Hamilton city councillor James Casson to run again for council

Hamilton City Councillor James Casson. Photo / File

Captain Councillor - aka James Casson - is calling on fresh faces to join him in the battle to boot out the "men in suits" around the council debating table.

Councillor Casson said that the perceived old boys' club around the council table has damaged the public image of council, and said it's time for the voting power of the current mayor and his so-called Tight Five to go.

Mr Casson is an active participant at community events, and has dressed as Captain America at the Hamilton Half Marathon, Batman's sidekick Robin at the opening of the Hare Puke Destination Playground, and a clown at the city's annual Christmas Parade.

Mr Casson, a first-term councillor, this week announced his decision to run again for a council seat at the 2019 elections in October, but said some of the stale ideas needed to be ousted.

"Three years is not enough to get the job done. You are seeing some projects getting started. Personally I think two or three terms are enough because you get people that hang around too long," Mr Casson said.

"I think we should have a definite expiry period, otherwise you get people that get entrenched on council."

Mr Casson is supportive of the mayoral bid by four-term councillor Angela O'Leary (see story Page 3) but hasn't ruled out having a go himself. He said he was still debating whether to join the mayoral race, but was concerned about splitting voting support.

He said he wants to see a more diverse looking council, believing currently the public has a perception that the council is an old boys' club.

Mr Casson is a former New Zealand police officer and a close protection officer for the United Nations.

His role took him to various diplomatic posts around the world with peacekeeping roles in a range of locations, including Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Solomon Islands and East Timor.

"I want to see a couple of fresh faces around the table. There is a perceived old boys' club in the council at the moment and that the men in suits run everything. I've tried to keep myself away from that, I don't want to be a part of that club."

Mr Casson encouraged youth, including last year's by-election candidate Matthew Small, 24, to get involved and make a push for a voice on the council.

"I like Matthew Small, he has some good ideas, and I think a couple of those fresh younger faces around the table would be good. If we had a few more females around the table, a more diverse looking council, they will bring fresh and good ideas to the table."

He said currently the table is dominated by the mayor and his 'Tight Five.'

"You have the guys that back the mayor quite a bit on his decisions, obviously the deputy mayor who is duty bound most of the time, then you have Dave Macpherson, Garry Mallett floats between them, then Mark Bunting, Geoff Taylor and Ryan Hamilton."

"It's pretty frustrating for the likes of Angela, Paula, Rob and Leo [Councillors Angela O'Leary, Paula Southgate, Rob Pascoe and Leo Tooman]. We find it frustrating when we don't have the numbers to stop things we don't agree with.

"One of the things that comes to the mind is the purchasing of buildings in the CBD for inflated prices, a decision most of the public did not support."

The council will return to the debating table for the last part of its term in February, and Mr Casson believes that being an election year, there will be more politics at play rather than getting work done for the city.

"The little games and power plays that take place are quite interesting and if you didn't laugh you'd probably get depressed."

"The community and services meeting in December was ridiculous. It was just all over the place. You had the deputy chair almost throwing the chairwoman under the bus with allegations that they had talked about something, and then you had further arguments and I was just sitting there thinking this is all going on camera."