Western Bay of Plenty mayoral race: Suaree Borell on council culture and reform

Suaree Borell's priorities as mayor are water reform, roads and enhancing Māori governance.

Local body elections are under way and eight hopefuls are vying for the Western Bay of Plenty’s top job. Local Democracy Reporting quizzed the mayoral candidates about key issues ahead of the October 11 election. We will publish those stories over the coming days.

Quick bio

Name: Suaree Borell

Age: 49

Resides: Whakamārama

Profession: Māori research and evaluation consultancy owner

Political party affiliations: None

Family: Married.

If Suaree Borell is elected mayor she plans to focus on creating a Western Bay of Plenty District Council culture that makes “impactful decisions”.

Borell, who would be a newcomer on the council if elected, believed having experienced councillors had “not led to solutions”.

Her long-term goal was to ensure the council’s culture could build consensus and “refine direction for impactful decisions for the people that they represent”.

Borell’s top three priorities were water reform, roading infrastructure to support the agriculture sector and Port of Tauranga, and enhancing Māori governance.

She wanted to ensure water reform involved a community-centred perspective as the council changed its water services from in-house to a separate entity.

“When you listen to the constituents at large, they’re feeling that their voices aren’t woven into the decision-making fabric of the council, which is why they get disgruntled.”

The council would need to work with other councils for the roads because infrastructure for the port needed input from Tauranga City Council and Bay of Plenty Regional Council, she said.

“We’ve got a great proportion of agricultural products coming out of the Western Bay. What are the transportation links and how do we connect those to the port?”

It would be the Western Bay’s first term with a Māori ward, Waka Kai Uru, so Borell wanted to understand how it worked to enhance Māori governance.

She would set up a monitoring framework to see how well the council met and partnered with Māori.

“We need Māori voices at the table.”

Borell is also running for Waka Kai Uru and supported Māori wards for councils.

“Māori have a right to be represented.”

The failure of the current Westminster government model to deliver Māori representation was a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi, she said.

A nice-to-have on her agenda would be a better relationship with Tauranga City Council, Borell said.

Suaree Borell said she would work on a better relationship with Tauranga City Council if she was mayor. Photo / Brydie Thompson

“Working in an integrated, amalgamated way because we’re future building.

“Councillors are part of futures; they’re building a future that they won’t necessarily be alive for.”

She was open to conversations about council amalgamation because the role of councils was to create a future that appealed to and served the members of its community.

“The strengths of being locally led is going to naturally require you to look at other entities, that look, walk and talk like you. So, council-to-council, it makes sense.”

Rather than wanting something specific for the Western Bay regional deal, Borell said she would see what the benefits of each project were and which ones the council had the best relationships for before deciding what to advocate for.

“I wouldn’t pick the ones that I didn’t have the relationships for.”

Voting is open until midday October 11.

- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.