Stephen Wesselingh’s last name is Dutch. His father emigrated to New Zealand from the Netherlands after World War 2.
Mr Wesselingh was born in Putaruru, in the Waikato, but when he was very young his family moved to South Otago.
Mr Wesselingh grew up in a farming family and attended school in Warepa, Owaka and Milton.
After spending several years in the United Kingdom, in 1997 he chose to settle in Palmerston rather than Dunedin because it was "smaller", "quieter" and there was "a bit more space".
He bought Greenwoods Soft and Safe 12 years ago and now produces the washing soda crystals with natural fabric softener.
Why are you standing for mayor?
I want to see a council change of direction, a culture change and a change in the way it operates.
And particularly I want to see it out of the banking and finance business.
The whole way it’s heading, they all seem to think they are running a corporation or something.
It all seems to be about money.
It should be about ratepayers looking after ratepayers, that’s what a council is for.
I want to change it back to looking after ratepayers.
The minute you mention the council everyone switches off; we want a culture change from council staff.
Annual plans for instance, they don’t consult with anyone here.
Somebody in council staff decides what they want and that’s what goes.
It’s not what somebody in council thinks they want to do, it’s what ratepayers want.
They have made a loan to an irrigation company in North Otago; I’m not happy about that.
And then they went even better and are building a rest-home in Oamaru.
And I don’t see what that has to do with ratepayers.
I don’t see any council connection in it at all.
It just looks like it’s a way of somebody making money out of council — ratepayers’ — money.
Remember, they’re paying out all these directors fees — that’s all ratepayers’ money down the drain.
Will you be a full-time mayor and why?
I think you have to be.
There’s so much I would like to see changed.
If I wasn’t full-time, I’d just never, ever get anywhere.
I mean there’s always a lot of things behind the scene that you don’t realise.
There would be a lot more to it, I know, than it first appears.
What position do you think the district is in?
I’ve only got two words here: ‘very average’.
There’s nothing spectacular about it; it’s just moving along averagely well.
What are three issues facing the incoming council, and why?
This is much the same of what I’ve already been telling you really: changing staff culture, reorganising the way council runs and operates and getting the council out of the banking and finance business.
That’s why I’m doing this.
No-one likes dealing with council staff.
You can’t deal with them; they make up their mind about what they are going to do and that’s it.
That’s why no-one bothers making submissions to annual plans or even reading them these days.
Because you just never get anywhere. I used to make submissions, but I could see that you went along there and everyone is like ‘Yes, yes, thank you, Mr Wesselingh’ and that was it.
You got the standard reply back, ‘We have considered your submission, but we’re doing this anyway.’
It’s the whole culture.
I am self-employed.
I make something and people buy that.
If people don’t want to buy it, then I don’t live.
And I think the council should live by that same principle: if ratepayers don’t want what they provide, then they should be out.
No-one likes paying the rates, because they all feel the council is stealing money off them.
We need to have a change of culture and the way it operates to get rid of that feeling from the customers, which are ratepayers.
What would be one thing you would like to have achieved by the end of your term, and why?
Changing the council staff culture.
It’s just abysmal the way they treat ratepayers.
That’s what I would like to achieve.
I’d like to be well under way after one year.
If you leave it to the third year you’d never get there.
I’d like to be well under way after the first year, but realistically, you’d never get there in three.
The chief executive’s office is a big money loser as far as I can see, so there would be changes there, certainly, as far as I can see.
Stephen Wesselingh
Age: Late 50s
Occupation: Self-employed
Marital status: Ongoing fluid relationships
Council experience: None
Describe yourself in three words: Realist, alternative thinker.
