How well do you know Invercargill's new mayor?
“There are some traps. I do 12-hour days sometimes. My partner often says I don’t see much of you, which I’ve got to be mindful of."
(We are a reader-supported platform so please consider joining The Tribune as a paid subscriber/supporter to help us produce more Southland content.)
It took less than an hour after Nobby Clark was announced as Invercargill’s new mayor for him to have council staff squirming a little.
At just before 2pm on October 8 the Invercargill City Council confirmed Clark would be Invercargill’s first new mayor in close to three decades, replacing Sir Tim Shadbolt.
In no time reporters were at Clark’s Otatara home getting his reaction to his close to 3000-vote majority victory, as well as his plans for the council.
He wasted little time brushing aside the pleasantries and lobbing a verbal hand grenade the way of those in the Civic Administration Building in Esk St.
He felt “the staff ran the place” and councillors last term simply “rubber-stamped” what staff said.
Clark declared that would change under his watch.
At the same time, he reinforced plans to slash $50 million from its spending. That has since been reduced to $40m.
Clark himself is the first to admit he can be blunt when it comes to what he wants. He was described as a polarising figure in an independent review of the council last term.
“I was quite clear in the first week or so in the job. On a couple of occasions, I had to say to staff; ‘if you can’t get this done, I’ll get somebody that can get it done. This is what we want done, your job is to deliver.
“Give us advice, if you want, but do not expect that we are always going to run with that advice’.
“We are prepared to take some risks and get things done.”
So just how has the council staff reacted to his “bull in a china-shop” direct approach since his election victory and the comments that followed?
“Players that I probably would have felt in the last term were very quick to give me 10 reasons for not doing something, and one reason why you should, now it’s the other way around.”
Clark’s push to get a new museum built by December 2025 falls into that category of something that might have been a touch uncomfortable for staff, given some of the challenges and risks it presents.
However, the decks have been cleared, so to speak, and Clark says it remains a priority to get Project 1225 completed.
So, who is Nobby Clark?
In reality, that direct approach is true to form, and shouldn’t be all that surprising for both staff and ratepayers.
Leading into the 2022 mayoral election Clark had developed a significant profile in Invercargill. In some part that was fuelled by his willingness to agitate.
First as an advocate for ratepayers on various issues, and then during his first term as a councillor. He often rowed in the opposite direction to his colleagues and was prepared to speak out publicly when he opposed what the council was doing.
But as large of a profile as Clark has managed to drum up, how well do you actually know the man now at the helm of Invercargill?
Let’s delve a little into his life story.
Clark was born in Nelson, before spending seven years in Auckland after high school.
He joined the Armed Forces as a Navy Medic and spent some time serving in Vietnam at the back end of the Vietnam War.
While in the Armed Forces he met a Southlander - his now ex-wife - and 48 years ago moved to Invercargill to live.
He’s remained in Invercargill but still isn’t prepared to label himself a Southlander. He does love the place though.
“Even when I retire, I’ll stay here. I like Southland, the cost of living is much better here than some other places, certainly around housing.
“But I do like to travel, I’ve travelled a lot. I’ve probably been to 35 countries. Once I used to travel every six months when I had a job that I could build up time and take time off.”
Clark has amassed a large family of Southlanders, although quite a few now live in Australia.
The 71-year-old has six adult children, four of them his biological children and two stepchildren. He had the heartbreak of having to deal with one of his children dying two years ago with cancer.
He has 18 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
In terms of employment, during his early days living in Invercargill he worked in what he described as “authoritarian” type roles. It included as a prison officer, as well as a security guard at the aluminium smelter at Tiwai Point.
In later years he worked in the social services sector in many different positions. It included starting up Family Start Invercargill and working for IHC as an area manager.
His time in social services attracted some controversy. He was dismissed twice from jobs. However, on both occasions, it was deemed he had been unfairly dismissed.
Those jobs were not reinstated though.
“[A] high court judge told me that my last case was one of the ones that pushed the Government to change the law so that you could actually go back to your job if you’ve done nothing wrong. I was quite pleased with that.”
On top of his large family and his work commitments over the years, Clark has an extensive list of interests. Much of it revolves around sport.
Clark was a big supporter of the Southern Sting netball team. It included travelling to watch them play elsewhere in New Zealand on many occasions.
“I spent a small bloody fortune following them. I wore all the gear that went with being a Sting supporter.”
“I had one of those loud hooters that the TV crews objected to the noise, but I didn’t care, I did it anyway.”
Something that might have provided a little window looking into his political future.
Clark played, coached, and refereed in many sports including football, squash, and softball.
He says he was once a fanatical runner but now prefers mountain biking. It includes trying to get rides in before he heads into the mayoral office each morning.
“I can easily go to Bluff and back, which is a 75km round trip.”
“I’ve done the Kepler 30 times. I was the first person to complete 30 events. I’ve done the full race, which is 60km, three times and I’ve done the Grunt, up to the Luxmore hut and back - which is 28km - 27 times.”
