Mayor hands deputy decision to councillors

The appointment of the Timaru District Council deputy mayor will be decided by councillors.

The newly elected council will hold its inaugural meeting today and among agenda items will be the appointment of deputy mayor.

Mayor-elect Nigel Bowen has opted not to appoint or nominate a deputy mayor, instead putting it to the council.

Bowen said he wanted to ‘‘bring everyone on board from the start’’.

‘‘It’s an important decision, and one that needs to have the approval of council. That way we can have everyone singing from the same hymn sheet.’’

Councillors will vote, with names put forward at the meeting.

However, no councillors have officially put their hand up for the position.

Cr Richard Lyon, who was deputy mayor for the last term, declined to comment.

Cr Paddy O’Reilly, of Temuka, said he did not have any preference for deputy mayor at this stage, nor was he putting his own hand up.

Cr Barb Gilchrist said she would wait until the meeting to decide, while Cr Allan Booth said it ‘‘would all be sorted on the day’’, but his preference would be for councillor Steve Wills to become deputy mayor because of Wills’s ‘‘strong ties to the community’’.

Wills, the second-highest polling councillor (after Bowen) has confirmed he will attend the meeting. He suffered a stroke the day before the local body election on October 12.

Cr Peter Burt would not comment on his preference for deputy, saying he would need to ‘‘discuss that with the rest of the councillors’’, but thought it was ‘‘really cool’’ the mayor was entrusting the issue to the councillors.

‘‘It’s a really empowering and democratic move,’’ Burt said.

Cr Sally Parker said she had given the issue some thought, but said ‘‘you will have to wait until the meeting’’.

Councillor Gavin Oliver said with a new mayor, ‘‘perhaps it was also time for a change at deputy’’.

New councillor Stu Piddington is away.

Bowen has selected the chairpersons for each of the committees.

‘‘I’ve been talking to the councillors over the last week or so and have tried to match up the councillors with their skill sets,’’ Bowen said.

The appointments are: Environmental services committee: Chairwoman, Barbara Gilchrist, deputy chairman (mayor’s recommendation), Gavin Oliver. Community services committee: Chairman, Richard Lyon, deputy chairman (mayor’s recommendation), Stu Piddington. Infrastructure committee: Chairwoman, Sally Parker, deputy chairman (mayor’s recommendation), Paddy O’Reilly. Commercial and strategy committee: Chairman, Peter Burt, deputy chairman (mayor’s recommendation), Allan Booth. People and performance committee: Chairman, Nigel Bowen. Audit and risk committee: Chairman, Keiran Horne (external appointment). Safer communities committee: Chairman, Nigel Bowen, deputy chair (mayor’s recommendation): Steve Wills. Tenders and procurement committee: Chairman: Nigel Bowen. Director and trustees appointment committee: Chairman: Nigel Bowen.