Williams was an outspoken critic of the "Super City" amalgamation process for Auckland instigated by the National-led government in its first term of 2008–2011, considering the proposed "Supercity" unnecessary and undemocratic.

[3] Williams' wife Jane (a registered nurse) said her husband was suffering from "Chinese lurgy" after having just arrived back from an exhausting 10-day trip to Korea and China as a guest of both those governments.

She described the incident as an unconscious reaction of Williams as the medics treated him, and expressed surprise that the media had been told of it even though it should have been covered by patient confidentiality.

Williams defended himself as not having "a lot of patience for fence-sitters and procrastinators",[5] and he believed this was shown to be the case by the significant results the city achieved during his three years of mayoralty.

Williams has been involved in a number of heated incidents – such as during a meeting of a committee of the North Shore City Council, where he was asked to leave after referring to a councillor, Chris Darby, as a "smart-arse".

[6] Darby was part of a minority of councillors who constantly opposed the policies and actions by what the media called Mayor Andrew's "A Team".

[1] The position taken by Williams and the North Shore City Council was in line with the final report and recommendations of the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance.