Baby and politics mix at council

Palmerston North city councillor and mother of 15-month-old Max, Aleisha Rutherford, is hoping her example will show other council hopefuls that family and a council career can fit together.

Rutherford’s attendance records took a knock after Max was born in May, 2017, missing at least six meetings during her council-approved leave of absence. Overall, she has been at 87 of the 105 meetings she could have attended in the 12 months to the end of June, 2018.

‘‘It is definitely a juggling act,’’ she said. It took careful planning, a live-in au pair, supportive family and understanding council colleagues, to make it work.

A regular in the council chamber as a baby, the toddler was usually kept well away from the business these days.

‘‘Due to the nature of his love of light switches and cables, the chamber is not the best playground for him.’’

Rutherford said she hoped her experience would encourage other people that they did not have to make a choice between being a councillor or becoming a parent.

The other stand-out for missing council meetings was Gabrielle Bundy-cooke, who had approved leave to miss nine meetings while she had hip surgery.

She was at 87 of the 107 meetings she could have attended over the year. One of those was the council’s main rates debate meeting at the end of May.

She missed that meeting because she had booked a holiday and had the leave of absence approved before the date for the rates debate was set.

The figures showed two councillors, Adrian Broad and Bruno Petrenas, had perfect attendance records for the year.

There was a change to meeting attendance expectations half way through the financial year, when councillors ceased automatically being members of every committee, decreasing the number of meetings they were expected to attend.

That change meant councillors such as Brent Barrett and Susan Baty ended up at seven or eight more meetings than they were required to attend.

The figures did not capture councillors’ late arrivals or early departures.

‘‘Due to the nature of his love of light switches and cables, the chamber is not the best playground for him.’’ Cr Aleisha Ruherford