Last month it was Board Chair Linda Mellsop (Cole) resigning from the Raglan Community Board. This month another Board member, Jon Taylor has resigned. It is understood that Mr Taylor is moving to Nelson.
At the Raglan Community Board meeting on Tuesday 10th March, Alan Vink was elected as Chair, with Matt Holl as the Deputy Chair and funds were approved for meber Bob MacLeod to go to the Community Boards’ conference. John Lawson commented, “All seemingly arranged before the public meeting”. Board member Bob McLeod said that nothing was arranged before the meeting.
In a surprise move the new Chair, Mr Vink, ruled that water meters can’t be discussed further, after GM Tony Whittaker said they weren’t cost effective in the usual sense, but were needed to conserve a resource in short supply around the world.
So now there are two vacancies on the Board. This leaves just four Board members plus Councillor Baddeley remaining. They’ll have to manage like this until June when a by-election will be held.
As a result of the second resignation, Waikato District Council Returning Officer, Maria Edgar, has announced that the already announced by-election will be deferred until Friday 5th June.
The full Waikato District Council anouncement on the change in the by-election date follows:
Waikato District Council, 11 March 2015
Further vacancy for Raglan Community Board by-election
As a result of the recent resignation of a second member of the Raglan Community Board, a further extraordinary vacancy has occurred. As such, the by-election originally scheduled to occur on Friday 15 May 2015, will now take place on Friday 5 June 2015 by postal ballot for two members of the Raglan Community Board.
As a result of the second extraordinary vacancy, the nomination period for the Raglan Community Board by-election has been extended and now closes at noon, Thursday 9 April 2015.
Nomination papers will be available from Thursday 12 March 2015 from:
the Waikato District Council:
Head Office, 15 Galileo Street, Ngaruawahia;
Raglan Office, 7 Bow Street, Raglan;
www.waikatodc.govt.nz;
phone 0800 922 822.
To be eligible to stand for election, a candidate must be:
enrolled as a Parliamentary elector; and
a New Zealand citizen.
All nominations received in respect of the by-election originally scheduled for 15 May 2015 will remain valid.
If more than the required number of nominations are received by the close of nominations (noon, Thursday 9 April 2015), a postal ballot will be held for the electors of the Raglan Community Board area. The by-election will then conclude at noon, Friday 5 June 2015.
For more information please contact: the Electoral Office, Waikato District Council, telephone 0800 922 822.