Tauranga mayoralty candidates. (clockwise from top left) Greg Brownless, Christopher Stokes, John Robson, Andrew Hollis, Les Wallen, Murray Guy, Tenby Powell, Jos Nagels, Kelvin Clout, and RangiMarie Kingi. Photo / File
Tauranga mayoralty candidates. (clockwise from top left) Greg Brownless, Christopher Stokes, John Robson, Andrew Hollis, Les Wallen, Murray Guy, Tenby Powell, Jos Nagels, Kelvin Clout, and RangiMarie Kingi. Photo / File
Tauranga residents have the chance to do some homework on the city's mayoral candidates before voting opens in the local body elections next month.
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce is hosting a Meet the Mayoral Candidates evening on August 28 to introduce to residents to the city's potential future leaders.
Themayoral election is a 10-person race with some familiar faces in the line-up.
The council's incumbent leaders Mayor Greg Brownless and Deputy Mayor Kelvin Clout will go head-to-head for the top job for the second time.
Also seeking the top job are transport advocate Andrew Hollis, businessman Tenby Powell, Greerton pastor Les Wallen, RangiMarie Kingi who also goes by Lady Justice, and solar engineer Jos Nagels.
Current at-large ward councillor John Robson, former councillor Murray Guy and Matapihi kaitiaki Christopher Stoke are the final three mayoral candidates.
Participating candidates will have the chance to answer questions submitted to them by members of the audience.
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Matt Cowley believed this year would bring the most interesting election in recent history.
Tauranga mayoralty candidates. (clockwise from top left) Greg Brownless, Christopher Stokes, John Robson, Andrew Hollis, Les Wallen, Murray Guy, Tenby Powell, Jos Nagels, Kelvin Clout, and RangiMarie Kingi. Photo / File
Cowley said he was interested to hear how different candidates proposed to manage the city's growth.
"Tauranga is facing critical issues around transport, housing, and infrastructure," he said.
"Nothing gets people more motivated to vote in local elections than traffic."
Cowley said the "late flurry" of mayoral candidates would make the debate interesting.
He said the chamber had slightly changed the format to ensure all candidates got a fair opportunity to give an opening address before chamber and audience members had the opportunity to ask candidates questions.
The event was funded by the chamber's members as the chamber believed it was important to make the local election accessible to the community.
He said the event would be at full capacity and urged people who were not yet registered to visit the chamber's website to register.
He said the event, held in the CBD to keep it close to the business community, would be live streamed on the chamber's Facebook page.
Tauranga's local election returning officer Warwick Lampp said these types of forums were an ideal opportunity for voters to find out more about the candidates and their views.
"This is something that people should take up as they get to hear directly from the candidates and find out their views on a raft of issues important to them and their community," Lampp said.
"I hope there will be more similar opportunities in the lead up to the election as people begin to decide who to they may vote for."
Voting papers will be begin being sent to eligible voters on September 20.
However, anyone who enrolled to vote after August 16 will need to apply to their local council to make a special vote once voting opens, he said.
Nominations for local body elections closed on August 16. Voting papers will be delivered to people's homes between September 20 to 25 before polling day on October 12.
The New Zealand Electoral Commission's enrolment statistics for Tauranga City show 96.19 per cent of the 101,170 people eligible to vote were enrolled as at July 1.
That is a total of 97,316 people in Tauranga City enrolled to vote - 90,227 on the general roll and 7089 on the Māori electoral roll.
Local body elections 2019 - Key dates August 21: Candidates' names publicised by electoral officers. September 20-25: Voting papers delivered to homes. October 12: Polling day – ballot boxes close at noon. October 17-23: Official results declared. Source: www.tauranga.govt.nz
Event details What: Meet the Mayoral Candidates When: August 28 Where: Baycourt, X-Space Time: 5pm (for 5.30pm start) Limited to 168 registrations
Candidate list Les Wallen Tenby Powell Greg Brownless Kelvin Clout Greg Brownless Andrew Hollis RangiMarie Kingi Jos Nagels John Robson Christopher Stokes Murray Guy Source: Tauranga City Council
