Tasman mayor won’t stand
Tasman district mayor Richard Kempthorne will not try to retain the mayoral chains at the 2019 election.
With his wife, Jane, at his side, the four-term mayor on Thursday announced he would not seek reelection in October.
Kempthorne said it had been an honour and privilege to serve the community but after ‘‘full consideration’’ he had decided not to stand again.
A Richmond resident, Kempthorne served as a councillor for six years before donning the mayoral chains for the first time in 2007.
He romped home in that contest for the top job and again in 2010, beating his closest opponent by more than 3500 votes each time. However, that lead was reduced to 831 in 2013 and 1077 in 2016 with Kit Maling runner-up in both those mayoral races. Maling won a place around the table as a Richmond Ward councillor in the 2016 election.
A long-time proponent of the Waimea dam, the project was a big issue during Kempthorne’s fourth term as mayor and he wasn’t afraid to use his casting vote to keep it alive.
He was relieved and happy in early September when councillors revisited a no decision they made nine days earlier and decided in a 9-5 vote to proceed with the $106 million project. The dam was given the final nod on November 30 and is due to be built in the Lee Valley over the next three years.
In response to a question from Stuff at the end of the six-hour meeting on November 30, an exhausted Kempthorne said he would make a decision whether to stand again as mayor, ‘‘probably towards the end of January’’.
‘‘I’ve said to everybody who’s asked me: ‘Not even thinking about it ‘till we got past today because it would have been a complete distraction’,’’ Kempthorne said at the time.
However, he delayed that decision after a severe drought hit the region and a large fire took hold in early February in those bone-dry conditions, prompting him to declare a State of Civil Defence Emergency.
Kempthorne worked long hours and had a high profile nationally in the weeks that followed, appearing up to twice a day at briefings for the media, escorting visiting ministers and leading extraordinary council meetings and public gatherings about the twin challenges.
Candidate nominations for the 2019 local body elections open on July 19.
They are due to close on August 16 with polling day scheduled for October 12.