Originally from Invercargill, Queenstown Lakes district mayoral hopeful Jim Boult says he came from a "hard-working, grass-roots family", both of his parents being apprentice tradespeople.
His early background was in construction before he moved to finance, relocating to Queenstown in 1982 where he’s had a wide range of commercial and charitable interests which include owning and operating Shotover Jet for 16 years, chairing the trust responsible for the construction of the Queenstown Events Centre, fundraising for the St John centre, helping to fund the western portion of the Lake Hayes track and chairing the national board of the Child Cancer Foundation.
"From the time I moved here I took it upon myself to be a strong contributor to the community and I remain that way.
"My father said to me when I was a boy that if you want a job done, give it to a busy person.
"I’m very good at managing time [and] I’ve never been a stranger to hard work."
Why are you standing for mayor?
I’ve been here for 34 years, the town has been rewarding to myself and my family in many respects.
We now find ourselves in a challenging period with enormous growth.
That growth brings opportunities, but it also brings challenges and I have elected to put something back into the district by offering myself for the most influential local body position.
It is fine to stand on the sidelines and criticise the council — I have the utmost regard for anyone who puts themselves up for local body election because it takes commitment and it takes guts.
However, I know that I have an enormous contribution to make to the district through the mayoralty role and I look forward to delivering on that.
I think I’d say that I’m delighted that there’s such a wide range of people standing for mayor and for council and it’s fabulous the community has the opportunity to select candidates who they think will deliver best value into the future.
However, campaigning is one thing, delivering reality is another.
Will you be a full-time mayor and why?
My view is that I will put whatever time that is required into the role and I don’t have a view on how much time that is.
However, I do have a very clear view of the difference between management and governance and it’s really important for the council to stick to the role of governance and let the excellent council executive team get on with the job of running our district on a day-to-day basis.
What position do you think the district is in?
[There is] enormous opportunity.
We are the envy of practically every other district in New Zealand because our problems are about growth.
That said, growth brings challenges and those are the issues that we need to resolve at present.
This is probably the period of greatest growth that I’ve seen in the 34 years I’ve been here and what we need to do is to control our direction rather than going where the flow has been taking us.
What are three issues facing the incoming council, and why?
Long-term vision for the future, harking back to controlling where we are going.
Transport and traffic.
Housing — [there are] two subsets on that: the cost of housing for permanent locals, and permanent housing solutions for our itinerant workers.
What would be one thing you would like to have achieved by the end of your term, and why?
I’d like to see a whole lot of things but ... a very clear vision for the future which has universal buy-in across the district.
What would that look like?
A vision for the future will include where development will take place in the future and where it won’t, across the district.
Specifically for Queenstown, what the Queenstown Bay area will evolve into, and an understanding of the infrastructure requirements to get to ... that vision.
Jim Boult
Age: 64.
Occupation: Company director with management and governance across industries including finance, tourism, aviation, retail, food, hospitality, automotive and manufacturing.
Marital status: Married.
Council experience: Christchurch International Airport chief executive for five years, liaising closely with the Christchurch City Council.
Describe yourself in three words: Pragmatic, commercial, experienced.
