McDouall said his appointment is somewhat attributed to how well Whanganui is going.
"It's certainly been noted that we are tracking pretty well."
With the help of his council, McDouall said he will be able to juggle the additional workload.
"Luckily, I've got such a great council who are putting in the heavy lifting. There will be some time commitments and I'm closer to Wellington than [LGNZ] president Stuart Crosby so I will be the go-to person at times."
At LGNZ's annual meeting last Friday nine remits aimed at strengthening the sector were passed.
Of the successful remits, Whanganui District Council submitted two; a proposal that electoral terms of both central and local government be extended from three to four years, and a call to Government to lift the level of rates rebates available for low and fixed income property owners. LGNZ will advocate to central government on both.
The rates rebates remit was passed with 100 per cent support from the sector, an almost unheard-of feat, McDouall said.
"You don't get remits with 100 per cent very often, I tell you.
"It was highly successful. I have to acknowledge deputy mayor Jenny Duncan for putting that up, she was the advocate for that."
McDouall cited his mother, a widow living on a fixed income, as a prime example of who would benefit from the proposal.
"That was just so gratifying to get 100 per cent. People in their senior years who are past their earning capacity need to be looked after."
The local government electoral cycle remit was passed with 87 per cent support, with McDouall saying it has been something he has long advocated for.
McDouall said there is "great logic" behind the remit because three years isn't long enough to see decisions made pan out.
"There is a sense you get in, you do all the hard work to put together a long term plan, and then suddenly the next year you are in election mode.
"The three-year electoral cycle doesn't encourage investment in core infrastructure, which is one of our main jobs. I think many councils have underinvested in infrastructure for a long time and it's important to encourage that and get government assistance here and there.
"It's the most obvious thing that we do. The water and the roading is the stuff everyone expects us to do. When infrastructure fails, it affects the entire community."
McDouall said investment in Whanganui has improved over time and he has made a conscious effort to make council decisions more transparent with the community.
"I've certainly reduced the public excluded agenda and that has been a deliberate effort to default to releasing the information instead of the other way around."
Another remit proposed by Whanganui District Council was around measuring CO2 emissions, but wasn't passed due to sheer timing, McDouall said.
"Recently the Ministry of Environment and Christchurch City Council have both advanced that debate further so their work basically superseded ours.
"We worked with Christchurch City Council quite recently to reformulate our remit, but it was decided rather than debating it on the floor we can do that at national council level.
"It has nothing to do with the merit of the remit, it was just the timing was off."
McDouall wants his three-year term as vice-president to be about pushing the importance of locally-made decisions by councils.
"Accentuate the positives, acknowledge our deficits - they are key things I want to pursue because sadly local government's perception as an entity has dropped steadily over time and that doesn't reflect the good work many councils are doing."
