Rehette Stoltz is on track to confirm her third term as Gisborne Mayor and says she is “humbled” to lead the region forward.
Her closest competitor for the role, Colin Alder, who has the most votes so far of the general ward seat candidates, said Stoltz is a “solid advocate” for Tairāwhiti.
Progress results, which include votes cast until Friday, show Stoltz in the lead with 6330 votes, followed by Alder on 4564 and Jono Samson on 1397.
With a glass of bubbles, Stoltz was celebrating with her husband and close family and friends at home on Saturday.
Speaking with Local Democracy Reporting, she said she was “very relieved” as it was always nerve-racking waiting for the results to come through.
“Always quite nervous when you wait for results, but I’m very, very relieved, and I look forward to working with our new council.”
Stoltz was first elected mayor in 2019, a term that would be dominated by Covid-19.
In her next term, she led the region through Cyclone Gabrielle and its ongoing recovery.
“I’m looking forward to a normal term with no cyclones or Covid, and for us to now start building.
“It feels to me we’ve been so reactive in the last term and [I want to] start working on a 10-year plan that takes this community forward.”
She knew people were frustrated and waiting for basic infrastructure to be fixed, and every household was also dealing with the high cost of living, she said.
“People are frustrated and they want us to hear them. So this election was a clear indication from our community that, ‘yes, we want you to lead us forward’.
“And I am really humbled by that. Excited about walking with our community and mapping a way to success for us.”
She said rate affordability was important.
“The clear message is that people want a council to make sure whatever we do... we spend our rates well.”
Stoltz said she knew people wanted good basic infrastructure. This included making sure the region had good roading and local waters done well.
“A part of taking us forward is also working very closely with the Government because they are doing the Resource Management Act reform that will tell us what’s expected of us, what function sits with the council and where the funding comes from.
“When we have a bit more clarity around that, we can then sit down with the community and map our way forward.”
She said she was excited to see some new faces around the table and had reached out to everyone, and people were really excited.
“Even though we’re still waiting for those special votes to come through... usually [with] the results, the last few might swap around a bit.”
Next Monday, she will go to Local Government New Zealand’s “Mayor School”.
“Where this time around, I’m one of the teachers there because I am experienced now.”
Progress results on the Māori wards referendum showed 7534 voting to keep them and 4462 voting to remove them.
“The community has spoken,” said Stoltz.
“I have seen our Māori ward councillors make contributions at our table, which are unique.
“It’s so very important to have those voices around the table.”
In the running for mayor, Alder was 1766 votes behind Stoltz and said he was “still coming to terms” with the results.
“I’m very pleased that Rehette’s back in. She is a solid advocate for Gisborne/Tairāwhiti, and I am glad that I have a strong vote and the likes of Rob [Telfer] also had a strong presence.
“The change that I was looking for, I still believe we can bring that about,” he said.
In the general ward progress results, Alder had more than twice as many votes as the next-best candidate, with 2080 votes to Telfer’s 947.
Samson was approached for comment.