local jobs over five years.
The target remained "live and real" after a successful push to bring a Kiwibank call centre to the city last year, creating almost 200 new positions.
"We're buoyed by the success of Kiwibank. We're getting a lot of interest in what we did there and what we could potentially do with others, and that's what we're looking at. I'm pretty confident we'll be able to pull something else off," Mr Yule said.
A third priority was to start work on strengthening the Hawke's Bay Opera House precinct, which was closed last year when engineers discovered it was not up to earthquake code.
The council is awaiting a report, due next month, on repair options, but is expecting the work to cost several million dollars.
Mr Yule said he hoped repair work could start by the middle of the year once the council considered its options and put a plan in place.
"That will be a priority for us to address. It's our most loved set of buildings. Everyone who stops me asks me what's going to be done about it."
Like Mr Yule, Napier Mayor Bill Dalton has amalgamation at the top of his to-do list, but unlike Mr Yule, wants the Local Government Commission's proposal banished rather than introduced.
"My number one priority for the next six months is to put the dreadfully divisive amalgamation debate behind us. I think the whole debate has been an incredible waste of human energy."
Mr Dalton said his second priority was to improve the operation of Napier's trouble-plagued and unpopular MTG museum and arts centre.
"The MTG is a magnificent, award-winning building and we are incredibly proud of it. Everybody who visits it is enjoying it now but we need to get it operating in a more efficient manner," he said.
"The fact is, around the world " even with Te Papa in Wellington " these museums don't make money. There is a cost to having a lovely museum in your city."
A new director, Laura Vodanovich, will run the MTG from next month, replacing Douglas Lloyd Jenkins who left at the end of last year.
Mr Dalton's third priority was to work on economic development initiatives to boost jobs in Napier and the wider region.
He said his council had a number of "irons in the fire" as part of a three-pronged strategy to help existing Hawke's Bay businesses expand, create new businesses in the region, and encourage existing firms from other centres to relocate to the the bay. Central Hawke's Bay Mayor Peter Butler is also focused on economic development, his top priority being to see the Ruataniwha water storage scheme given the green light and construction started.
The jobs and economic boost and environmental boost the dam and irrigation scheme would bring made it a "no-brainer", he said.
Fighting the amalgamation proposal would also be a priority over coming months, although the Central Hawke's Bay District Council had not budgeted money for a campaign as Hastings had, he said. "We haven't got the budget, but we'll fight it tooth and nail with what we have got."
Last year the council increased its overall rates take by 1.29 per cent, Mr Butler said, and his third priority was to limit this year's rise to a similarly modest increase.
Wairoa Mayor Craig Little said campaigning against amalgamation was one of his three top priorities.
He would also continue working on a strategy to make the Wairoa District Council a "can-do" council that minimised red tape. That would enable progress on his third priority, which was encouraging economic development in the district, particularly though better land use.
"Wairoa is less drought-prone than other parts of the region. We're the best-kept secret in New Zealand and we don't want to be a secret - we want people to know about us."
Hawke's Bay Regional Council Chairman Fenton Wilson said getting a resolution on the Ruataniwha dam was one of his council's top priorities, but was part of a busy programme that included a range of initiatives such as finalising a regional transport plan and a biodiversity strategy.
Weighing in on the amalgamation debate was not a priority at present, he said.
"Amalgamation is going to be a discussion we can't avoid this year. It's not a priority for the council at the moment but it is a discussion that is going to overtake Hawke's Bay as the year progresses. We'll be part of the process when it eventuates but we've got more pressing things on the books at the moment."
