Fish & Game chair dumped in election
The lunch will have all the trimmings with a choice of cold and hot meats and a festive dessert.
‘‘We are now looking for sponsors for the food,’’ she said.
There will be a courtesy van and bookings, which are essential, can be made through the RSA, she said.
In 2020, herd manager Theo Bennison organised a community
Christmas dinner in Fairlie. He has left the district, but a spokesperson for the Fairlie Heartlands Resource and Information Centre said there were discussions about another community dinner.
A decision on whether the Timaru Community Christmas Dinner will go ahead will depend on what Covid-19 alert level the area is in and the rules, organiser Melissa Brennan said.
There has been another shake-up in the makeup of the Central South Island Fish & Game council with the chairman missing reelection.
Dr Andrew Simpson, who became the organisation’s third chairman since it was formed in 1999, polled eighth of the 10 candidates for the eight-strong council but missed out through a system that first selects the highest-polling candidate from each of the five sub-regions – Ashburton, Timaru, Mackenzie, Waitaki and Waimate.
“I’m obviously disappointed,” Simpson said. “I simply didn’t get enough votes that’s the fact of the matter.”
Also missing out was Craig McKenzie, while another five from the 2018 elected council – Chanaide Fulton, Allan Brooks, Brent Growcott, Daniel Isbister and Matthew Hall – retired while David de Joux, appointed chairman in 2018, passed away in 2019.
Steve Bannister (Ashburton),
Steve Gerard (Ashburton), Linn Koevoet (Waitaki), and Paul Centofanti (Timaru) were reelected and are joined by Nic Niles (Mackenzie), Clark Stanger (Mackenzie), Dean Rattray (Ashburton) and John deWit (Waimate).
This change follows the 2018 shake-up when eight new members were elected to the then 12-strong council.
Simpson said there had been a ‘‘range of things’’ happening during the past term, including a governance audit and a Ministerial Review of Fish & Game.
He hoped the new council would better publicise the actions and inactions of other bodies that affect rivers and lakes in the CSI region; collaborate more closely with other Fish & Game councils; manage the tendency of the national council to exceed its statutory role and demand everincreasing levies; and improve its relationship with Ngai Tahu.
The new council will elect its chairman at the November 11 meeting.