Former Gore District councillor Laurel Turnbull has returned to local body politics, winning the vacant seat on the Mataura Community Board at the by-election on April 2.
The vacancy in the Mataura Community Board occurred following the local body elections in October last year when Steve Dixon was elected to Gore District Council and the community board.
Regulations do not permit a person to hold both positions, so a by-election was required to fill Mr Dixon's position on the community board.
Although voting turnout in the byelection was low, at only 35.4 per cent, Mrs Turnbull received a resounding vote of confidence from those who did cast a ballot, returning 242 votes, compared with her nearest rival Dave Scobbie, who received 83 votes.
The other candidate for the vacant seat, Doreen Lee, got 47 votes.
Mrs Turnbull said she was thrilled to be elected back on to the community board. ‘‘I served on the inaugural board. ‘‘I just want to thank everyone, very much, who have supported me. ‘‘I will work really hard to repay the faith they have shown in me.'' She said one area she hoped she could make a difference was with the youth of the community. ‘‘I went to the community boards national conference last year and I was encouraged by other boards who had consulted with the youth in their communities.
‘‘The young people often came up with solutions the adults couldn't think of,'' Mrs Turnbull said.
She said the community needed to get young people on board with their town.
‘‘We need to get them to have some pride in their community.
‘‘We are just a small town, but we need to empower people to be more responsible and involved in the community,'' she said.
Mrs Turnbull said it was important for young people who were not interested in sport to have something to do.
She said some of the problems facing Mataura were the lack of services in the town, the lack of transport to access services, for those without transport, and the empty shops in the main street, which made the town look barren.
‘‘I'm not sure what the solutions are, but I'm hopeful that the Solid Energy plans will inject some life into the town.
‘‘I know people are scared of what will happen with that, but I really do think we just need to wait and see,'' she said.
She said the during the past three years there had been too much emphasis placed on the planned community centre.
‘‘Now that's settled, the focus can now change to other areas.
‘‘Mataura has become quite a transient community and the newer members of the community need to get together with the older ones and share ideas,'' she said.
Mrs Turnbull has not ruled out another tilt at Gore District Council in three years' time, but said for now her focus was on the Mataura community.
