Kawakawa-based community board member Kelly Stratford is the latest candidate to throw her hat into the ring for the upcoming Far North District Council byelection.
The byelection, for one of four seats in the Bay of Islands-Whangaroa ward, was triggered when councillor Willow-Jean Prime was elected to Parliament on the Labour list in September's general election.
Others to confirm their intention to contest the seat so far include former Green MP David Clendon and motoring writer and 2016 mayoral candidate Peter Gill.
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As of Friday, however, no nominations had been officially received. Candidates have until December 22 to get their nominations in.
Mrs Stratford — who used to own Trainspotter Cafe with her husband Daniel, and Kawakawa Bookshop — is the current Kawakawa-Moerewa representative on the Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Community Board. She was first elected in a byelection in February 2015 and won the 2016 election unopposed.
She said she was committed to making the Far North prosperous and felt strongly about improving accessibility for the disabled, community-led development, reducing waste and combating illegal dumping, and reducing dust on unsealed roads.
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If she wins it will trigger a community board byelection but Mrs Stratford said that would cost a lot less than a council byelection and give someone else a chance to step up into a leadership role.
Peter Gill, of Waipapa, was John Carter's only challenger in the 2016 mayoral election, winning 4517 votes to Mr Carter's 10,975.
He said he would give the byelection a go, though it would mean taking on the well-respected Mr Clendon.
Mr Gill found it ''risible'', however, that the new councillor wouldn't be in place until February, leaving the seat vacant for five months.
''New Zealanders are poorly served by this kind of lazy, summertime bureaucracy. It's time the Electoral Act was overhauled,'' he said.
Mr Clendon, who quit national politics in September over allegations of electoral and benefit fraud by Green co-leader Metiria Turei, announced his intention to stand in October.
Waipapa civil engineer Fred Terry, who was rumoured to be standing, said it was highly unlikely due to upcoming work commitments.
More than 19,000 people in the Bay of Islands and Whangaroa are eligible to vote in the byelection.
The postal ballot will run from January 26 to February 17, when the results will be announced.
New councillor will be "lame duck", critic says
Council critic Jane Johnston says she won't stand in the byelection because its timing means the new councillor will have little chance to influence the Far North District Council's long-term plan.
Ms Johnston, a former council staffer who has key roles in the Kerikeri and Paihia ratepayers' associations, said if former councillor Willow-Jean Prime had resigned a day earlier, on the cut-off date, the byelection would have been held before Christmas.
Instead the postal election would now close on February 17 with the new councillor unlikely to be sworn in until late February.
With the draft long-term plan due to be released in March for public consultation, that meant the incoming councillor would have little chance to influence the plan.
Ms Johnston believed she would be more effective working from the outside than as a ''lame-duck councillor'' elected 18 months before the next local elections.
The long-term plan sets out the council's spending priorities for the next 10 years.