Editorial: Scorecard to help readers ahead of the elections

The local body elections are now 10 weeks away and will be one of the most important events to happen in regional New Zealand.

Our councils and health boards control billions of dollars in assets and have a profound impact on people's lives - managing important functions such as rates, rubbish collection, water supply, parks, roading, and environmental and health services.

Of course, these are just a few of the services these organisations are responsible for - and that's what makes the elections so important.

But, as we revealed in last Saturday's Bay of Plenty Times Weekend, it seems there is some apathy among the people.

The front-page story last Saturday revealed some startling figures, showing many people do not know who our leaders are. We surveyed 100 people randomly from the local phone book and I was staggered that 29 did not know Stuart Crosby was the city's mayor.

Perhaps not so surprising, but nevertheless a concern, is no one could name Sally Webb as the chairperson of the Bay of Plenty District Health Board, an organisation that has the huge responsibility of running our health services, including Tauranga Hospital.

Preliminary voting figures after the last election, excluding special votes, showed 43.45 per cent of registered voters had their say in the city council election, and for the Western Bay district it was 33.55 per cent.

In an effort to raise awareness around these leaders and the critical role their organisations play, Bay of Plenty Times media has begun its in-depth coverage of the elections.

Following last week's front page, and a recent article by city issues reporter John Cousins on clashes within council emerging, he today looks back on the past three years of this city council's term, highlighting many of the important issues that have made headlines.

Importantly, Cousins has also provided readers with his three-year report card on the mayor and each councillor. It is an unbiased and fair look at how they have performed, based on his assessment of covering council and committee meetings, and the issues of the day.

Some councillors are praised and, of course, some have their weaknesses pointed out.

The scorecard is his opinion, based on his observations and interviews. I expect those councillors who fared well will be happy and those who did not will disagree strongly. There will be readers, for whatever reason, who will also agree and disagree.

The point of the exercise is to provide readers with one view, albeit a professional one, so they can then draw their own conclusions.

Our coverage will extend across and beyond the next 10 weeks. We will scrutinise issues, cover controversies and bring you what candidates stand for and their views on important matters, and bring you online coverage on the Sunday after the election and more in-depth articles in Monday's paper.

The paper and bayofplentytimes.co.nz will provide a platform for readers to ask questions.

If you have a question, write in with who it is for and what you would like to know. We will then put the question to the candidate and, if they answer it, publish the result. Details are on page A3 today.

We will provide you with updates of what we're doing as the weeks roll by and we welcome your letters. Email editor@bayofplentytimes.co.nz and include your name and suburb, or town.