Second bid for mayoral hopeful
Southland district mayor Gary Tong will have two challengers when he seeks another term at this year’s local body elections.
Tim Hanna of Lumsden and Don Byars of Riverton are both seeking the mayoralty.
Hanna, an author and publican, says he sees ‘‘tremendous potential’’ throughout the province but a lack of leadership has meant some key objectives have not been met.
His priorities include completing the Around the Mountains Cycle Trail, a moratorium on dairy expansion, finding new energy sources and affordable housing for young people.
Hanna is making another bid for the mayoralty after first running in 2013, when he was beaten by Tong.
He says the Southland District Council’s failure to finish the cycle trail shows
‘‘a complete lack of leadership’’ and he would complete it for ‘‘a million bucks’’.
‘‘It’s ridiculously doable, I’ve walked the whole thing, it would be on public land. We need to get it done.’’
He would explore ways to support dairy farmers while stopping any further expansion of the dairy industry. ‘‘The fact that the industry has been allowed to expand during the time that we’ve known that the water quality has decreased is criminal. It’s a sensitive area and I don’t want to punish dairy farmers because they are hard-working folk but expansion has to stop and we have to look for a way to assist farmers.’’
He says the region should be looking for sustainable, smallscale ways to produce household electricity, and development of small, affordable houses should be a priority.
‘‘It’s really important for young people to find a way to buy homes and get onto the property ladder. The ills of society flow from poverty and it’s very sad that home ownership is not achievable for young people.’’
Byars could not be contacted yesterday.