Strong candidate lineup for Community Board

September 17th, 2013
[by David Armstrong]

The 'Meet the Candidates' meeting hosted by Grey Power yesterday showed there is no shortage of desire and talent on offer for the Motueka Community Board for the 2013-16 term.

Twelve committed candidates are standing for the four positions, and all except one (who had out-of-town work commitments) told the audience of about 45 how they would go about working for the community if elected.

Each speaker had three minutes to put their position, and then answered about eight questions from the floor. One written question was also put by Motueka Online to all candidates for answer: "If you are elected .... what is one development or improvement for the Motueka Ward that you would try to work toward as a Board Member during the next three years?"

Here is a very brief summary of the positions and policies of the candidates and their answers to the written question.

Paul Hawkes was particularly strong on the need for affordable housing in Motueka and improving the job prospects for young people. The two main developments he would work for are fixing the river stopbanks to prevent a flood, and building businesses to create more jobs.

Richard Horrell said there needs to be more negotiations with TDC about issues affecting Motueka, not "table-thumping". He would like to see some of TDC's services decentralised to Motueka and more jobs given to Motueka contractors. His three top priority developments are raising the stopbanks, fixing the sewerage ponds, and building a heated swimming pool.

Cliff Satherley spoke of the importance of advancing the Motueka West rezoning plan, needed for the future growth of Motueka. He also spoke out against the project to pipe Motueka River water to Mapua. The two main developments he would work for are fixing the river stopbanks and advancing the Motueka West development.

Anna Louise Cole said her main priority was looking after the basic needs of the people of Motueka. Her top development project would be remediating the town's sewerage system to avoid a health disaster like typhoid.

David Ogilvie said this was the most critical local body election since 1989, and was pleased that so many good candidates had put themselves forward. His most important issue was working with TDC to give Motueka people more control over their own town's development, and therefore more delegations. His main development goal is flood control through both stopbank repair and upgrading the town stormwater system.

Linda Woodgate said her work as a business owner and now with Our Town Motueka had shown her desire to promote further the local businesses, and to get business and the community to work together in harmony. She has no single development project dear to her heart but promised that on any issue she would listen to everyone concerned and take their issues to council, and apply her people-management skills from business to advance projects.

Kendall Riley wants the town to grow and become more vibrant into the future, building on the assets we have, and as a business owner he said this entailed getting more tourism dollars into the town. His main project goals are getting a swimming pool complex built and fixing the sewerage ponds, even building a biodigestor plant.

Dana Wensley said she wants to see Motueka become more resilient, inclusive, diverse and sustainable. The Community Board needs to look after all sections of the community so it needs to build stronger connections. If elected, she would make as a special project making High Street safe and not dividing the community, perhaps through redirecting heavy traffic via a bypass.

Boris Leegwater's main emphasis is cleaning up and looking after the river and incorporating more green ideas and technology, such as solar panels, into the town's infrastructure. His main development project would be to get more affordable housing built, through council purchases or leases.

Russell Saunders-Loder's main two priorities are repairing the stopbanks and fixing the sewerage ponds.

David LeLong had two major projects he would work on: removing gravel from Motueka River to reduce the risk of flooding; and fixing the Motueka West plan so that no residential land is rezoned to light industrial and all industrial development is further away from town.

Question time: Unfortunately, several of the questions asked from the floor were about issues over which the Community Board has no responsibility or power of action, but they gave the questioners a chance to state a view of their own. They also gave some candidates an opportunity to state a policy that they could never carry through, such as raising the minimum wage.

One yes-no question asked was for the candidates' attitude to amalgamation with Nelson. Seven said they were opposed, two were for, and two were against but would look at it again if a different plan was put forward by the Local Government Commission.

>> , to be added to the page. [If this link doesn't work, use this form instead]

[ Return ]
[ Other news articles ]

We wish to thank these local community-minded businesses who generously sponsor our site. They recognise the value of supporting this community asset, and in return Motueka Online is pleased to use and recommend their services whenever appropriate.

Ray White Motueka, Motueka Floral Studio, Nelson Building Society, House of Travel,
Greenwood Active Health, Lynette Mytton, T.O.A.D Hall,