Deputy Mayor Ready To Step Up Into New Role

Deputy Mayor Tom Campbell is looking forward to holding the fort around the Invercargill City Council chambers for the next few months.

Speaking with Mike Sanford in his weekly ’90 seconds with the Mayor’ – he wasn’t sure when Mayor Nobby Clark would be back from his surgery, “it’ll be when he feels able to,” rather than setting an exact deadline.

“Put it this way I’’m not going on holiday anytime soon, he said.

The first council meeting for the year will be held next Tuesday January 30th and priorities included keeping the new Southland museum on track, getting the Wachner Place up and running and signing off the Long Term Plan.

“It’s a really important piece of work, and hopefully by the time Nobby gets back we’ll have broken the back of it.”

Acknowledging his team of councillors, he said they now had a really strong council that worked well together, and debated “ferociously.”

“We’re always playing with the ball rather than the man.”

The Invercargill City Council had some great executives as well, with many local people filing those important management roles, he said.

“What could possibly go wrong?” he joked.  “A meteorite or something?”

Originally from Scotland, Tom and his wife emigrated to New Zealand in 1981 to work at Tiwai as an engineer.  Then followed three years in Australia before coming back, another three years in Wales before returning again, and then finally a term in Montreal before finally settling in the south.

Tom thinks he might have the record for the most number of emigrations to Invercargill.

“We’ve always loved it here,” he said after originally spotting an advert in the London Times marketing the great south of New Zealand as somewhere where it was ‘forever Spring.’

He was almost fooled by the tropical palm trees lining the streets and the lovely weather when he first arrived the first two days, “but then it rained for about two months,” he said.

Tom has held various governance roles since 2009, including chair of EECA, GMS Science, Electricity Invercargill and the Port of Otago.