Tauranga City Council election: Several sacked councillors running again

In July, Tauranga will elect its first city council since the 2019 cohort was sacked and replaced with government-appointed commissioners after a tumultuous start to the term led to governance concerns. Kiri Gillespie catches up with the former councillors and discovers who is running again, who is undecided and who has ruled it out.

John Robson is moments away from his first haircut since 2020 when he confirms to the Bay of Plenty Times that he will be running for the Tauranga City Council again.

The former councillor was among elected members discharged of their duties by Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta and replaced by a commission.

Mahuta cited issues such as “poor behaviour”, “infighting” and not setting “realistic” rates in her decision, which followed the resignations of Mayor Tenby Powell and councillor Jako Abrie as well as a critical report by independent Crown observers.

The commission’s extended term ends on July 20, when Tauranga’s election ends. Nominations opened on April 26 and five of the original 11 have confirmed to the Bay of Plenty Times they will stand again, with one other undecided.

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John Robson

For Robson, the election means “democracy is back”.

A vocal opponent of the commission’s appointment, he said he protested against it by refusing to cut his thick, curly hair until “democracy returned” to the city.

On Friday, more than three years later, he went to the hairdresser.

Former Tauranga city councillor John Robson gets his hair cut as he prepares to run for mayor in the upcoming local body election. Photo / Alex Cairns

Robson said he intended to run for the mayoralty and in the Bethlehem ward.

He said the 2019 council was democratically elected to do a job that was cut short and he had “unfinished business”.

“The issues that I ran on in 2019, some of those still remain. There are changes that need to happen in this city for the city to benefit.”

Heidi Hughes

Heidi Hughes said she would run for the Mount Maunganui ward and believed the city was moving in a positive direction after having commissioners in charge.

“I feel like there’s been a really good circuit-breaker, which I guess was what was needed,” Hughes said.

She was a first-time councillor in 2019 and quit after Mahuta’s decision to help the city avoid an expensive byelection.

Hughes said the experience she gained would be important for a new council.

Former Tauranga city councillors Dawn Kiddie, Jako Abrie, Tina Salisbury, Heidi Hughes and Andrew Hollis were first-time councillors in 2019.

In her view: “I don’t want to see a majority of old councillors get in but I do think it’s really helpful and important that if there are people who have council or governance experience, they can be mentors and support others.”

She had “seen what went wrong” in the previous council and now knew how the next group should interact to create a team.

Larry Baldock

Larry Baldock was deputy mayor until a coup by some colleagues forced him to step away from this role, remaining a councillor. The matter was one of many that led to Mahuta’s decision to remove the elected council.

Baldock, who ran in the 2023 general election, said he was standing for the Pyes Pa ward and believed he still had something to offer.

“I understand that I’m tarred with the same brush because we all got replaced but it’s important there’s experience and knowledge of history on council.

Former councillor Larry Baldock with former councillors Steve Morris and Dawn Kiddie in the background. Photo / George Novak

“I believe I’ve always been a positive councillor looking to work with people.‘‘

In his opinion: “The last thing we need is a lot of negative complaining about the commission. We need to move on and continue the positive development the city has had.”

Tina Salisbury

Tina Salisbury was deputy mayor after Baldock stepped down and this year she is aiming for the top job.

Salisbury could not be reached yesterday but previously said she decided to run for just the mayoralty – not a councillor seat – because she believed Tauranga needed “decisive leadership”.

She told Local Democracy Reporting she understood Tauranga’s complexities from having already been on the council.

Asked if she would have any concerns if other members of the previous council were elected, she said: “I trust the city to elect good people to lead the city and I will work with whoever is elected.”

Steve Morris

Steve Morris told the Bay of Plenty Times he intended to announce his nomination this week and, if elected, he looked forward to working with both old and new faces.

Tenby Powell

Powell, who quit and called for commissioners to be appointed shortly before Mahuta announced her decision, said he remained “undecided” on whether to run again.

At the time of his resignation, Powell described his term as “soul-destroying” and was also receiving prostate cancer treatment.

Powell said he had been regularly asked whether he would return.

Former Tauranga Mayor Tenby Powell, pictured shortly after his resignation in 2020. Photo / George Novak

“The truth is I’m undecided. I’m waiting to see who puts their hand up. I don’t need to be mayor but I would love to back the right people and carry on the work of the commission [as a councillor].”

Powell said he would happily back Salisbury, Hughes and Baldock.

Jako Abrie

Jako Abrie quit about two months before Mahuta’s decision, describing the council environment as “toxic” at the time.

He said he had no plans to run again and hoped new people would be elected, with the exceptions of Hughes and Salisbury.

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Kelvin Clout

Kelvin Clout, a former deputy mayor, said he had been tempted to stand again but was “thoroughly enjoying” his new career in real estate.

He was still interested in local government and would be “quite comfortable” to see some former colleagues re-elected.

He said the new council would face big financial constraints and believed that electing people with experience in that field would be helpful.

Former Tauranga city councillor Kelvin Clout.

Andrew Hollis

Andrew Hollis said he was tempted to stand but his gold exchange business had grown dramatically since 2020 and he had expansion plans.

Running for a full-time council role would be irresponsible while the business was growing, he said.

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He backed Robson’s bid for the mayoralty and believed he could “get the city back to an even keel with respect to debt and income”.

Bill Grainger

Bill Grainger indicated shortly after Mahuta’s intervention that he had no intention of returning to council.

He confirmed he still felt the same and said it was “great to see democracy back”.

“Let’s see what a fresh new set of councillors can do.”

Editor’s note: The Bay of Plenty Times has attempted to contact Dawn Kiddie and this story will be updated if she responds.

Kiri Gillespie is an assistant news director and a senior journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, specialising in local politics and city issues. She was a finalist for the Voyager Media Awards Regional Journalist of the Year in 2021.

Clarification

This story has been updated to clarify that Heidi Hughes quit her councillor role after Mahuta’s decision to help the city avoid a byelection.