The 'little hiccup' that haunted Tauranga City councillor Rick Curach to the very end

Rick Curach has lost his seat on Tauranga City Council. Photo / File

Rick Curach, who has lost his bid for a seventh term on Tauranga City Council, wants to set the record straight about something.

In 2012, his shock admission that he spent about 22 hours a week on council business while taking a $74,000 a year councillor salary spawned headlines and critical opinion pieces around New Zealand.

The headline that ran in the Bay of Plenty Times.

Curach, 61, said the "little hiccup" dogged him for years, his words coming back to haunt him again just two weeks ago when they appeared in an attack ad encouraging voters to "flick Rick".

He said it all started with an emailed survey from the Remuneration Authority asking councillors how much time they spent on certain tasks.

He asked council staff for information about time spent in meetings and submitted that.

It turned out his number was much lower than his colleagues, and a request for a discussion in an open workshop followed. Curach, "a stickler for transparency" could hardly refuse.

He believed other councillors also included time spent reading agendas and meeting with constituents in their tallies, which he had not.

Curach said in his last term he worked 40-hour weeks on council duties.

He put his election loss down mainly to being seen as a "part of the establishment" by a community that wanted change.

To a lesser extent, he also blamed a "smear campaign" against him and thought his infamous Pick Rick election hoardings had probably also grown stale.

"[The result] wasn't a surprise. I went in knowing it would be a difficult election to get through."

"Everyone has a shelf life and I have been here 18 years."

Rick Curach with one of his campaign signs in 2013. Photo / File

A plasterer by trade, he was elected in 2001, drawn into politics by his successful campaign to get the toll removed on the Tauranga Harbour Bridge.

He was proud of his work to introduce a rates cap of 2 per cent plus CPI, and to make the council more transparent.

He had no plans to retire but was not sure what was next. Perhaps some work to improve Tauranga's housing crisis. "I am open to suggestions."

Just as he was telling the Bay of Plenty Times he would never rule out going back to politics, his wife Leah called out: "no, you're not".