Official Plans Trip to Australia, New Zealand

City Manager Phil Hawkey next week will begin a 10-day trip to Australia and New Zealand as the guest of government officials down under after being honored by the International City / County Management Assn., he said.

Hawkey’s efforts to make Pasadena City Hall more customer-friendly with Nordstrom-style service and less red tape earned him a national award from the U.S.-based association.

The award brought Hawkey to the attention of the Institute for Municipal Management, an Australian local government organization that is paying for Hawkey to speak to their leaders in Sydney, he said.

Hawkey said he will also use the trip that begins Tuesday to examine the aftermath of the utility deregulation in Australia and New Zealand. During the last 15 years, most of the utilities in Australia have gone from government ownership to private enterprise. Similar deregulation will begin next year in California, forcing Pasadena’s city-owned utility to compete in an open market against private companies.

Not everyone on the City Council, however, is happy with his trip. Councilman William Paparian has questioned what real benefit the city will get from the trip. Paparian said, “He may as well go to Albania.”