Fresh faces around table
Two new and two returning councillors representing Te Puke
There will be two fresh and two experienced faces representing the Te Puke area on Western Bay of Plenty District Council over the next three years.
After polls closed and the votes counted on Saturday, last triennium’s deputy mayor John Scrimgeour and two-term councillor Grant Dally had been re-elected to be joined by Richard Crawford and Andy Wichers at the council table, representing the Maketu¯-te Puke ward.
Richard and Andy replace Monique Gray and Kevin Marsh, neither of whom stood for re-election. Elsewhere, Rodney Joyce is a new face in the Katikati-waihi Beach ward and Tracey Coxhead is the only newcomer in the Kaimai ward.
A Te Puke builder, Richard says he is pleased to step into a councillor role after serving three years as chairman of the Te Puke Community Board.
He has long been involved in many community groups and projects including the Te Puke Volunteer Fire Brigade, the Daily Charitable Trust, Te Puke’s collaborative organisation COLAB and Te Ara Kahikatea Pathway.
Richard says he feels his governance experience on the community board is invaluable while also providing the opportunity for fresh thinking at the table. “I’m looking forward to being at that level. Obviously, I’ll be learning a bit more, but I’m not foreign to it either.”
He says he knows he can “do the mahi and sit and debate at the table”.
“But my strongest focus, even though I am a businessman and chair a few organisations, to me it’s people first and community first and that’s what motivates me to do what I do.”
He is one of three Te Puke township-based councillors, but says he is starting to get excited about helping the district’s outlying areas as well.
He says planning for a tilt at the council began four years ago, and he was pretty confident of winning one of the four seats on offer.
“The plan was three years on the community board and then, if I really wanted to progress things, I would step up.”
Andy works as an engineer and designer and has spent a total of 18 years as a board of trustees member on three local schools before stepping down as chairman of the Te Puke High School board last year.
He has acted as a mentor for young people through his role on the board and for the Graeme Dingle Foundation and has been involved in youth work through The Orchard Church.
He says he thought he had a reasonably good chance of winning a seat on the council.
The next steps, which has already begun, are to familiarise himself with things like the councillors’ code of conduct and relevant legislation.
“Just to get a good feel of the game. I suppose it’s very similar to the board of trustees in terms of governance. There’s legislation that dictates some things and it’s also about knowing the main purpose of why you are there so you know the lane you are meant to be running in.”
Andy believes communication between residents and the council is “not great”.
“So I’m just working through how can I open a channel that gets information flowing both ways. Obviously, from residents to council, as a representative, that’s a key foundation of it — but also coming back he other way.”
He says it was clear from discussions he had during the election campaign.
“They said ‘you find things are going to happen, but it’s too late to do anything about it — so what that looks like is that council doesn’t listen. So I’ll be trying to find a way to make people of the key things that are happening.
Grant says, after two terms, he should know how things get done by now.
“There are set processes and timelines to review and update plans and policies. You understand what’s achievable and how long it’s going to take before you see a spade in the ground.”
He says he made a list of priorities he circulated widely on a letterbox flyer, so voters knew where he stood on local issues and policies.
“A friend of mine said he voted for me because I was the only one who seemed to have a plan.
“Even though I’ve been pushing some of these things, as opportunities arise in the council chamber, with staff and other councillors, I intend using every means available to me to double down on efforts to make better progress with the big issues and problems we’re facing in Te Puke and the east.”
He says traffic congestion, housing supply and infrastructure needs are top of mind and climate change will need a more robust response.
“I want our Maketu¯ -Te Puke ward councillors and [community] board members to work as a more cohesive unit so we can be more effective at getting local initiatives and recommendations over the line at the council table.”
He would like to see a reciprocation for support he has given to proposals and plans relating to other parts of the district.
He also sees a need for more engagement with local communities.
Grant says he wishes the new mayor and the four new councillors well. “I’m excited by the possibilities and problems that lie ahead of us and coming up with the appropriate responses and solutions as required.”
Returning councillor John Scrimgeour, who also unsuccessfully contested the district mayoralty, says he is “pretty pleased with the endorsement from the community”’ and he is looking forward to advocating for the district and, in particular, the Maketu¯-te Puke ward.
As well as the four new councillors, Katikati’s James Denyer was elected mayor, replacing Garry Webber who did not stand.
“It should be a pretty good team,” says John. “A good mix of existing councillors and new ones. The new people that have been elected, there’s a good measure of life experience — a good range of experience and I think there’s a great opportunity for us to all work together to help the communities we represent.
“We need to keep working on things like traffic issues, the ability for people to get around, road maintenance and fostering opportunities to increase the general housing stock.”