Chance to influence representation review
CENTRAL Otago Mayor Tim Cadogan is reminding Central Otago ratepayers to have their say on proposed changes to local government representation in the region, and is drawing special attention to a Cromwell component.
The Central Otago District Council’s (CODC) representation review — required by law every six years — is proposing changes to the number of elected members in the Cromwell council ward and Vincent Community Board (VCB), and an amalgamation of the Alexandra and Earnscleugh
Manuherikia council wards into a new Vincent ward.
Under current arrangements there are three councillors in the Cromwell ward, one in Maniototo, one in Teviot Valley, three in the Alexandra ward and two in the EarnscleughManuherikia ward, plus the mayor.
Population growth in the Cromwell region had led the council to propose increasing the number of Cromwell councillors from three to four, Mr Cadogan said.
It also proposed reducing the number of VCB members from five to four, as well as amalgamating the Alexandra and EarnscleughManuherikia council wards into a new Vincent ward.
Mr Cadogan said he thought areas such as Maniototo and Teviot Valley ‘‘clearly identified a special sense of self’’, but Alexandra and Earnscleugh Manuherikia residents needed to ask themselves whether there was such a distinction between Alexandra and the rest of the proposed Vincent Ward to warrant Alexandra sitting on its own.
‘‘Another way of looking at it is that the other three wards all have a mix of town and country, so why is there a difference for Alexandra?
‘‘I think that this is a question worth asking and a discussion worth having.’’
The increase in the number of Cromwell councillors was led by requirements of the Local Electoral Act 2001, Mr Cadogan said.
‘‘The Act requires membership of wards to provide approximate population equality per councillor unless there is a good reason to depart from this requirement. Based on current estimates of population (unhelpfully, we have to undertake this review before the census figures come out), council is not achieving that due to the population growth in Cromwell. An extra Cromwell councillor fixes that problem.’’
The proposal to reduce the number of elected members on the VCB from five to four was not for any population reasons, but rather reflected the fact that all other community boards in the CODC region already only had four members, Mr Cadogan said.
Submissions on the review close on August 7 and will be heard by the council on August 22.
The council will resolve its final proposal on September 12.