Councillor's Comments

With Otamatea Ward Councillor Jonathan Larsen

An extraordinary meeting of Council to decide the final proposal for representation at the next local body elections was held at Kaiwaka on Tuesday 9 October. Currently we have three wards - Otamatea (3 councillors), West Coast-Central (3 councillors), Dargaville (2 councillors), and a Mayor elected at large. The number of residents per councillor is required to fit within a +/- 10% margin, and because there has been so much population growth in Otamatea ward, the number of councillors or the ward boundaries needed to be changed.

The initial proposal that Council consulted on was to divide the district in to four wards – West Coast-Central (2 councillors), Dargaville (2 councillors), a much smaller Otamatea ward (2 councillors), and a new Kaiwaka-Mangawhai ward (2 councillors). Of the 81 submissions received, 53 were opposed to this approach. Much of the opposition to this was the splitting of the community of interest linkages between the neighbouring towns of Kaiwaka, Maungaturoto and Paparoa. Other concerns were that the four ward proposal operates right at the +/- 10% margin for the Kaiwaka- Mangawhai ward (+ 9.55%) and Dargaville (- 9.8%). The timing of the review meant that the data from the old census had to be used. Under the most recent census data, the thresholds would almost certainly be breached. The implication of this is that at the next review, the ward boundary would need to keep moving west in an incremental fashion to accommodate an ever increasing eastern population. Concern was also raised that this was divisive, and could marginalise Kaiwaka and Managawhai, with only two councillors versus a combined six for the rest of the district.

I moved an amendment to have the more simple option with two wards, Wairoa (combining Dargaville and West Coast Central) with 4 councillors, and Otamatea with four councillors. This gave a much better margin for growth (Wairoa -3.16%, Otamatea +3.4%). However, with one councillor absent the vote was tied at four to four, and the Mayor used a casting vote against to defeat the amendment. The motion then reverted back to the four ward proposal, and voting was once again split four to four. The Mayor exercised another casting vote in favour resulting in the four ward proposal being adopted.

There is now an appeal period where anyone who made a submission on the initial proposal can appeal the decision to the Local Government Commission (LGC), which will then make a final binding decision. Appeals close on 20 December and the LGC will determine the outcome of their investigation by 11 April 2019.

If you have any community projects or issues that you would like assistance with, I can be contacted on Ph. 021 185 8389 or Cr.Larsen@kaipara.govt.nz. Check out my ‘The WorkBoot Councillor’ Facebook page for regular updates.

*The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the consensus position of Council.