Finding common ground in different views
Was elected last month as Masterton District Council’s first woman mayor, defeating two-term incumbent Garry Daniell and fellow councillor Gary Caffell. Mrs Patterson, 58, a chartered accountant with a background in local government financial administrati
What has been awesome about working with these three councils has been breaking down that parochialism. You’ll never get away totally from that, everyone feels a strong sense of community within their immediate surrounds. That’s about having a strong sense of community, not necessarily parochialism. Even in smaller communities – Tinui or Eketahuna – there’s strong community feeling, but there’s a strong sense of Wairarapa identity as well. It’s very early days yet, too early to speculate but I wouldn’t rule it out. There have been some strong opinions, but working together has allowed us to work through them. I am determined and I am driven by what I think is best for Masterton and for Wairarapa. People start taking things personally and it’s . . . sometimes people don’t understand the bigger picture. At the end of the day I will make the best decision I can in the interests of Masterton and if someone disagrees with me, that’s just the way it is – I think I’ve got a fairly thick skin. People will vote for whoever they think has the right skills to lead council, regardless of gender. I worked hard, I door-knocked, I went out to the community and tried to engage and meet as many people as I could. In South Africa local government is very politicised – they follow their national political parties into local government. In three years we had about five mayors, all from strong political parties – the officials are trying to work and get things done in that politically charged environment. There are bodyguards, convoys . . . I learnt a lot about working with people. If you want to achieve things it’s about people having different views and being able to express them, and find common ground.