Have your say on Ōpōtiki’s proposed new council structure

Consultation has opened on Ōpōtiki District Council’s preferred option for how representatives will be elected at the next local body elections in 2025.

Council voted to implement Māori wards in 2023 and is carrying out a representation review to consider what the council structure will look like with Māori wards included. Ōpōtiki’s Māori wards are not impacted by the central government changes to the Māori wards legislation as a non-binding poll that supported Māori wards was run in 2022.

The maps of the proposed ward boundaries were presented at the Extra Ordinary Council meeting on 30 July and formal consultation on this initial proposal opened on 6 August.

The proposal is to increase the number of councillors from the current six to seven plus a mayor elected at large.

• Two councillors from an urban general ward (Ōpōtiki township and Hukutaia areas)
• Two councillors from a rural general ward (the rest of the Ōpōtiki district)
• One councillor from a Coast Māori ward (a boundary the same as the current Coast ward)
• Two councillors from an Ōpōtiki Māori ward (the rest of the Ōpōtiki district).

The Coast Community Board with four members would remain the same.

The report to council noted that the difference between the two Māori wards did not meet the requirement that the councillors represent the same approximate populations (within +/-10%). This means the proposal will need to be referred to the Local Government Commission for a determination in early 2025.

Ōpōtiki Mayor, David Moore, explained that council had discussed this at length and been guided by community feedback and experts in the area.

“Everyone is really used to that boundary for our Coast ward and it works well and is well understood.

“Up SH35 there, they can be a quite isolated community with their own concerns and needs that they should be able to expect to be brought to the council table. The feedback has very much been ‘we want to hold on to our unique voice at the table’ and I appreciate that. It does mean we don’t comply with the legislation but we’ll send it to the Commission and see what they come back with,” Mayor Moore said.

The Mayor also said a topic that came up often with conversations and feedback was the idea that more councillors meant more pay.

“There are lots of things that went into our decision on the number of councillors, but pay is not one of them because the cost of paying elected members won’t change through this process. Our remuneration is set independently by the Remuneration Authority and a pot of money is set aside for that purpose. That same “pot” of money is shared out between more or fewer elected members.

“What we were more aware of when thinking through the number of councillors was workload – there is a lot of work that goes into being a councillor and having time to be out and about amongst the communities we represent is key. We also have a tonne of responsibilities and meetings and wanted to share that load while making sure we were as small as possible to be agile and not get caught up in unwieldy numbers. It is a balance,” Mayor Moore said.

Council’s Connect | Hono Mai website provides more information, maps and opportunities for feedback. Formal submissions will also be accepted through email and in physical form.

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