Kelly Makiha: Mayor Steve Chadwick chooses steady Rotorua Lakes Council leadership team

COMMENT:

Mayor Steve Chadwick is steaming ahead from where she left off while carefully choosing new blood among her leadership ranks.

Read more: • Donaldson remains deputy mayor, new appointments revealed
• 'I would have stepped up': Tania Tapsell on deputy mayor role
• Rotorua Lakes Council election sees diverse members elected

The appointments will keep at bay any critics who might say she's having the "same old" team around her.

Her committee appointments won't rock too many boats. While some older faces might be miffed they've been overlooked, no one's been dumped.

She's promoted popular councillor Tania Tapsell from deputy chairwoman to the chairwoman role of the Operations and Monitoring Committee, replacing former chairman retiring councillor Charles Sturt. New councillor Mercia Yates will be Tapsell's deputy.

Steady councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait will continue to chair the Strategy, Policy and Finance Committee, while newly elected Kai Fong will be her deputy, replacing retiring councillor Karen Hunt.

Despite four of the five top jobs going to women, it's not a complete female takeover with Chadwick again appointing Donaldson to the deputy mayor role.

There's been some talk Tapsell deserved the role because she's been the highest-polling councillor in the past two elections.

But as Chadwick put it, the deputy role isn't a popularity contest. Chadwick is on a mission and she needs her deputy to be her right-hand. Clearly she has that trust in Donaldson.

For Tapsell, at just 26, there's plenty of time and she will continue to cut her teeth in the committee chairwoman role.

The addition of Reynold Macpherson around the council table will be fascinating. While it was all smiles and handshakes at yesterday's swearing in, it will be interesting to see if the bickering between those affiliated to the Rotorua District Residents and Ratepayers and some of those on the council continues.

So long as it doesn't cost us ratepayers money or time, it is a good thing to have some among the ranks who will ask hard questions.

The next three years will see Chadwick and her team push ahead with some major projects - the Lakefront redevelopment, the museum and Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre rebuilds and the forest developments to name a few.

Chadwick has told residents during the campaign that when she was elected mayor she was given a mandate to give the city a shot in the arm and put it back on the map. Like it or not when you get your rates bill, she's doing that at speed.

The next three years will be busy for Rotorua. The next election will be even more interesting.

It's my prediction that in 2022, we will see many familiar council faces bow out and new ones jostling for top positions.

They have three years to prove they deserve it.