The contestants in the Whangarei Central Constituency couldn’t be more different. Veteran greenie Jack Craw is being challenged by the fresh-faced and energetic Caroline Davis who is an ambulance paramedic and currently chairs the Whangarei Area Committee of St John.
Rick Stolwerk is being challenged by John Hunt who has a high profile in community sports and held senior leadership roles, and Greg Chalmers is presenting himself as the common sense alternative to sitting councillor and former DoC worker, Amy McDonald.
The Craw, Stolwerk, McDonald trio are seen as instrumental in supporting NRC’s 36.2% rate increase in the last three years which has been used to fund community resilience projects for Maori and increase staff numbers which have risen 54% in the last five years.
In contrast, the challengers are campaigning on a back-to-basics approach and promising a full and comprehensive review of council spending which they say will negate the need for further rate increases.
There is no question the NRC has strayed a long way from the days when it was highly regarded as a professional and well-run council with low rating requirements. During the last term the council has been divided with Craw, Stolwerk, McDonald, and the two Maori councillors on one side and four conservative councillors on the other. Tui Shortland was replaced as Chairman after only one year in the job, but then staged a coup to oust her replacement. That coup failed after Minister Shane Jones issued warnings about the possibility of a commissioner being appointed.
Elsewhere, the current chairman, Geoff Crawford, has been reelected unopposed and incumbents John Blackwell and Joe Carr and likely to retain their seats. Six candidates are seeking the seat vacated by the retirement of Marty Robinson, with the main contenders being Murray Hosking and Colin Kitchen. In the Maori ward, Pita Tipene is likely to unseat one of the two councillors, Tui Shortland or Peter-Lucas Jones.
Letterbox is aware of staff discontent within the NRC, particularly around cultural training, preferential hiring policies, and the imposition of Maori culture within the workplace. Some will no doubt be hoping the election of new faces around the council decision-making table will bring stability and focus back to the organisation and a return to core services: environmental protection, biosecurity, flood control, and regional transport planning.