Local Focus: Getting to know Gary Caffell, new Mayor of Masterton

Gary Caffell got 5455 votes during the local body election, which was well ahead of the other candidates, and was elected as Masterton's mayor.

After a quiet and short family celebration, Caffell went straight to work with a council meeting the next day.

"I've also had four terms on council before becoming mayor. So I've got a pretty good knowledge of the local government sector, and I'm a people person," he said.

Improving the transparency of council work is one of his aims.

"I've got my own social media, Masterton Matters Facebook page, which is very popular. And I'm going to continue with that under the mayoral banner."

Regarding the top priority, Caffell put water infrastructure as his number one focus.

"We've got a problem here in Masterton when there's a heavy rainfall that some properties where sewage spills over their front lawns, and that's just not good enough."

Caffell reckons fixing water infrastructure would be costly and not be a quick fix. Despite this, he's not sure that Three Waters reform, in which the Government takes such headaches off the council, is the right idea.

Apart from the water infrastructure, the Civic Centre is another big job for Caffell.

"We have started a lot of background work on the Civic Centre and the library. It's going to come down to affordability. Hopefully, we will move pretty quickly over the next few months."

Caffell is delighted about his council team: "There's a lot of high-quality people there. We've got a number of councillors who are potential mayors. That's a hell of a good start."