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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2019
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Lang takes the wheel as mayor Gianina Schwanecke
Greg Lang’s third term will see him return to the Carterton District Council as its new mayor. The Gladstone wheelwright replaces former Carterton mayor John Booth who announced he would not be running in August. Lang announced his bid for the mayoralty in April. To celebrate his win, he and wife Ali spent the weekend helping at the Gladstone Family Hunting Competition. Of his newly elected council members, Lang said they had the potential to make a good team. “We’ve got great diversity and some youth representation.” His vision for the next three years included collaborating more closely with neighbouring district councils. “My vision is to be as clever as we can be. To make the district affordable but also have enterprise and talent coming through.” He had been running against Carterton’s new mayor, Greg Lang. PHOTO/JADE CVETKOV
fellow councillor Jill Greathead and newcomers Graeme Farr and Bernard Bottrill. Lang received 1854 votes compared to Greathead’s 1311 in the preliminary results. However, Greathead received the highest number of votes for a council position with 1999 in her favour. Greathead, who has been on council since 2001, said she was happy with the weekend’s results. With 21 candidates for council, voters had plenty of choice and she thought this was a contributing factor to the high voter turnout. Although she had often found herself at odds with the previous council, she said it would be helpful to have a few experienced councillors. There are a few new faces on the Carterton District Council, including first-time runner Steffen Bertram who received the second highest number of votes at 1914. Ruth Carter, Carterton’s longest serving councillor with eight terms under her belt, was ousted. “I’m just grateful to have been able to serve the community for so many years,” she said. She was proud of the “little things” she had accomplished as councillor, as well as larger projects like the Carterton Events Centre and wastewater treatment plant. This result is based upon the preliminary results and does not include special votes. Of the 3916 votes counted, this year’s voter return was noticeably higher with a 56.3 per cent return, compared to 52.3 per cent in the 2016 local government election.
Marcus Anselm South Wairarapa has a new mayor in first-time candidate Alex Beijen. Beijen, 52, of Martinborough, earned a sizeable victory over Viv Napier, the incumbent, in the provisional results announced on Sunday. Beijen had a lead of 511 over Napier with special votes yet to be counted. Former Featherston ward councillor Dayle Harwood came third with 513 votes. There was no light at the end of the tunnel for Remutaka Hill campaigner Graham Farr, who came fourth with 334. Napier served one term as mayor and was previously deputy to Adrienne Staples, who was re-elected in this election as Wairarapa’s sole Greater Wellington Regional Council representative.
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First-timer ousts veteran politician Beijen said he had received messages of congratulation from both his predecessors and from friends and family around the world. He will head a council with five other new faces. Garrick Emms and Brenda West will represent the Featherston ward, and Greytown has a clean sweep of new faces in Rebecca Fox, Alastair Plimmer and Leigh Hay, formerly chair of the town’s community board. Martinborough trio Pip Maynard, Pam Colenso and Brian Jephson, previously the deputy mayor, were returned. Beijen campaigned on key campaign issues of waste, water management, culture and transparency.
He said they would remain at the forefront of his thinking as he entered office. Broadcasting council and committee meetings was a “bit of a no-brainer in today’s technology age and should allow people to be involved easier than taking time off work”. “I would like to think the public will be seeing some minor changes within the first three-to-six months and after a year, to look back and say ‘this is on the right track, and we’re seeing improvement.” Beijen paid tribute to former councillor Lee Carter, who had to pull out of the mayoral contest on medical advice. He said his campaign “would have been harder, and potentially vote splitting, if she had stood”. The new council is due to be sworn in on October 30.
New South Wairarapa mayor Alex Beijen. PHOTO/MARCUS ANSELM
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