New council manager for community spaces and places
The Invercargill City Council’s new group manager for community spaces and places will look to develop what he calls an already impressive “ecosystem’’ of progressive partnerships and collaborations.
Rex Capil will on Monday join the ICC from the Gore District Council where he was both deputy chief executive and general manager of community lifestyle services. He previously worked at the Southland District Council and Venture Southland before it became Great South.
Capil said he would look to maintain the momentum of progress in recent years that had put the council and city in a “really healthy and positive place’’.
“It’s a council that has so many exciting opportunities ahead and, from my perspective, it provides scale, resources and a sense of purpose, which means we can make a difference working alongside the community we serve now and for future generations.’’
Project 1225’s development of the new Te Unua Museum of Southland and the “exciting exhibits and stories that can be told’’ inside it once the building shell was completed would be a particular focus. His job also involves managing the council’s parks, pool, venues, library and museum services.
This includes work already under way on reserves master plan development – areas in which the born-and-bred southerner already has a breadth of experience from the development of Southland district’s recreation strategies, and later developing the Southland Leisure Strategy with Venture Southland.
“I will be looking to provide stability, to ensure delivery and accountability, and to support any organisation’s biggest asset – our people.’’
He would look to provide support structures, resources and tools “so they are well-supported and can deliver the best possible outcomes for the future of the city’’.
Capil is filling the role left vacant by the departure of Steve Gibling in August.
City council chief executive Michael Day said he, and other members of the council’s executive leadership team, were “immensely impressed’’ with Capil’s background.