Bay of Plenty Regional Council CEO Mary-Anne McLeod is being urged to toughen up and slash the council's 'very flabby bureaucracy”, but she rejects the criticism as baseless.

The call, made in an open letter from former regional councillor Andrew von Dadelszen in his column in The Weekend Sun focusses on her need to make more tough calls and improve the council's efficiencies.

Former regional councillor Andrew von Dadelszen is criticising regional council CEO Mary-Anne McLeod's leadership.

'Being well into your second year as chief executive of the Regional Council, it is now time that you stepped up (and hardened up). As a second tier manager you could afford to be good friends with your colleagues, but as CEO you need to make some hard calls and slash your very flabby bureaucracy,” writes Andrew.

Mary-Anne says she is happy to be held to account for the council's progress in achieving greater efficiencies. She is 'extremely proud” of what the council has done to improve efficiencies and deliver what the community wants. (For her full response and Andrew's column click here.)

'To me, leading from the front is about working with the people at the Regional Council to make sure we are fully effective and efficient at all we do. It's also about constantly improving the way we do our work.”

Andrew is urging her to improve on the efficiencies made by her predecessor Bill Bayfield, including completing the move of council headquarters from Whakatane to Tauranga that began eight years ago.

'Your organisation is in crisis, and this starts at the top with a board (elected representatives) that operate within a dysfunctional environment. There is no collegiality between councillors and time has run out for inaction.”

Mary-Anne refused to comment about current councillors but says she firmly believes in open communication with ratepayers and communities. However, she says centralisation of all operations is not the best answer for serving the diverse region.

'While I agree that the council's different locations present some challenges …we need a solution that keeps us connected to our communities while overcoming the issues that this geographical spread can create.”

In the last year she says costs have been driven down by streamlining functions in the executive and management teams, reducing council car costs, sharing services with other councils and a new staff pay system that focuses on accountability and rewarding high performance.

'I'm confident in the progress we'll make and the improvements we'll deliver to the Bay over the coming year and beyond.”

The call for improvements comes as discussion on reforming Western Bay local government is about to begin. The conference ‘Rethinking Local Government' on February 1 has been organised by the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce. Chamber CEO Max Mason says local government has an important impact on all people.