Indifference to waste and the environment will always be leadership issues. In other words, those making generous salaries to fill positions of power within council clearly failed the ratepayers and the environment by choosing not to take action until a particularly blunt opinion piece in the Chronicle finally brought about change.
Even then, one senior manager dismissed the $600 as inconsequential.
I'll let others address the topics of rates and waste, as these are perennial issues for any
municipality. My concern is of the greater disregard and general ignorance of the environment that appears to have been institutionalised within Whanganui council to such a degree that few are willing to stick their heads above the parapet.
The unquestionable weakness is most clearly exhibited in the so-called Leading Edge document. The environment section has received widespread criticism by the local sustainability community, and I don't know of any professional working in the environmental field that would call it robust - quite the contrary.
Its lack of robustness is reflected in the meaningless results included in the My Whanganui: Community Outcomes Survey 2016.
"Garbage in - garbage out" is a phrase employed by researchers to describe the uselessness of poor research design. For example, if the data collected does not result in meaningful findings, the research is a waste of everyone's time. It's like asking some 4-year-olds which they like better: lollies or cabbage?
Robust findings require robust questions, and robust questions come from a robust theoretical framework.
In the case of My Whanganui, it's a matter of not even asking the right questions.
Think for a moment about the environmental issues facing our community and the world.
Now consider how these Likert statements from the survey address them: "Whanganui has a scenic river"; "Whanganui has a pleasant climate"; "Whanganui is a beautiful place"; "I enjoy attending events held in Whanganui"; "Whanganui offers a range of events for the whole family".
On the first three, who would disagree and what meaningful insights does council hope to glean? Not robust.
Regarding the last two, events are not the environment. They should be included in different sections of the survey - community or economy. It appears they were slotted into the environment section as filler. Not robust.
In no way, shape or form is the so-called Leading Edge document "progressive" or "innovative" as council would have us believe when it comes to the environment and we should not be surprised given the available evidence.
But next month offers the extraordinary opportunity for our community to start the process of change.
Our new chief executive needs to be joined by a fresh slate of elected officials willing to engage in robust discussions on the environment, not just fluff and filler.
We need council officers who are knowledgeable, skilled and supported to produce robust policies and innovative programmes. We need a council culture where no one is afraid to stick their head above the parapet.
These things start with you - the voter.
Community Resilience Whanganui has distributed a questionnaire to all candidates on important community issues. The results will help us make informed decisions on our ballots. Watch for the results to be published soon.
* Dr Nelson Lebo is an eco-design consultant and social science researcher.
