To be or not to be a councillor
Believe it or not, it’s local government election year again – the time when council hopefuls start putting up signs and kissing babies.
So here’s all you need to know if you want a spot at the council table. Be warned, being a councillor is harder than it looks, say those in the know.
Candidate nominations open in July and as long as you’re not serving a prison term of three or more years, there are just four things you need to be to qualify.
You need to be a New Zealand citizen, enrolled to vote in parliamentary elections, and 18 years old (or will be come election time). You also need to have been nominated by two electors from the district you want to represent.
Then you have to front up with a $200 deposit. But don’t worry, you’ll get it back if you receive more than 25 per cent of the number of votes of the lowest successful candidate.
Once you become a candidate there are plenty of rules that govern how you run your election campaign, including how much you can spend.
At the last elections if you were standing in a district or city with a population of 60-79,000such as New Plymouth, you could spend $40,000. If you were in Christchurch, population nudging 400,000, it’s $70,000, and in Auckland, with a population of more than a million, you can spend $100,000.
But you might want to keep an eye on your expenses unless you want to spend your entire council salary paying it back.
The standard salary for a New Plymouth district councillor in the 2017/18 financial year was about $42,800.
In one of the country’s smallest councils, the Chatham Islands, councillors earned around $16,000. In Auckland, most councillors earn sixfigure salaries.
There are also laws around electoral signage, including where to place them.
They are not allowed in public areas or fixed to anything on public land, including utility poles, vehicles and trailers.
So Aunt Betty’s fence is fine; next to the Welcome to New Plymouth sign on the highway is not.
The signs also come under the standard advertising rules, which means they cannot be displayed for more than 12 months, and if they are in a 70kmh zone or higher, they must be separated by at least 0.6 of a metre times the speed limit – so 42 metres in a 70kmh zone.
But don’t just leave the campaigning to the three-month window, first-term New Plymouth District councillor Stacey Hitchcock said.
‘‘It’s about positioning yourself and networking as much as you can prior to those three months,’’ she said.
While she doesn’t think there should be a quota, she would like to see more women get involved.
‘‘It’s not that we don’t vote for women; it’s that not enough women are standing,’’ she said.
Fellow councillor Harry Duynhoven, who has also been an MP, and the New Plymouth mayor, said councillors spend as much time reading, processing and researching information as they do attending meetings.
‘‘You get stopped when you’re at dinner or when you’re in the park or whatever on issues.’’
People also had to be aware of the legal process, he said.
‘‘You find some councillors struggling a bit with the concept of having to actually go through a democratic process to get to a decision point.’’
Shaun Biesiek has been on the New Plymouth District Council since 2007 and was the youngest at the table for many years.
He said it’s something people need to have the time and dedication to do.
‘‘My advice would be that they do their homework and do it thoroughly, and also ensure that they have the support of their family.’’
When he was considering standing, he went to every council meeting for 18 months.
‘‘You can’t go into it blindly or think that it’s something to do for a little bit of cash for your retirement or whatever. It’s got to be something that you’re dedicated to.’’
‘‘You can’t go into it blindly or think that it’s something to do for a little bit of cash for your retirement or whatever. It’s got to be something that you’re dedicated to.’’ Cr Shaun Biesiek