The long-running regional divide, which means about 1900 residents in the Ahuriri area vote for the Waitaki mayoralty but are covered by the Canterbury Regional Council rather than the Otago Regional Council, is back in the spotlight.
Waitaki District Council Ahuriri ward councillor Brent Cowles said people in the ward were still working through what the proposal to ditch regional councils in favour of combined territories boards (CTBs) might mean in practice.
Residents must have "clear, effective representation wherever regional decisions are being made", he said, especially because the district spanned two regions.
The council would need time to understand the reforms, consult the community and decide how best to protect local voices on issues such as rivers, land use and transport, he said.
Two options have been put forward to deal with the issue faced by Waitaki Valley residents.
In "district adoption" an isolated population would be "adopted" by an adjacent district.
"That district’s mayor has additional voting power to reflect their adopted community," the proposal consultation document said.
"While isolated populations currently can’t vote for the mayor who will represent them on the CTB, the government is considering whether this should be allowed."
The other option was "additional representation".
In this case, a district with isolated populations would be represented on all CTBs their district was aligned with.
"They have a voting share that is proportionate for the areas of their district that are part of that region.
"Instead of the mayor, it may be a local ward councillor who attends the CTB to represent the interests of the isolated population."
Either, the Local Government Commission would determine which approach was best for each isolated population (as part of its work determining voting power), or a threshold could be set to determine when each approach was used.
"For example, isolated populations could be represented by district adoption if there are less than 1000 people living there and by additional representation if there are more than 1000 residents," the consultation document said.
Cr Cowles said on the face of it, both options were trying to deal with the possibility isolated communities could fall through the cracks.
For now, rather than being worried about the model to be used, people mainly wanted certainty that decisions would not be made far away without local input.
"Ensuring that doesn’t happen will be front of mind for me in any submission or discussion on the reforms."
Upper Waitaki Community Facebook page founder and former valley resident Sarah Rowland said while people were still figuring out what the changes would mean for the valley it was important community views were listened to.
"My experience has been that rural communities worry about being sidelined in decisions that affect them, despite their role in underpinning the region’s economy.
"In terms of alignment, the valley has historically had a clearer geographic and political pull toward Otago than Canterbury, and for many it simply feels like a more natural fit but whatever the direction, it has to be shaped through genuine community consultation — otherwise decisions end up being made about people rather than with them."
