Young w¯ahine lead Te Puke and Maketu¯ boards
There has been a big change at the top of the Te Puke and Maketu¯ community boards, with young Ma¯ ori wahine chairing both of them after last month’s local body elections.
Kassie Ellis, 34, and Laura Rae, 32, have taken over the reins at Te Puke and Maketu¯ community boards respectively.
Both were first-time members of the previous boards; Laura was deputy chairwoman, having been elected in 2019.
A request for more rubbish bins encouraged long-term Maketu¯ resident Laura to take the plunge.
“I actually approached the old board two terms ago, as I wanted to present to them an idea that we needed more rubbish bins and maybe a security camera at the Ford Rd Kaituna reserve,” she says.
“I looked around the room and I thought ‘who are these people?’’ She noted they appeared older. ‘‘I thought, ‘How do you be involved in this?’ and they told me you had to go through the election process — I’d never heard of it.
“But I thought ‘when it comes, then I will see you at this table — so that’s what I did.”
She says that although at the time she believed she could push her own pet projects, it soon became clear the wants and needs of the community were at the forefront of the work.
“The main thing I wanted to change was the communication, because there was a little bit in the newspapers, but they are more read by the older generation — that’s why I created a Facebook page.”
Kassie admits a bit of armtwisting was involved in her decision to stand in 2019 — with Monique Gray, who would successfully stand in the Western Bay of Plenty District Council elections the same year — the twister.
“I’d never been interested in politics, but I’ve always been immersed in this community and I enjoy being involved in the community. When I first started, purely as a volunteer, I got to engage with diverse groups of people and I suppose in some form it grew from that.”
She says after Monique had suggested she stand, she did her research: “I worked out what it represented in the community and I loved the fact that the community board is the voice of the community — it’s to speak for those who aren’t comfortable to come and speak for themselves and it’s to advocate for the needs of that community.”
She has found the past three years trying at times.
“There is a lot of red tape and I’m sure I can speak for both of us that we have to navigate that space a heck of a lot more now at that chair level.”
Chairing their boards will be a new challenge, not least because of the personnel.
Shane Beech was the previous Maketu¯ Community Board chairman. Instead of seeking re-election, he put himself forward for a council seat, but because of ill health, he withdrew from the race.
In the final wash-up, the other board members — Rewi Boy Corbett, Tippany Hopping and Donna Walters — are all new.
They will be joined by district councillors first-termer Richard Crawford and deputy mayor John Scrimgeour.
“The relationship between the board and councillors — it’s definitively crucial for me.”
Kassie says a good relationship is necessary so the board’s concerns get taken to council.
“I’m terribly upset that Shane did not make it to the top due to his health but I’m confident we can still make it work with Richard there and with John there as a senior member.
“This is all a bit new to me in terms of the dynamic we have in our board, but I’m looking forward to it.”
As chairwoman, she says she also wants to rebuild and start new relationships, particularly with tangata whenua.
Kassie missed out on a seat on the district council, but was one of four successful community board candidates. Dale Snell was returned while Karen Summerhays and Anish Paudel are new. They will be joined by councillors Grant Dally and Andy Wichers.
“It’s got to start with us four [board members],” she says. “We’ve got to have that space where we need to negotiate and possibly have some tough conversations between the four of us to get on the same page. A difference of opinion is completely healthy, but there is a transitional period.
“It’s around how you work within the team that is going to benefit the whole community because you don’t always get it right — you can’t always make positive change — and I do struggle to this day with that.”
Kassie and Laura say they want more for their areas.
“I will advocate for that until I am blue in the face,” says Kassie.
“Maketu¯ , to be honest, feels very left out and I have heard it multiple times, that we are the poor cousin of the district, but then I also understand that other people from almost every district say that,” she said.
Whatever the outcomes, Laura says communication is important.
“For me, as long as I can communicate the reason we can’t do something, then I feel happy because leaving people in the dark, they make their own assumption about who didn’t do their job properly.”
Both want to say to their communities “bear with us”.
“We’re in for three years — there’s going to be some things that come up that we aren’t going to see coming — that’s just the nature of
local government — but we’re going to do our best to follow through for the consensus for the majority of these issues,” says Kassie.
Both have strong links and family ties in their localities, and believe that will make it easier to work with and find out the community’s needs.
“We’ve made history now,” says
Kassie. “That’s huge for both of us and I am absolutely ecstatic that it’s like this because we can only grow in this role.”
Laura adds: “Maketu¯ isn’t Te Puke and vice versa, but Te Puke is our service town where we have to come to so it makes sense for us to be on the same page with what’s happening and what’s not happening.”