Mix of old and new faces on council

The new Waitaki District Council will comprise a blend of new faces and experienced councillors when it is officially sworn in next Wednesday.

The three newbies are Frans Schlack in the Waihemo ward, Dan Lewis in the Oamaru ward and Sven Thelning in the Corriedale ward.

All three are keen to get to work.

"The Waihemo ward campaign was hard work, but with over 50% of the total votes for a newcomer and a non-local, I believe what I stand for has been endorsed by the majority of the Waihemo Ward electorate," Mr Schlack said.

"I think the newly elected council and staff can work very well together as long as the mayor and re-elected members do not consider the overall election results as a general endorsement that the old council’s course on key issues should not be deviated from."

Mr Lewis said being elected had been a "humbling and heartwarming" experience, adding the election had produced "a great team around the table" and he was looking forward to getting in and making a positive contribution.

He is also keen to bring a better connection between the council and the wider public.

"There are people making mischief for agendas that potentially stirred things up and I would just like to see the wider public understanding a bit more about what council can do, the limitations that are actually placed upon the council, so everybody’s on the same page and we can do the best for our district with everybody pulling on the same end of the rope."

Mr Thelning was elected unopposed and has had a long wait, free of electioneering. He said he is now "looking forward to it".

The highest-polling councillor was Rebecca Ryan, who will be returning for a second term, after hauling in 2944 votes in the Oamaru ward.

She said she was "incredibly grateful" to have received so much support.

"Honestly, being the highest polling candidate again is a little overwhelming — I feel like a bit of an imposter, especially when there are people like Mata’aga Hana Fanene-Taiti who do so much amazing mahi in our community and are deserving of that recognition.

"I think maybe it reflects my involvement with a wide range of groups across the community, and bringing those voices and networks into the conversation at council is important to me. The last term brought plenty of challenges, and with them plenty of self-doubt, but I guess with challenge comes growth and learning and the result is a nice reminder to back myself a bit more and keep going."

Councillor-elect Ryan will be joined by returning councillors Courtney Linwood, Jeremy Holding, former deputy mayor Mata’aga Hana Melania Fanene-Taiti, Brent Cowles, John McCone and, topping the experience charts, Jim Hopkins, who will start his 19th consecutive year as a district councillor.

The voter return was 51.62%, being 8447 electoral votes, excluding special votes. That was up from both 2022 (49.29%) and 2016 (50.39%) and just behind the turnout in 2019 (54.39%).

Waitaki’s turnout was also higher than that for the neighbouring Dunedin City Council (44.49%), where Sophie Barker was elected mayor, but slightly down on Waimate (52.35%), where Craig Rowley was re-elected.

The rural Mackenzie district took the local bragging rights for election involvement, with a turnout of 59.13%, electing Scott Aronsen to the mayoralty. Only Chatham Islands (68.34%) and Kaikōura district (59.37%) had higher turnouts nationwide.

The high participation rate here was in contrast to the overall voter turnout in New Zealand, which was just 38%.