Robert Dobrzynski farewells the city after seven years

How do you feel?

The overwhelming thought is; really grateful for the opportunity.

We under appreciate just how good the city is.

Particularly people who have lived here all their lives.

It’s got a hell of a lot of things going for it and there’s been a lot of people who have supported me and given me the opportunity to achieve a few things, for that you’ve got to be grateful.

I often pinched myself.

What has been the highlight?

The highlight has been seeing the council have a far more outwardly focused perspective rather than being inwardly focused.

The community engagement that we’ve got now is second to none and that’s so important to a service entity like a council.

The relationships that we’ve established with the state government; Peter Gutwein has been an enormous strength for us.

The ability to be able to basically go across the road and speak to the Treasurer of the state – that level of seniority and the support he’s provided us has been really, very much part of the success factor.

Engaging with some wonderful private sector people.

The Jo Chromys of the world and the Errol Stewarts – getting a sense of how much they contribute to the prosperity of this community has been fantastic.

The cultural strategy that we’re doing – when you reflect on the richness of cultural assets that this city’s got as the third oldest in the country.

And the challenges?

Early on was to get that external focus for the organisation to engage more with our community.

To get a strategic perspective in the city so we had a clear sense of where we wanted to head as a city and as a regional centre in Northern Tasmania – to ensure the community had ownership of that. 

Reinvigorating the CBD continues to be a challenge but one which we are meeting.

The CBD is an iconic part of Launceston and we need to ensure it remains vibrant because it’s so important to the cultural fabric of the city.

Did you ruffle a few feathers when you arrived?

I think that’s best for others to reflect.

There are certainly some things that I wanted to achieve and I guess people needed to get to know me and my approach and similarly I needed to get to know them.

There were some things that we wanted to do and needed to do quite quickly.

Sometimes that cultural change is quite difficult for people.

I’d like to think now we’ve got a really healthy appetite as an organisation for continuous improvement and people don’t feel threatened by it.

What is the future challenge?

Capitalising on the advantages we have before us.

We’ve worked really hard to get to this position – we’re one of three cities in the country that has got a City Deal.

There’ll be something in the order of $600 million spent in the city over the next six to eight years.

The challenge is for the council, for the chamber for NTDC is to capitalise on that public expenditure by ensuring that as many contracts as possible are let locally – but also to leverage that public sector investment to get private sector investment at least to an equivalent figure.

We’ve got hotels that are now starting to take an interest in the city.

We need to capture more of the tourism market – we are a tourism destination.

We need to have more bed spaces so we can keep people here longer and we need to grow our achievements in post secondary education through the university’s associate degree program.

That has got to be a very important part of the lexicon moving forward in this city that we increase the skillsets of our young people – give them a reason to stay here and consolidate the university as an important part culturally and economically of the City of Launceston.

Does the St John Street bus stop issue show the council has more to do in community engagement? 

No, I don’t – I think that’s enormously healthy to have that sort of dialogue.

We go out with a City Heart plan and the learning for us has been; people see that plan that was the subject of considerable grassroots consultation.

But until you see something happening in front of your shop or your property – that’s where the rubber hits the road in terms of engagement.

We’ve now reinstituted the City Heart Reference Group so that we have a range of stakeholders that are on there all the time that we can test these propositions with and we can be alerted at the very early stage of any problems there might be there.

Retrofitting a CBD is as difficult as it gets and we need to continue to talk to people and get feedback from the community – one size doesn't fit all and to be able to adapt our approach to suit.

You’re the 15^th general manager since 1852 – what sense does that give you?

I'm enormously grateful for the opportunity.

It is very humbling.

I do believe that the general manager of a city of national significance, like Launceston, does have an important leadership role.

I hope I’ve gone some way to fulfilling those obligations.  

What’s next for you?

Kicking back a bit and enjoying family and grandchildren.

That’s basically the impetus behind my decision to retire and move back to the mainland.

I’ve loved my job, I’ve loved the challenges and the satisfaction of seeing things achieved.

I’ll want to be intellectually stimulated too so no doubt I’ll be doing a few things here and there.

I’ll probably expect a few phone calls from here by Michael Stretton on advice on various aspects that I’ve been materially involved in which I’ll gladly give.

Any tips for Michael?

Not really. Michael’s going to be a very successful general manager.

I employed him as a director here and he was fantastic in that role and he’ll be fantastic as the general manager.

He needs to come into this organisation and put his own stamp on it and re-establish the relationships he had in this community.

If he wants any assistance from me I’ll willingly give it.

It’s been a pleasure.