New faces bring fresh outlook to council
The newest additions to the Southland District Council are keen to bring fresh perspectives and ideas to the table, and community engagement and invigoration are at the top of the list.
After long-serving councillors Rodney Dobson and Lyall Bailey declared they would not be seeking re-election, their spots in the Waiau Aparima ward and the Winton Wallacetown ward were open.
Nick Perham, a Nightcaps resident, was elected unopposed, and Darren Frazer beat challenger Roger Hamilton by 73 votes.
Frazer, a youth worker for the Salvation Army, saw being on the council as a good way to serve his community and be actively involved in making Southland a great place for the next generation to grow up.
In his line of work, communication with young people was constant and he was looking forward to bringing that experience to the council and discussing what affected young people.
‘‘I look at my son, who’s 15 months [old], and I want Southland to be good for him,’’ he said.
Passionate about his community, Frazer said supportive networks and engagement for people of all ages were important to him. ‘‘It’s around building solid, good communities,’’ he said.
Regarding two of the council’s most talked-about projects, the Around the Mountains Cycle Trail and the Te Anau wastewater scheme, Frazer said, after getting his head around the full scope of the issues, he would be looking at asking questions which may not have been asked, but which needed to be asked.
The wastewater debacle was an issue that needed to be approached in a manner that was respectful and not to the detriment of the environment.
It could be a case of ‘‘hey, let’s get this sorted and get it sorted well’’, which could mean spending a bit more money on it, he said. ‘‘I think there’s a real drive at council to ge this done.’’
Perham, a supporter of the Haast-Hollyford road, said he was keen on any plans that ‘‘support Te Anau as an untapped resource’’.
While Te Anau didn’t fall under his ward, he felt the town had more than enough potential to rival Queenstown as a tourism destination.
‘‘But it doesn’t have that infrastructure it needs to support that,’’ he said.
In the smaller towns, he saw a lot of potential in re-establishing rural communities, invigorating Southland to fit in with the Southland Regional Development Strategy.
‘‘There seems to be a lacking of infrastructure in these places,’’ he said.
He said he was a prime example, moving down to Southland and settling in the rural area after falling in love with the province.
Effective marketing and looking at working with other local councils where overcrowding was an issue were aspects of rural invigoration he wanted to explore.
‘‘For me it’s all about the now, about building for the future,’’ he said.
‘‘Tourism and economic growth go hand in hand.’’