Another interest is speedway, although arguably one of Southland’s most popular sports - rugby - doesn’t feature as a sport he is keen on.
“I like sport, but I don’t like rugby. I struggle with rugby, I find it a frustrating game. The rules are so intense and you don’t know what you are being penalised for sometimes.”
It’s ironic given Southland rugby’s strongest ally around the council table, when troubles at the council-run Rugby Park surfaced last term, was probably Clark.
Outside of sport, meditation has helped him stay mentally strong, a practice he took following a trip to Thailand, while in 2004 Clark became just the fourth person in New Zealand to donate a kidney anonymously.
Why run for mayor?
So, for a 71-year-old with 30 grandchildren or great-grandchildren, who has a love of travel and a stack load of other interests, what’s the appeal of tackling the mayoral job?
Clark says it was never his intention to try to stay on council for another term. He was frustrated with the council and wanted out.
But after some conversations with a couple of councillors, as well as “financial backers”, he decided he wanted to be part of a new team which empowered elected members at the council table.
“If you observed council, the staff run the place. Most of the papers were probably just rubber-stamped by councillors, and even when you objected to something they just still rubber stamp it anyway. So, we needed a new way forward.”
Clark agreed to stand on the proviso it was part of a “ticket” alongside other council candidates who had a similar outlook and had some business experience.
He and fellow councillor Alan Arnold put the ticket together. Four - Grant Dermody, Tom Campbell, Barry Stewart and Arnold - were elected as councillors, along with Clark as mayor.
Some questioned the lack of diversity, both gender and race, on Clark’s Let’s Go Invercargill ticket. Clark hits back at those suggestions though.
Clark wanted people with business experience on the ticket whatever gender or race.
He doesn’t buy into factoring in gender or race around.
He had Kerry Hapuku - a female Māori - on his ticket but she come up short in terms of votes, Clark said.
“That was a bit sad, but it is the way it is.”
His view that gender and race should now be a key focus has flowed into his mayoral outlook.
“I get a little bit of flack for taking that stance.”
The Government will soon hold a training workshop in Christchurch for women in government roles, including local government.
Clark is not all that keen on those at the Invercargill City Council attending. He does not believe there should be separate workshops.
“I've told the organisers that I don't particularly want my councillors to go.”
The first four months….
When Clark opened the door to his mayoral office to welcome me for this particular interview he quickly declared; “there aren’t enough hours in the day”.
As a councillor Clark emersed himself in various issues; not willing to let them go much to the annoyance of some of his colleagues at times.
Having the extra importance of the mayoral job added has simply ramped up his willingness to delve deep into issues.
“I do some long days,” he says.
“That it is one of the issues for anyone in local government, but certainly from a mayoral role.
“There are some traps. I do 12-hour days sometimes. My partner [Karen] often says; ‘I don’t see much of you’, which I’ve got to be mindful of.
“It can be a very lonely role. A lot of my [councillor] colleagues are not here day to day.”
Given that, Clark has come to the realisation he probably needs a mentor to lean on. Someone outside the council system who he can ask if he is going about things the right way.
He’s suggested both Gore mayor Ben Bell and Southland District mayor Rob Scott do the same. One has taken up that advice, Clark says.
“It is not a sign of weakness, it’s just clearing the air and saying, ‘am I doing the right things here or am I getting too involved? Because it’s very easy to get too involved.
“I’m a person that is very impatient and I can be very direct at times, so getting some advice to tell you; ‘you’re not going down the right track’ is probably a good thing.”
Without a mentor type, he says it’s his partner Karen Carter who he often dumps his issues on.
That’s not fair on her, he adds. And also, not ideal for the couple when she provides him advice and he opts not to act on it.
It hasn’t just been the council staff who Clark has put under the microscope during the early stages of his three-year terms as mayor.
He has made it clear to his fellow council colleagues that he won’t be letting them drift throughout the next three years. He has expectations and is prepared to call them out if he doesn’t feel they are reaching those.
Meeting apologies now have to go to Clark, and if he feels they are not justified he won’t accept that apology.
“There’s none of this ringing up two minutes before meetings saying, ‘I can’t make it’.”
On of top of that, he’s taken a proactive approach in trying to make sure all councillors are contributing in discussions at meetings, rather than a select few - the likes of Darren Ludlow, Lesley Soper, Ian Pottinger, and Clark himself - who traditionally have been the most vocal.
It has included Clark, when chairing meetings, now going around the table asking each councillor to share their opinion on some of the bigger issues on the agenda.
“You’ve got to have done your homework, so you don’t have the ability to sort of read through the documents and just come in and go with the flow.
“It’s really important that you contribute. I’ve got that now, people are really contributing.”
The next three years could be an intriguing one around the council table as our elected members tackle the city’s key issues with a new mayor at the helm.