Far North District Council chief executive leaving after just 11 months in the job

Far North District Council chief executive Blair King is leaving the job in May, after starting in the role on March 21 last year.

Far North District Council (FNDC) chief executive Blair King is leaving the local authority in May, after resigning just 11 months into the job.

King is staying on until May 10, working out his three-month notice period after resigning on February 10. King started work at the council on March 21 2022, after being appointed to the role in December 2021.

Local Democracy Reporting Northland asked the council in February when King’s last day at work was, but it did not respond. The council has now confirmed the chief executive’s departure date. It has not said why King resigned.

FNDC Kowhāi (Deputy Mayor) Kelly Stratford said King continued to work at the council offices and remotely, as meetings and staff and stakeholder relationships required. The council’s head office is in Kaikohe.

King did not respond when contacted by Local Democracy Reporting Northland about his resignation.

Before starting at the FNDC, King wrapped up 12 years as Tararua District Council chief executive in October 2020. After that he was Carterton District Council interim CEO.

His December 2021 FNDC appointment came when then Far North Mayor John Carter and Deputy Mayor Ann Court were at the helm. They also made up a third of the FDNC’s then six-member executive review committee, with Court as chair and Stratford as deputy chair. The committee made up 60 per cent of the council’s 10 elected members.

Deputy Mayor Ann Court said in a December 2022 Northern Advocate article about King’s appointment that many experienced, high-calibre candidates had applied for the job.

However, the selection panel hadn’t been able to ignore King’s considerable local government experience, particularly with a council sharing similar challenges to those experienced by the Far North, she said.

“Like the Far North, Tararua is reliant on its rural economy, has a small ratepayer base and must maintain spatially dispersed core assets and services to keep its remote communities connected. Blair is familiar with Northland and I believe his extensive local government experience will prove to be a great asset,” Court said at the time.

The October 2022 local government elections saw Carter retire and current Kahika (Mayor) Moko Tepania elected to the top political role and Stratford as Kowhāi (Deputy Mayor).

In November, Local Democracy Reporting Northland asked Tepania about aspects of his working relationship with King.

“As I am sure you will appreciate, as a good employer and respecting privacy, we have a policy to not comment on an individual employment matters in any way,” Tepania said at the time.

The new council almost doubled the executive review committee’s size to include all now 11 elected representatives. Tepania became committee deputy chair. Its quorum doubled in size to six.

Stratford said a paper was to be presented to the committee regarding the appointment process for King’s replacement.

“This will consist of options for contracting a recruitment company to facilitate the process,” Stratford said.

The council’s next executive review committee meeting is on today.

It is set up to be predominantly held in “public excluded”. An “update on the chief executive officer recruitment” is scheduled for this part of the meeting, under section 48 of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987. Those present must vote on whether to close the door to the public. The resolution on which they vote to make this happen includes a short note about what is to be dealt with, the reasons for shifting to private mode and the grounds on which that move is made.

King, a chartered professional engineer, was raised on a Tangowahine dairy farm. He started his career at the Kaipara District Council.

■ Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.