Mayor looks forward to new role

MANAWATU District Mayor, Ian McKelvie, is looking forward to being the district’s first elected representative on Local Government New Zealand’s National Council.


Mr McKelvie is the Zone 3 representative on the 15-member council, elected every three years following the local government elections. Local Government New Zealand is the national voice of New Zealand’s 85 councils.


“I don’t like sitting around and this is a chance to look further within local government,” he said. “That’s what really interests me.”


He said it also provided the opportunity for closer contact with central government, and though LGNZ was its own entity, it proved in recent years that it could influence the Government “a little bit and get things going our way”.


Mr McKelvie said decisions taken by central government in the last six years had put a significant onus on local authorities, resulting in a lot more work and lot more costs to the community.


“The building industry is a classic example, with government putting in place a whole lot of rules and asking local government to enforce them. It’s not easy.”


He said a number of issues that affected rural New Zealand had a much greater impact on regions like Manawatu than they would in urban areas, with infrastructure costs often proving similar in projects for 10,000 people or 100,000 people.


“That’s one of the great problems we’ve got after making us all the same – we are not all the same.”


Environmental sustainability was of primary interest to Mr McKelvie and one that he hoped to canvas with the national body.


“It particularly applies to farming and the way we look after our hills and the potential for our future income.”


He felt other issues surrounding water, sewage and roading would also be identified and shared by other council representatives.


“It’s interesting to see the middle ground well represented, with four members from councils similar to Manawatu. It’s a good cross-section of people and will be an interesting group to work with,” said Mr McKelvie.