Who will win? Photo: pexels.com
Ōtorohanga mayor Max Baxter will hand his chains over to one of three mayoral candidates on Saturday. We asked Ōtorohanga’s mayoral candidates, all sitting councillors, for their top priorities would be in their 100-day plan if they were elected mayor.
Cathy Prendergast, Rodney Dow and Jaimee Tamaki
Rodney Dow said his first action would be “connecting the elected members and developing a mission statement of what we would like to achieve in the three years we will be governing”.
The second action would be to revisit the logo.
Otorohanga District Council recently received a petition signed by 380 residents and ratepayers asking it to rethink switching the council’s old kiwi logo for one called Te Ōhanga “The Nest”.
Dow voted against Baxter’s motion to adopt The Nest as the council’s sole logo in December last year alongside Kit Jeffries and Roy Johnson.
Mayoral candidate Jaimee Tamaki seconded the motion but has since said she had not realised the connection residents had to the council’s old kiwi logo. Cathy Prendergast, who is also standing for mayor, also voted in favour of changing it to Te Ōhanga in December but now supports a review.
Dow said his third action would be “to get what looks like a broken window on the second story of the Ōtorohanga District Council building fixed, so it doesn’t appear to be broken”.
“If I were elected mayor my first 100 days will be a particularly busy period,” said Prendergast.
She would work with the council team to focus on her leadership and forming the new council structure.
“I will prioritise an induction plan for the new council to lay the foundations for the next three years. There will be no immediate change in policy direction however keeping a focus on tight fiscal policy will always be a priority,” she said.
“Reviewing the decision on the kiwi logo will be integrated into the workplan. Building relationships within the community will be a focus for me and I would feel privileged to be elected mayor.”
Tamaki had a different focus.
Top of her list was to “strengthen partnerships with our schools to initiate mentoring opportunities, creative pathway initiatives.”
Her second priority was to “strengthen our business collectives’ approach to working in unison”.
And her third priority was to “develop key levers for our rural health engagement”.
