By Jonathan Leask, Local democracy reporter
Selwyn Mayor Lydia Gliddon and Ashburton Mayor Liz McMillan first met in 2022.
Gliddon was a first-term Selwyn district councillor in what was McMillan’s third term on Ashburton's council.
Now they both find themselves leading their districts after winning their elections in landslides.
They both attended the mayors' school in Wellington last month, which McMillan said was interesting to mix with experienced and new mayors, including some who had no previous council experience.
Gliddon said it was beneficial to “building relationships with other people that understand what you are going through.”
“It’s invaluable”.
One of those is McMillan – her neighbouring mayor.
Gliddon said she would look to lean on her experienced counterpart.
“She has been on council a lot longer than me.
“She’s just a good sort. Salt of the earth and levelheaded.
“It’s nice to have someone that you can ring up for advice on things, what are they doing or what have they done in the past. Just someone to feed off in that space.
“It’s a really nice relationship to have.”
McMillan was also full of praise for Gliddon.
“She has got some great energy about her and I think she will do well as mayor, and I will learn a lot from her a well,” McMillan said.
They both touched on the advice they got at mayor school, that no one else knows what it’s like to be mayor.
“People can imagine what it’s like but you don’t know until you sit in the big chair.
“So for us as new mayors, just to be able to reach and have a chat is great,” McMillan said.
That was almost immediately put to the test when they returned from Wellington to a state of emergency to deal with, as high winds swept through Canterbury.
“I was so pleased I paid attention to the emergency management part of mayor school,” Gliddon said.
It was a tricky situation, as the mayors hadn’t been sworn in yet it required Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery Mark Mitchell to declare the state of local emergency for Canterbury.
“All we could do was try to get the messages out to the community,” McMillan said.
Gliddon said the council had discussed the legal options for an emergency inauguration if required.
Both districts escaped relatively unscathed, a few trees down and the Methven Water Treatment Plant went offline after a suspected lightning strike.
After being officially sworn in, now it’s down to business with the two new mayors set to have slightly different starts around the table.
Selwyn’s new-look council is going over how to do the business while Ashburton is getting on with it.
Starting this week, Gliddon has meetings and briefings every Wednesday for the first seven weeks of the term to get her council, with eight of the 11 elected members being in their first term, up to speed.
The initial induction process was an overview of council and governance, she said.
“It was a taster.
“Now we’ll do deep dives in the departments to get a good understanding of what’s been happening, what are the drivers what’s in the pipeline and how we can make change.”
They will also make a start on the next annual plan before the Christmas break to give the councillors time to digest the information before setting the budgets where they aim to deliver savings without triggering a costly long-term plan amendment she said.
For McMillan, there is some consistency and experience around the table with four of the 10 being new.
“I’ll be keeping an eye on the new councillors and making sure they are getting enough information.”
“We covered a fair bit in the three days of induction and there is a lot to learn, and I’ve got a lot to learn.”
-LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
