Outgoing Mayor And Councillors Sign Off

I will miss Mayor Nobby Clark's dry wit.

The last of four valedictory speeches in Invercargill City Council chambers on Tuesday afternoon, there was waiata following outgoing councillors' Evelyn Cook and Lesley Soper's speeches, and councillor Peter Kett spoke at length (40 mins) about everything he can remember during his seven terms.

“I’m going to have a record for the shortest one,” Mayor Clark said.

“I’m a Virgo and everything’s done yesterday,” he started.

He counted 40 things he and the council had achieved over the past 3-4 years, and acknowledged several people who had made life easier for him during his term as Mayor.

His deputy Tom Campbell, who he described as loyal and excellent in his advice, “although he said on occasion, ‘I didn’t sign up for this.’”

“There were some indiscretions we could have all done without,” Mayor Clark said.

Cr Grant Dermody was on the list of those who had supported him, along with MP Penny Simmonds, and his younger brother Michael, who had given him guidance and knowledge on all things to do with mana whenua.

And lastly he acknowledged his partner Karen Carter, saying there was one thing he had observed during his term, giving advice for those coming into the big roles:

“There is care to be taken around offloading to your partner,” he said, and it was too easy to carry around the baggage from the day.

“You leave them with nowhere to offload either, and there is a cost involved.”

The couple intend to do more travel and their next trip overseas would be to South Africa.