Hunterville councillor seeks Rangitikei mayoralty

ONE of the Rangitikei district's lesser known councillors has set his sights on becoming the district's best known local body politician? its Mayor.
Cr Chalky Leary, who has represented the Hunterville ward on council for the past six years, has now formally declared his intention to seek the mayoralty in the local body election in October.
He is the second sitting councillor to enter the contest for the mayoralty. Marton ward Cr Nick Eddy showed his hand two weeks ago.
His bid for the mayoralty will, in effect, be Cr Leary's first election campaign. He has twice taken the Hunterville ward council seat unopposed.
However, he said he was looking forward to the new challenge the mayoral contest would provide.
"I will be disappointed if I lose. But sometimes you just have to get out and do something," he said.
Chalky (real name Robert) Leary is a 57-year-old farmer from the Mangahoe Valley west of Hunterville. He has owned and farmed the 800ha property since buying it from his father in 1973.
Taihape born, he was raised at Pohonui, a locality north west of Hunterville and gained his secondary education at Feilding Agricultural High School. His early working life was spent in the merchandising division of stock and station firm Wright Stevenson in Taihape and Raetihi.
During his two terms on council Cr Leary has frequently spoken out strongly against the Government's habit of imposing rules and regulations on local government creating substantial costs for ratepayers but yielding nothing practical for the district.
He said as mayor he would pursue that cause as far as he could.
Unashamedly, parochially Rangitikei, Cr Leary believes survival of rural councils depends largely on those authorities being "allowed to use their own strengths".
"And our strength is the integrity of our people. Like, we don't build leaky homes in this district because if you do there is nowhere to run to and nowhere to hide," he said.
In terms of leadership of the district council he says his priority will be to "get a council that is focused."
Cr Leary believes if that can be achieved there is "big money to be saved in the council chamber".
Too often consensus can't be reached, even among councillors from the same ward.
"That puts the council in a difficult position in trying to achieve what is best for a particular ward," he said.
The consequences are delays, more reports, wasted resources, escalating costs and, inevitably, higher rates.
Cr Leary said his overall approach to the mayoralty would be one of spending time with ward councillors and constituents right across the district "getting the pulse of the problems" so clear consensus was achieved at the council table to enable the right decisions to be made.