Conference Chairperson Summation

Since the conference was hosted by three associations, there was no one person who was naturally the chair of the meeting. So SOLGM selected Rodger Kerr-Newell, the Chief Executive of Rodney District Council.

Kerr-Newell is a senior New Zealand manager, apparently very well known in these parts. He chaired the meeting with a cross between Johnny Carson and Peter O'Toole. He did a great job keeping things on track, but not too formal.

Kerr-Newell was given thirty minutes at the end of Friday (he took ten minutes) to sum up the proceedings. He said he came away with two big issues from the conference:

1. Sustainability is an idea communities need to seek. Sustainability programs do not just happen in a community, but residents and local government managers must actively work to make the programs happen in their communities.

2. Sustainability to be successful in communities can not remain the work of environmentalists, as he put it "the dark corner of society." To be successful, sustainability must be part of a communities larger social, economic and cultural agenda. There must be recognition in the community of this broader based approach. Sustainability must also have a broader based pay off for communities that can be measured on many levels, including how sustainability practices can utimately save communities money.

Well put.