Ōtorohanga mayor Max Baxter
CONGRATULATIONS to the newly-elected councillors and community board representatives in the Ōtorohanga District, and my commiserations to those of you who have been unsuccessful in these elections. Thank you also to all of you who have supported me as mayor during the past nine years and have continued to support me over this election period. We have a number of new councillors and community board members among the team. I am very excited about working with them to deliver the best possible outcomes for all of us in the Ōtorohanga District. The one thing we have in common is the collective desire to work together as we know the strength of a team is always greater than that of an individual. The long weekend and the beautiful weather came at just the right time so I could take a breath. It seems there has not been a chance to relax for a considerable period of time and we have a lot of work ahead of us in the coming weeks. The induction and training for all elected members will continue in the next couple of weeks so everyone is up to speed when we have our first official meeting since the election. On Tuesday morning we held a blessing of the council building following its refurbishment. After being out of the council building for many months staff will start returning in stages, beginning next week. It is so refreshing having offices once stuck in a decades-long timewarp, now being so light, airy and inviting. When I return to my office in the coming weeks it will be the first time since the beginning of lockdown in 2020 that all the staff will have the opportunity to work at the same time under the same roof. In recent weeks it has been heartening to see considerable progress on the Westridge subdivision extension taking place and soon we will see houses being built which bodes well for the future of our town.
