The new chief executive of Central Otago District Council (CODC) Peter Kelly (Ngati Toa Rangatira, Ngati Koata) has an impressive resume. 

Peter took over at the council after spending five years in the top role at Upper Hutt City Council, but prior to that spent 30 years in the army, rising to the rank of Major General and Chief of the New Zealand Army.

In 2019, he was invested as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to the New Zealand Defence Forces, and he has filled many roles overseas, as a UN truce supervisor in Israel, Lebanon, and Syria; detachment commander with the NZSAS group force element in Kuwait; and as military attache in Washington DC, to name a few.

Peter said he had been nearing the end of his five-year contract with Upper Hutt council when former CODC chief executive Sanchia Jacobs announced she was moving to another job, and said if anyone was interested in working in paradise, to let her know.

“This is paradise,” he said. 

“My wife and I often came through here most years, and always drove through all the various valleys heading north, and I always thought it would be a great place to live.”

You need a job, even in paradise, and the perfect one came up, Peter said. 

“I was just lucky and fortunate that I was able to get this role.”

He started the new role on September 11 after a mihi whakatau, or welcome ceremony, having arrived in Central Otago the previous day. His wife is booked to cross Cook Strait on September 30, “with the dog, a camp stretcher, a chair, and the dog food,” Peter said.

Their household effects and the cat would arrive the following week and they would then be settled.

Being a former military family, this was their 16th house move, so something they were accustomed to, he said, and the Upper Hutt position had been his longest in one role. 

“The longest job I did in the army was chief of the army, and that was three years and two months. So five years is quite a long time in one role.”

His contract with CODC is also for five years, and Peter said he very much looked forward to that. Central Otago District mayor Tim Cadogan said Peter was settling in really quickly and making efforts to learn about his new home.

“I’ve already seen him in attendance at a number of evening community meetings as he gets to know folks,” Tim said.

There were some minor adjustments to leaving the military, Peter said, but leadership was leadership and, at its core, was about relationships.

“If you want to be able to influence people, you have to be able to build rapport and trust, and the only way you can build rapport and trust is to form a relationship. You have to instil the values of an organisation, up and down.

“Most good military leaders are not the stereotypical ones people would think of,” he said. 

There would always be differences and tensions within communities because councils did have to make decisions, he said, citing wilding pines as one such issue. 

“There are always challenges. Even simple decisions aren’t necessarily simple decisions.”

Asked if he came to the CODC with plans in place for changes he might make, Peter again talked of how he viewed leadership.

“Perhaps there’s a science and an art to leadership, and I’m probably more on the art side and less on the science. When people come in with 100-day plans, 90-day plans - I think that’s a little artificial. What you have to do, first and foremost, is build up a relationship, across your council, across your community board members and across your staff.

“This is a great council, it’s been doing some really great things. It’s really quite progressive in a number of areas. It’s definitely in the right direction. My job is to come in here and continue to work with our elected officials and make sure we maintain that direction.”

However, these were really challenging times for local councils, he said, which provide a broad range of services for communities.

“I’m not actually sure people realise the depth and breadth of what councils do. People focus on what is poor, but if councils didn’t do some of the stuff, nobody would do it, so there would be gaps in our society. Councils have picked up a lot, and some of that is in the social space.”

He said Covid showed that when central government tried to develop policies to support the community, they were too removed and needed councils and community groups to be the deliverers of support services for communities during those times.

“Councils have to, first of all, be able to support and serve their community but, equally, councils are a business and an organisation. They have to be prudent with the money they get. 

“All New Zealanders are finding the pinch pretty tough in the cost of living, and councils do have to look at that. This is going to be a tough time for this council, and all councils, with the long-term plan because they are going to have to look at how they deliver their services, the levels of service they deliver, and what is affordable going forward. There are going to be some tough discussions and some tough decisions that our elected officials will have to make.”

Peter brings a cross-cultural perspective to his role, both from his career and his own history. 

Born to a young Māori father and Italian mother, Peter and his twin brother were adopted by an Irish father and English mother, and reconnected with their parents, by then married with other children, when Peter was a teenager.

He said since their teens, he and his brother had grown up in two families, both of which were very important to him.

“One can’t deny one’s whakapapa. You are who you are, and my children look like their cousins, they look like their uncles and aunties. My father is very strong in the iwi and did grow up there. I still have a strong connection with my iwi and continue to support them in my capacity. Even though it was late in the piece, it is who I am.

“I’m part-Māori and I’m very proud of that.”

His son is a major in the army, and his daughter has settled in Melbourne. 

In their leisure time, Peter and his wife planned to enjoy walking the dog and cycling, and he enjoyed skiing, he said.

“We really just like being in wide open spaces, taking in the views, and relaxing, and where we can, spending time with family.”