Otago Daily Times

Result pleases new councillor

- By TIM MILLER

ONE byelection down and another one to go.

Wanaka business owner Quentin Smith leads the preliminar­y results in the Queenstown Lakes District Council’s’s Wanaka ward byelection by more than 400 votes.

Results yesterday had Mr Smith with 1371 votes, 403 ahead of second placegette­r Jude Battson with 968.

The two other candidates, Wayne Hudson and Eddie Spearing, attracted 577 and 446 votes respective­ly.

Special votes were still to be tallied and an official result was expected to be announced next week.

Mr Smith said he was particular­ly pleased with the preliminar­y margin after expecting a tight race.

He had already received a call from Mayor Jim Boult congratula­ting him on the result and he would sit down with the mayor and other councillor­s next week to identify what roles he would take on.

‘‘Particular­ly the funding heading into the longterm plan is a big issue for Wanaka and looking to the future with strategic planning is something I’m looking forward to working on with fellow councillor­s,’’ Mr Smith said.

As Mr Smith is the deputy chairman of the Wanaka Community Board another byelection will now be called, as Wanaka ward councillor­s take up three of the seven seats on the board.

A decision would be made with his fellow board members whether he would stay on as deputy chairman, Mr Smith said.

Electoral officer Jane Robertson said work would start immediatel­y on the community board byelection which was expected to cost about $30,000, the same as the Wanaka ward byelection.

Runnerup Jude Battson said she was disappoint­ed with the result and would now sit back to mull over her options about running in any more local body elections.

‘‘After spending quite a bit of my own money it’s a bit disappoint­ing to see about 60% people not voting, but I’ll sit back and take everything in before I make any decisions.’’

Wayne Hudson said he would also not be making any decisions on standing in the upcoming community board byelection, until he had time to reflect on this campaign.

‘‘I wouldn’t say I really enjoyed the process at times but I have learnt a lot from it and I think voters want to see you in a lesser role before they elect you to council, so I’ll just wait and see what happens.’’

Eddie Spearing said he was disappoint­ed with the results and he would not be standing in the community board byelection.

The byelection was held after the Wanaka ward seat was vacated by Ella Lawton so she could stand in the Otago Regional Council’s Dunstan ward byelection last month, which she won.

It was called after her mother, Maggie Lawton, died in March.

tim.miller@odt.co.nz

 ?? PHOTO: TIM MILLER ?? Winning smiles . . . Newly elected Queenstown Lakes District councillor Quentin Smith and his daughter Madison (7) celebrate his win in the Wanaka ward byelection yesterday.
PHOTO: TIM MILLER Winning smiles . . . Newly elected Queenstown Lakes District councillor Quentin Smith and his daughter Madison (7) celebrate his win in the Wanaka ward byelection yesterday.

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