Fulljames finding feet in new role
It’s taken a couple of months for Angela Fulljames to adjust to her new job.
Last year Fulljames was voted in as chairperson of the Franklin Local Board after being elected to represent the Wairoa Subdivision for a second term.
‘‘With any new role you take on you’ve got to spend a bit of time just absorbing it all and observing and learning,’’ she said.
Fulljames comes from a business background focused on marketing, promotions and project management.
She returned home to Auckland from Wellington to start a family and quickly became involved with local issues.
‘‘For me I can’t do nothing, I’ve got to have something on the go.’’
It was through her role as the chairperson of the Clevedon Business Association she learned more about her community and was introduced to Franklin Local Board figures such as Bill Cashmore and Jan Sinclair.
However, she wanted to achieve more for her community so decided to enter local body politics.
‘‘I could take a project so far, but you can only advocate so much,’’ she said.
In her first term in local board politics, Fulljames managed the arts and heritage portfolio.
She said one of the key lessons she learnt in her first term was the importance of networking to help achieve outcomes.
The big picture for Franklin during the next three years, Fulljames said was continuing to manage the growth planned for the area.
Growth would be a positive for busi- nesses wanting to grow their customer base and increase employment opportunities, she said.
It would also help cut down on long commute times into work.
‘‘If we can have a place where we can live and work in the same vicinity, it’s a lot better quality of life for people.’’
Delivering a high level of services and amenities to Franklin was another key focus, Fulljames said.
She highlighted the new transport hub at Pukekohe Station - due to open at the end of this year as one of these projects.
Despite the intense development in Franklin, she said the board wanted to protect Franklin’s reputation as one of New Zealand’s food bowls.
‘‘There’s opportunities with our land and what we produce here - we are here to protect that.’’
The Local Board Plan for the next three years was currently in review, and Fulljames said she didn’t expect too many changes to it.
‘‘We don’t want to lose momentum with some of the things we’re doing.’’
Some of the focuses for the local board include investing in the arts community, developing multi-sport complexes and finalising the Pohutukawa Coast off-road trail, with Waiuku and Pukekohe next line to have a trail system developed.
At the end of her first year as chairperson, Fulljames said she would like to see a majority of planned projects completed.
‘‘I’d like to make sure we can look at our work program for the year and look back on it and go tick, tick, tick - we’ve got all these things done.’’