Scott set for mayoral tilt, but who will join him?
The Southland District Council’s elected representatives will have fresh leadership and new faces post the October local body elections, with five confirming they will not stand again.
Among them is mayor Gary Tong, who will instead be gunning for the Invercargill mayoralty against a host of contenders.
Of the current Southland District councillors, only Rob Scott has so far confirmed his intention to stand for the top job, while Don Byars is still undecided and Paul Duffy hasn’t ruled it out, but says it’s unlikely.
It’s also understood no-one outside of the council has publicly stated their intention to stand for the district mayoralty at this stage, less than five months out from the election.
Scott said he was in the process of organising his campaign signs and would be ready to go if and when other mayoral candidates were announced.
Along with Tong, four district councillors told The Southland Times they would not seek reelection in any capacity in October, these being deputy mayor Ebel Kremer, from Te Anau, Bruce Ford, of Stewart Island, George Harpur, of Tuatapere and Karyn Owen, of Riverton.
Given this, the changes at the district council will be significant after election day, but Tong said there were always people in the community who took on the challenge of local government and did the job of those they replaced.
Current district councillors still undecided on whether to stand again for councillor positions in October were John Douglas and Darren Frazer, while Duffy said he was ‘‘more than likely’’ to stand for a councillor’s seat and Margie Ruddenklau said it was her intention to do so at this stage.
Current councillors who said they would be seeking re-election as councillors in October were Julie Keast, Christine Menzies, Byars and Scott [as a back-up if he didn’t win the mayoralty].
Riverton-based Owen, who has confirmed her intention to not seek re-election after one term, said she spent between 15 and 20 hours a week doing council work on top of her 32-hour-a-week job at the town’s museum.
The time commitment of doing both roles – the council work paid ‘‘less than minimum wage’’ for the hours she did – was a factor in her decision. ‘‘I am getting tired of neglecting myself and neglecting my other commitments,’’ Owen said.
Owen said at 42 she was the youngest councillor and she believed younger voices were needed at the table.
A lot of the decisions made by the council had implications for people in the future, so it was important younger people were involved in making those decisions, she said.
‘‘I might be a young voice compared to some around the table, but I certainly don’t know how to speak for the youth, and that voice needs to come through much stronger and more directly,’’ she said.
Given council meetings were during weekdays, Owen said she had not had a holiday in 2.5 years as she had used all her annual leave on council meeting days.
From May, all council meetings will be on Wednesdays only, meaning working people who are elected onto the council will be better able to plan ahead with their employers to take days off to attend the meetings, she said.
‘‘I am getting tired of neglecting myself and neglecting my other commitments.’’ Karyn Owen Southland District councillor