Rotorua Lakes Council CEO plans digital engagement for better feedback

Rotorua Lakes Council chief executive Andrew Moraes in 2024, a month into the job. Photo / Andrew Warner

Rotorua’s council will this year launch a digital feedback tool as part of its boss’ vision to be “customer”-centric.

Rotorua Lakes Council chief executive Andrew Moraes stepped into the role about a year ago, previously the Taupō District Council operations and delivery general manager.

His start in Rotorua followed Geoff Williams' resignation after a decade of working at the head of the council table. Williams was replaced in the interim during recruitment by Te Arawa partnership manahautū Gina Rangi.

Early in Moraes' tenure, the council brought council-controlled organisation (CCO) Infracore in-house and shifted events and venues operations to its other CCO, Rotorua NZ.

A 2023 executive team shake-up resulted in five roles plus the chief.

There are seven executives under Moraes, a number he told Local Democracy Reporting was “appropriate” given the organisational changes.

Four were group managers joined by a chief people officer, chief financial officer and Te Arawa Partnership manuhautū.

Moraes called this the right-sized team to give him access to information to enable him to build a “customer-centric organisation”, with data used to drive decision-making.

Rotorua Lakes Council chief executive Andrew Moraes. Photo / Andrew Warner

He said he had a background in the private sector and was “used to being in a role where we’re hungry for customers”.

“We’re hungry to serve them well and we’re passionate about them being satisfied because if they’re satisfied they come back and give us business.”

There was no natural pressure like that in local government, he said, and it had to be created.

Moraes said he wanted the customer – whether ratepayers, businesses or visitors – to be at “the centre of our thinking” and not be overtaken by policy and strategy.

“All of those are important, but they’re always supposed to serve the customer.”

This was the idea behind a digital engagement platform the council would activate this year.

It would offer a way for the public to provide feedback on certain topics, outside of formal consultation or requests for service.

Data would be gathered to create a bigger picture of issues, and issues would be responded to quickly.

Moraes said it would fill a communication void left between infrequent processes asking the big questions.

He gave an example of a theoretical wall consistently being graffitied.

The community would be asked what it might want: a graffiato [mural] canvas for a local; keep on with graffiti removal; install a fence or a hedge.

Another was that collated feedback could tell the council it needed to up rubbish collection at a certain location.

Moraes said he would discuss the platform at a community roadshow he planned ahead of this year’s election.

He intended to speak with communities about his pre-election report.

It is a requirement of the Local Government Act to provide information to promote public discussion about the issues facing the local authority.

He envisaged the roadshow as being a talk about the issues the council will face next term, both the challenges and opportunities.

Laura Smith is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. She previously reported general news for the Otago Daily Times and Southland Express, and has been a journalist since 2019.

- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

Correction

Andrew Moraes wants to talk to communities about his pre-election report, rather than to inform the report as this article previously incorrectly stated.