Janet Holborow wins tight mayoral race in Kāpiti

Janet Holborow. Photo / Rosalie Willis

After being deputy mayor for two terms, Janet Holborow has won her first mayoral bid, becoming Kāpiti mayor-elect after a tense competition with only 200 votes separating her and councillor Rob McCann.

"When I saw the first results coming in I waited because there was only a gap of 200 and there were still 2000 to count so it was still uncertain.

"Now I'm planning as though I've been elected because there's a lot to do."

Celebrating with her volunteers on Saturday afternoon and with family who were staying over the weekend, Holborow said she's already spoken to her new councillors.

"I've spoken to lots of people over the last couple of days. I've contacted all the elected councillors and will be contacting the community board members today.

"It's really important that we get on the same page straight away and I find out what people's aspirations are and what roles they would like to play. It's really important to me that every councillor has a meaningful role in the council.

"We've got such a diversity of talents, skills and life experience in the new council - we've got four returning councillors including myself, a couple of people with experience on community boards, Nigel Wilson who has experience as a regional councillor and plenty of governance experience around the table.

"We also have people with a long history of involvement in our community and people with really creative and useful skillsets.

"The challenge will be to bring everyone together around a shared vision and keep revisiting the vision to keep us on track and on the same page."

Holborow said her style of leadership is "inclusive and involved," empowering those around her.

"We are going through some really challenging times so the council are going to have to address some big issues like climate change, growth and government reform.

"It will be about making sure the community is alongside us as we go through the challenges ahead and about making sure we prioritise spending as we go through those challenges so we are not hitting people in the pocket.

"My main focus is bringing everyone together as we address the challenges ahead; climate change, progressing our district-wide emissions programme, ensuring council buildings and facilities are as sustainable as possible, also progressing the work of the community adaptation programme so that we can work out how we are going to address the inevitable effects of climate change."

With a background in arts and education, Holborow has an honours degree in performance piano and masters in composition.

"Arts and creativity are really important. I enjoy playing music not just for myself but for the enjoyment it gives other people."

Holborow credits her musical background for teaching her how to work hard.

"I've worked hard since I was six years old at setting goals and achieving them."

Moving from being a performer and teacher into politics came as Holborow got more involved in the community through community service and the Paekākāriki Community Board.

"I've learnt governance from the grassroots up and I want to bring that to my role to make sure the community boards are adequately resourced and have the opportunities they need to engage with and achieve what they want in their community – that's going to be one of my top priorities."

Holborow said she enjoys being able to facilitate change in the community.

"It's incredible being able to make change in your community that has a positive influence on people's lives.

"I've enjoyed bringing my arts background into my roles, playing a part in the success of Te Raukura and the Mahara Gallery developments."

She will also focus on building relationships across the greater Wellington region and with central government to find shared solutions.

As for Kāpiti issues, in regards to the Kāpiti Gateway Project Holborow said it's important to keep an open mind.

"I also think it's important to come up with alternative ways to deliver what that project was aiming to do which is to support local businesses, the tourism industry and to tell the Kāpiti story from an iwi and environmental perspective while also improving biosecurity to Kāpiti Island."

In regards to the Kāpiti Coast Airport Janet reiterated the airport and its land are not owned by the council so they do not hold the ultimate responsibility for making a decision on its future.

"However I will honour what our community told us through the Long Term Plan which is the majority of people wanted us to find ways to support the airport."

With a greater-than-average voting turnout, Holborow believes Kāpiti is a highly engaged and interested community.

"A huge thank you to everyone who stood and congratulations to the 31 newly elected members that we have."

Preliminary results showed a voter turnout of 19,417, up from the total voter turnout in 2019, including special votes of 18,343.

The final results, including the remaining special votes, will be announced on Thursday.