Final Election results welcome in new Council
Released: Friday 18 October 2019
South Waikato District Council is pleased to welcome its new 2019-22 Elected Members.
Final results mean no change in those elected to Council from the preliminary results issued on Saturday, except slight changes in voting numbers.
Sandra Wallace, Hans Nelis and Gary Petley have been elected as Putāruru Ward Councillors; Bill Machen, Arama Ngapo-Lipscombe, Thomas Lee, Marin Glucina, Hamish Daine and Alex Jansen as Tokoroa Ward Councillors; and Kerry Purdy, Holly Blair, Sharon Burling-Claridge and Kevin Slater to the Tīrau Community Board.
“My congratulations to all the successful candidates,” said Mayor Jenny Shattock, who was elected unopposed when nominations closed in August. “I am looking forward to working with them over the next three years. New ideas and fresh thinking, a balance of experience and new blood and younger representation will bring some new dynamics to the table and I welcome that.”
“I also want to acknowledge those who were unsuccessful. Putting your name forward for public office is brave, it’s not always an easy job, so good on all candidates,” she continued.
“A special acknowledgement must go to out-going Councillor Herman van Rooijen who has served our district for 21 years – a pretty impressive record; and Councillor Adrienne Bell for nine years,” she continued. “My thanks also to Gray Baldwin who served the last three years on Council.”
“Thank you also to Jeff Gash and Wendy Cook who had decided not to run again,” said Mayor Jenny.
“Their dedication to the South Waikato, our people and our prosperity has been tremendous and they have served our community well.”
Tīrau Ward Councillor Peter Schulte was also elected unopposed.
The inaugural meeting for our new Council is scheduled for Wednesday 23 October, at 7pm in the Chamber at the Tokoroa Council office. At this meeting our new Elected Members will be sworn in and we will discuss a few process related reports to set the new triennium up. Family and friends are welcome to attend.
This meeting will be then be adjourned and will reconvene the following day with normal Council business starting at 2.30pm.
Voter numbers were disappointingly behind the 2016 elections; with a decline of 8% from 44.41% to 36.60%.
Jude Cuttriss, Council’s Deputy Electoral Officer said that some research does show that having a Mayoral race and a large numbers of candidates drives people to vote.
“With an uncontested Mayoral seat and low candidate numbers especially in Tokoroa, the lower voting numbers while disappointing, are perhaps not surprising,” she said.
ENDS. Words: 384
