Tararua District Mayor Tracey Collis, centre, with members of the community board following the 2016 election: Ross MacDonald, left, Kim Spooner, Terry Hynes and Pat Walshe. Photo / NZME
Tararua District Mayor Tracey Collis, centre, with members of the community board following the 2016 election: Ross MacDonald, left, Kim Spooner, Terry Hynes and Pat Walshe. Photo / NZME
Ross MacDonald reckons he never had to campaign for his seat on the Dannevirke Community Board.
"I was lucky because I was never going to have any trouble getting elected because everybody knew me."
Now he felt it was time for him to take a step back and let someoneelse have a go.
MacDonald first vied for the seat left vacant in 2008, winning the byelection that year.
It was something he began considering after former colleague and board member Bob Dresser suggested it.
A few months earlier, the board had been organising a charity concert for the rescue helicopter and Dresser had approached MacDonald for his help.
"It was a real success. After, Dresser approached me and asked if I would be interested in standing for the board as they needed someone who could actually do things like the concert and that sort of the stuff."
Ross MacDonald is well-known in the Dannevirke community. Photo / Leanne Warr
MacDonald was passionate about the community and had been since he returned to Dannevirke in 1969, where he served in the local police until his retirement in 1992.
"If you're a policeman in this town for 23 years as I was, you're fairly high profile. With five kids going through the education system, I was doomed really, wasn't I?"
He'd once been asked what he did to campaign for his seat on the community board but it was something he never really had to do, since he was so well-known.
He had no regrets about the time he had served on the board.
"I've enjoyed the time ... and feel I've done some good for the community."
One of the things he enjoyed about his time was the Anzac centenary years.
"We did a remembrance concert every year for specific events that happened."
He said that was his expertise but it wasn't easy organising events unless one had an aptitude for it.
"Fortunately I've got a wife at home who's pretty clued up on this sort of stuff. We've always been arts-orientated. That's the way my family is."
Ross MacDonald when he took over as chairman of the Dannevirke Community Board in 2016, with mayor Tracey Collis. Photo / NZME
He felt the time was right for him to go.
"I'm 78 now. I'd be 81 at the end of the next term and it's time for somebody younger to have a crack."
He wanted to encourage anyone considering putting their name forward for the upcoming local body elections to do so and they have until noon Friday.
"I feel that there's a lot of people out there that could give a lot to the community."
The person who stepped up to replace him would have to be someone who was passionate about the community and wanted it to progress, but they had to be prepared to put some effort in.
"You can't just sit back and hope that things happen."
