I take local issues straight to the staff or to the council table and see that matters of concern are raised and followed up.
Under the new model, this connection between council and the community will be broken.
In the reorganisation proposal, an 18-strong super council would take over the work of governing five existing councils stretching from Wairoa to Waipukurau, with all the matters of the current Regional Council a large part of their agenda.
There is no way that those councillors would be able to attend the day to day events that make up a community, and support the people who they are elected to serve.
They would disappear from sight.
Our Mayor is out and about in the city and region among the people every day and most of the weekend.
People like having their Mayor supporting their prizegivings, their blessings and community or business celebrations or fundraisers.
This way the Mayor stays in touch with businesses, with charities, with churches, government and non government organisations and schools.
Similarly, as a councillor, I traverse my ward almost daily, catching up and supporting individuals, groups and projects.
Such face to face contact keeps us aware of what people are doing and helps get things done.
The Mayor of a super council - who will also be Mayor of four diverse and distant communities, required to chair meetings coveringthe range of the whole region and all its assets - could only be a distant figure, out of touch with the reality of people's lives.
So who would be left behind to play these important roles in local democracy?
Not the councillors, with a smaller number playing a significantly increased role in the region.
The community boards? For them to take their concerns forward to the super council will involve arranging meetings with their already-overworked regional councillors, who will - may - take their concerns second-hand to the larger council where they will be a minority voice.
Their issues - often now settled by their Mayor or councillor without even going to a meeting - will join the queue in a long list of supplicants asking for their request to be considered.
It is very easy to ignore such pleas when they are indirect and not face to face.
I'm not afraid of change if it makes our councils more connected with the people, more transparent and accountable.
I was closely involved in successfully petitioning the Local Government Commission for changes in our governance structure in Napier in 2006 - moving from a city-wide to a part-ward electoral system - which has left our city with a council strongly connected to its citizens.
The people I know feel well served by their council and tell us as soon as they have a complaint.
I love our city, and although it's not perfect, I don't think it needs being taken over by a larger regional body.
A bigger governing body does not mean a better Hawke's Bay.
I don't trust that those who are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising their model will act in the best interests of people and communities at the other end of the pecking order.
They are not my colleagues around the council table; they are not from the voluntary community groups I work with across the city.
And I certainly can't imagine any of those faceless donors sitting with a disability advocacy group listening to their concerns.
I urge you to vote against the reorganisation proposal, and send your papers in today.
-Maxine Boag is a Napier city councillor.
