Mayor’s casting vote saves rural wards

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Rural ward councillors look set to remain at the table after Gisborne District Council dramatically overturned a previous decision to have only a Tairawhiti-wide general ward for the next two elections.

Mayor Rehette Stoltz twice used her casting vote to retain rural wards at yesterday's extraordinary council meeting.

Councillors were split 7:7 over the original proposal of a district-wide Tairawhiti General Ward with eight councillors, but had no issue with the district-wide Tairawhiti Maori Ward with five councillors.

The mayor's casting vote defeating the district-wide general ward led councillors to consider the model moved by Councillor Pat Seymour (originally known as model 3).

That model comprises of a Turanganui City General Ward of six councillors and a Tairawhiti Rural General Ward of two councillors, in addition to the Tairawhiti Maori Ward of five councillors.

That too was split 7:7 with the mayor using her casting vote, this time to support the motion.

The councillors who voted against the first motion of one district-wide general ward, and, who all supported, in the second vote, two general wards were: rural councillors Bill Burdett, Sandra Faulkner, Cr Seymour and Kerry Worsnop, Mayor Stoltz, Deputy Mayor Josh Wharehinga and Isaac Hughes.

The seven who voted differently were: Meredith Akuhata-Brown, Andy Cranston, Shannon Dowsing, Larry Foster, Debbie Gregory, Tony Robinson and Terry Sheldrake.

Cr Hughes was absent at the October 6 extraordinary meeting when councillors voted 7 to 6 in support of one district -wide general ward.

But at an August 12 extraordinary meeting Cr Hughes voted in favour of one district-wide general ward (when the vote was 8 to 6) and that model subsequently went out to public consultation.

There is an appeal period between November 8 and December 10 and the model must be approved by the Local Government Commission.

■ A full report will be in tomorrow's Gisborne Herald.