Springs Ward councillor Debra Hasson has spent 30 years on the council after first being elected in 1995.
"Sometimes I’ve had to put my work ahead of family. It will be great to take a step back and spend some time with friends and family,” she said.
Hasson, 68, is the fifth councillor who so far has said they will not stand again in October’s local body elections – fellow Springs Ward councillor Grant Miller, Bob Mugford (Malvern), Shane Epiha (Ellesmere) and Phil Dean (Rolleston).
Hasson’s involvement in local government began in 1985 when she worked in environmental policy for the former Waimairi District Council, which later became part of Christchurch City Council following the 1989 amalgamation.
She moved to Springston in about 1990 and was elected to the Springs Ward in 1995, encouraged by two retiring councillors she met while seeking information on land drainage.
Among Hasson’s proudest achievements was persuading the council to buy a farm for land-based sewage disposal as part of the Pines Wastewater Treatment Plant in about 2012.
“My argument was that you were going to need to buy all of the farm because you are going to need it.
“Without the purchase, you wouldn’t have a centralised Pines Wastewater Treatment Plant with all the security of that land.”
Another standout moment came in 2007, when Hasson presented part of her 2001 thesis on development contributions at the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s fifth worldwide colloquium on environmental law held in Brazil.
“It was pretty special to be invited to go and present my thesis on the international stage.”
Though she’s leaving the council, Hasson will stay active in her community, including roles with the Springs RSA and the Ellesmere land drainage committee.
Hasson’s message to new councillors was to be prepared for a lot of work.
“Six hundred pages in an agenda isn’t something you sit there and say, ‘I haven’t got time to read’.
"You’ll also get ratepayers ring you, they’ll meet you in the supermarket, you'll get emails . . . It’s a lot of work, people don’t understand.”
She also offered a dose of realism about what new councillors can achieve.
“You can’t come in there and change the world.”
