Deon Swiggs has been elected unopposed as the chair of Canterbury Regional Council.
“I will bring this table together,” Swiggs said.
He had been Environment Canterbury's deputy chair to former chair Craig Pauling in the last term.
Swiggs was nominated and seconded by Mid-Canterbury/Ōpākihi councillors John Sunckell and Ian Mackenzie.
He thanked his fellow councillors for the honour and privilege of being elected chair.
“I look forward to getting on with the work.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us.
“Thank you so much for having the confidence in me.”
Multiple councillors were put forward for the deputy role, with Ngāi Tahu councillor Iaean Cranwell winning the vote.
Fourth-term North Canterbury councillor Claire McKay and first-term Christchurch Central/Ōhoko councillor Nettles Lamont were also nominated.
In the first round of voting, Cranwell receiving 15 of the votes, including from Swiggs.
Cr McKay voted for herself, while Lamont cast her vote for Cranwell when he was already holding an insurmountable lead.
Cranwell was a councillor from 2016- 2019 and then a Tumu Taiao mana whenua expert for ECan from 2020-22 when he became one of the first Ngāi Tahu councillors, alongside Tutehounuku "Nuk" Korako.
He said his focus is “the region as a whole”.
“I was selected by Ngāi Tahu but my duty is to every community in Canterbury.
“From our cities to our rural and coastal areas.
“I’ll lead the whole region, grounded in fairness and long-term outcomes.”
This term Megen McKay is the other Ngāi Tahu councillor, after spending most of the last term as the inaugural mana whenua representative on the Selwyn District Council.
-LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
