Honesty, integrity, and 25 years of service
If you ask John Morris what he does for a living, you'll quickly realise there isn't a simple answer.
One day he's working to improve air quality at the Port of Tauranga and nearby industrial areas. The next he's training coastal communities to prepare for an oil spill or coordinating patrols in marine protected areas.
After 25 years as a compliance officer at Bay of Plenty Regional Council, John has become known as a trusted problem-solver. The kind of person who believes the best outcomes come from building relationships and treating people with respect.
If there’s one phrase that sums him up, it’s the one he comes back to again and again.
“Do things with honesty and integrity. Be honest in your conversations and do what you say you’re going to do.” It’s a simple approach, but one that’s shaped his career.
John grew up in Hinuera, on the other side of the Kaimai Range. Life revolved around the family farm, and for a long time he imagined he would spend his future as a farmer himself. He eventually decided farming wasn’t the path he wanted to take.
“I'm not particularly academic,” he admits. “I've always been more of a practical person.”
Looking for something different, John spotted an advertisement for the New Zealand Police. Unsure whether his school qualifications were enough, he rang to ask. He was encouraged to sit the pre-entry test the same day. Despite his initial hesitation, he passed and in 1983 went on to join the police and serve for 16 years.
When police restructuring led him to consider a new direction, he saw a job pop up at Rotorua Lakes Council as a Resource Management Compliance Officer.
"At the time, I didn't even know what resource management meant. While waiting for the interview, I picked up a book about Rotorua's resources and tried to memorise a few key points," he laughs.
That began his career in local government and led him to Bay of Plenty Regional Council, where he has now worked for the past quarter century.
John’s role is difficult to define because it stretches across so many different areas.
Based at the Port of Tauranga since 2018, an achievement he's particularly proud of is the improvement in air quality.
He says what were once challenging compliance conversations have increasingly become collaborative discussions about what businesses are willing to do to keep improving environmental outcomes.
“We've made a big difference, and that’s rewarding,” he says.
But air quality is only one piece of the puzzle. John works closely with Regional Council’s maritime team, helping manage everything from marine patrols and oil spill preparedness through to public education around coastal protection.
No two days are ever the same and he embraces the description “jack of all trades.”
A defining moment in John’s career was the Rena disaster in 2011. He was involved in the early response and helped pull together information used in the prosecution that followed.
“It’s what really got me involved in maritime work. The experience highlighted the importance of preparation and prevention,” he says.
Today, much of John’s work is focused on making sure communities are prepared before an incident occurs. While another event on the scale of the Rena is unlikely, he says smaller but more common incidents can still have serious consequences.
“A tanker carrying up to 30,000 litres of fuel rolling on a remote road is a much more likely scenario, and could have major environmental impacts,” he says.
His focus on preparedness recently took him to Te Kaha, where he worked alongside local iwi to build relationships and discuss how they could help if an oil spill were to happen.
“Rather than delivering a one-size-fits-all programme, it was important to work alongside the communities to understand what would work best for them.”
The training equipped 16 iwi representatives with response skills, and seven spill kits are now positioned at marae around the East Cape.
“Whether I’m patrolling protected marine areas, or providing training, my first approach is always to engage with people.”
At the three offshore reefs making up the Motiti Protection Area, that often means stopping to chat with boaties about the rules and why they matter.
“We’re not there to argue. In most cases, people just need information and will take on board what they're told if they understand the reasons behind it,” he says.
Outside his day-to-day work, John has spent 15 years involved in emergency management and Civil Defence responses.
His deployments have taken him across New Zealand. He has assisted communities during major events including the Christchurch earthquakes, weather events in Franz Josef and Invercargill, slips in Richmond and Nelson, and the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.
“It feels good to help people and I’m at a stage in life where I can drop everything and go. If a community needs me, I’ll go and help.”
When he’s not working, you’ll often find him with his family. He and his wife have a blended family with nine children and many grandchildren.
Fishing, boating, and golf are favourite pastimes, and he enjoys escaping to Papa Aroha on the Coromandel Peninsula. These days it’s more likely to be a booked unit than a campsite, but he enjoys being by the water as much as ever.
John credits much of who he is to his upbringing and is modest about the impact he’s had over the past 25 years.
“I’m not going to change the world overnight. It’s about doing my bit to improve air quality, protect our coastlines, and help communities prepare for emergencies. It’s about taking the time to have a conversation and answering the phone when someone needs help.”