### ODT Online Sat, 17 Sep 2011
New chief executive aims high
By Chris Morris
The Dunedin City Council’s new chief executive is yet to get his feet under the desk, but is already aiming high. Welshman Paul Orders and his family flew into Dunedin – via Auckland – last Saturday, and have spent the last week on a rapid-fire familiarisation tour of the city before his first day in the role on Monday. Speaking to the Otago Daily Times yesterday, he said there was a lot to be done over the next few weeks as he embarked on a “steep learning curve”.
“Dunedin has great potential. It could be one of the great small cities. What it also needs to have is a very high-performing city council.”
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
What if? Dunedin... 
### ODT Online Tue, 20 Sep 2011
New CEO getting feel of city
By John Lewis
The next time you dine out, the chances are a man with a thick Welsh accent may tap you on the shoulder and ask for your candid opinion on the state of local government in Dunedin. Dunedin City Council chief executive Paul Orders wants to meet as many people in the city as possible in the coming weeks to familiarise himself with the issues and the pressures affecting the city, in his bid to improve and develop Dunedin into “an even better place”.
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What if? Dunedin… has emailed Paul Orders inviting him to visit this website.
Nice to see, from first impressions, a normal, pleasant looking person in charge as CEO, with his cute kids, and wife, in the background supporting him on his first day at his new job. A welcome change from the spiteful regime that preceded him. Hopefully, he sweeps through the organisation with a new broom. It’s up to the citizens of Dunedin as to what we do with most – not all – of the councillors who ‘represent’ us.
Harland was normal and pleasant enough looking, he looked like a wee chipmunk (who turned out to have a really feral streak). But I agree with you Peter. Will be intriguing to see how the new CEO turns out.
### ch9.co.nz September 19, 2011 – 6:27pm
DCC Chief Executive formally welcomed
Dunedin City Council Chief Executive Paul Orders was formally welcomed to council this afternoon, walking straight into the city’s debt issues. However, he appeared touched by parts of his welcome, especially when a group sang the Welsh Anthem: Land of my Fathers.
Video
### ODT Online Wed, 28 Sep 2011
The small things matter, councils advised
By Dene Mackenzie
Local government in Otago and Southland is being urged to concentrate on getting the small things right in the wake of survey results released yesterday which show local authorities are not doing enough for business. The MYOB survey of more than 1000 business owners in New Zealand found that only in Wellington was satisfaction with council performance (21%) approaching the level of dissatisfaction (27%) among business owners. In Otago and Southland, 10% were satisfied and 38% were dissatisfied.
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I noted in the photo today that Mrs Orders was wearing denim jeans. Remember the late unlamented’s stampy-foot hissy edict that library staff, ALL staff (presumably excluding sweaty outdoor minions) must never wear denim in his kingdom. What a merchant banker*!
*rhyming slang
{We might have given the subject its own post. -Eds}
I will support Jim in his stand over the jeans saga. If for nothing else. I worked for a very large European consultancy. We had no dress code and for my years there I wore jeans to the office pretty much every day. However, we all knew what was an acceptable level of dress for a given situation, and what wasn’t. It was called being adult and responsible. Sadly, there are a significant number of DCC employees who take advantage of what is, by and large, an extremely good employer, and abuse any rights they are offered. At times it’s like a school yard, with grown adults trying to see exactly how much they can get away with. Turning up to work with ripped jeans on “casual Friday” showed that some people within the organisation were not capable of behaving like responsible adults. So the decision was taken away from them. And everyone suffered as a result. Maybe next time the department managers might decide to manage their staff and not leave it for the chief to step in.
The late unlamented was spotted on Sunday night, dressed in the usual suit and tie, heading for the North stand for the England game i.e. not the corporate boxes…
Please don’t let us get into a discussion on dress codes. It’s not important in the greater scheme of things.