Hawke’s Bay Regional Economic Development Agency (HBREDA) — disestablished.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Recovery Agency (HBRRA) — ‘repurposed’ into an ‘interim Regional Office’.

Matariki Governance Group (MGG) — in search of meaning.

Mayoral Forum — driving the show.

Those are the conclusions I draw from a briefing paper prepared by HBRC staff for a 24 February HBRC workshop discussion on ‘Supporting the HB Mayoral Forum and regional priorities’. The paper notes that the issues that need to be addressed are “structural rather than performance-related and reflect the evolving regional and national context”. In other words, it’s not the people, it’s how we’re organised.

HBREDA is definitely dead, its aspiration to be ‘refreshed’ as an ‘enabling’ agency for economic development dashed. It has been told its funding is terminated, with HBRC in fact holding back $250,000 it had not yet advanced to the agency. The formal decision confirming the death will be made at the 13 March meeting of the Matariki Governance Group. Appropriately, REDA’s board will also be dissolved.

HBRRA winds down on 31 March, as does its board. To its credit the RRA has some cash to bring to the party – interest revenue the RRA has generated from central government recovery grant funding over the last 30 months (likely to be between $400-500k). 

So, the plan is for the RRA to morph into an ‘interim Regional Office’ (operating as a standalone business unit of HBRC, using the existing RRA organisational and legal form) that will support the Mayoral Forum and regional initiatives like:

“Preparation for pre- and post-election Government/political engagement. Provide support to regional leaders to develop Hawke’s Bay’s approach with political parties in preparation for the 2026 General Election period. This will also include planning for advocacy and engagement following the General Election. 

“Support initial work on Regional Reorganisation Plan concepts. Regional leaders have indicated a desire to start considering and discussing their ideas and community preferences for consideration as part of the Regional Reorganisation Plan envisaged in the Simplifying Local Government proposal.  

“Continue meeting Recovery obligations on behalf of Councils. There is still some recovery work that needs to be carried on. The legally binding NIWE (2023) Hawke’s Bay Crown Funding Agreement sets out responsibilities for the RRA in terms of a Delivery Plan and programme management oversight and monitoring, support for programme governance arrangements and related issues management.” 

Governance oversight will be provided by the Mayoral Forum. BayBuzz is told: “The interim office will be staffed by existing members of the RRA team but just a small number. The longer term regional office if it is established would need us to go to the market for the required skills and experience. We are still working up the budget detail.”

That leaves the Matariki Governance Group – “the region’s leadership and strategy forum, bringing together civic and PSGE/iwi leadership” and “the mechanism through which shared regional priorities are agreed”. Its utility is yet to be established.

The bottom-line is that the Mayoral Forum (which includes the Regional Council Chair) – our senior elected and publicly accountable leadership – is in the driver’s seat, which is befitting as the region seriously ponders its governance and economic future.

For now, less clutter and overlap. Fewer boards.

More on how all this plays out in our March/April BayBuzz magazine.