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Deputy mayor and long serving councillor Neil Brown confirmed yesterday he will be among those seeking the district’s mayoralty in October’s local body elections.
Brown issues mayoral challenge By Sue Newman
sue.n@thegiardoan.co.nz
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The race for Ashburton’s mayoralty is likely to be contested by at least four candidates, with deputy mayor and long-serving councillor Neil Brown confirming yesterday that he will be among those seeking the district’s top job in October’s local body elections. With his 15 year background as a councillor, Brown said he would bring the consistent, positive leadership to the job that the district needed for the future. “I did say at the end of last year that I wouldn’t be sitting around the council
table after another election. Five terms is long enough, you have to go the next step or you go out,” he said. One of his key drivers if elected will be to ensure the district’s new civic centre and library project is delivered on time and on target with its new budget. “Council has some big projects ahead and we need a steady hand to ensure common sense prevails over our spending,” he said. Progressing the uniting of town and country would also be key for the future, Brown said. “We need to work on this, on ensuring the rural sector understands the town
and vice versa, that is key and it needs education.” Having both farm and urban business interests gave him the advantage of understanding the unique issues facing each community, he said. The next term of council would see the start of a new era with councillor numbers dropping from 12 to nine and that meant it was vital all elected members had a good understanding of issues district-wide, Brown said.
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