Teacher gunning for position on 3 councils
AN Invercargill teacher will run in this year’s local body elections for not one council but three.
Steve Chernishov announced yesterday he would again contest the Invercargill mayoralty and also stand for the Southland and the Queenstown Lakes District Councils.
He acknowledged it was a big call to stand for the three councils as noone had ever been successful in an attempt to represent more than one region.
However, he believed he had energy to do so.
‘‘I want to see how it goes. I believe the lower South Island has everything we need for a balanced world but we are not really wellconnected . . . I’ve got this idea where I would be serving to connect people and made decisions actually which stretches across different councils,’’ he said.
His intention was to attend all meetings and build a collaborative link between Invercargill, Southland and Otago, which were regions he had strong connections with, he said.
However, when asked how he would juggle all the meetings and work necessary if his strategy was fully successful, he said he would need to seek advice on that.
‘‘Well, that is a very good question. And one thing that we need to recognise is that actually if I get elected for all of them, I will need to get some serious advice.
‘‘I need to know for example if meetings are lined up, if they could be arranged for a different date. Historically, I’ve done a lot of travelling so I know the lifestyle. If people can be openminded, I think we can get this sorted.’’
He guaranteed he could work across several roles as he had a lot of energy and drive.
‘‘Possibly, [it] is something that you can’t do in a longterm [capacity] but at the moment there is a lot changes and each of those regions has so much to offer to each other.’’
Mr Chernishov is a technology teacher at Aurora College.
LGNZ principal policy adviser Mike Reid said candidates were allowed to stand for more than one council position, thought not for a territorial authority and the regional council where the territorial authority was situated.
‘‘It is not a common scenario. Candidates need to understand what time commitments would be required of them if they were to be successful.’’
Mr Chernishov received 623 votes in the 2019 local body election when he contested the mayoralty.
He joins incumbent mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt, councillor Darren Ludlow, deputy mayor Nobby Clark, former New Zealand First list MP Ria Bond, former deputy mayor Toni Biddle, TikTok influencer Tom Morton and Bluff Community Board member Noel Peterson in the Invercargill mayoralty race.
Nominations close tomorrow.