Local Focus: Rotorua council suffering from FOMO, says candidate

Oscar Nathan, former general manager of Destination Rotorua, is turning his attention to council hoping to make it more efficient in how it serves the different communities of Rotorua.

In his video interview with Local Focus, he said the current council suffers from FOMO (fear of missing out) partly caused by central government's funding programmes.

"Money gets put up here and all of a sudden, because half or a third of the funds are there, we'll create some opportunity around that, when sometimes that might take your eye off the ball a little bit," he said.

When it comes to rates, Nathan wants to see council living within its means.

"It's got to be affordable for the community but part of that affordability is the efficiency of its use. At the end of the day council's got core functions and it's got other functions that keep the community vibrant but you can't keep missing the core functions.

"The core functions are often the things you don't see. They're not the things above the ground, they're the things below it."

Diversity is also big issue Nathan has with the current council.

"We could be more reflective of our Māori community. We've got a lot more ethnicity in our community right now too."

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