Western Bay of Plenty District Council voted in favor of Māori representation.
A community board deputy chairman has quit over a council decision supporting Māori wards, with his resignation prompting a byelection that could cost ratepayers $14,500.
The Western Bay of Plenty District Council announced on Wednesday that a byelection would be held after the resignation of Waihī Beach Community Board deputy chairman Alan Kurtovich, effective immediately.
It comes after the council announced, on August 8, a byelection for the Te Puke Community Board due to member Anish Paudel stepping down for “personal reasons and changing priorities”.
The Te Puke byelection was expected to cost ratepayers $22,950. The Waihī Beach byelection was expected to cost $14,500, the council said.
“I said I wasn’t in favour of Māori wards. That was the decision I took.
“I think you have to take a stand on some things. This is what I think is doing the best thing for the community.”
Asked whether triggering a $14,500 byelection was doing the best thing for the community, Kurtovich said: “Absolutely.”
“If I don’t stand up for my belief, I’m not doing what I should do for the community.
“And this, I feel, is the right decision for me.”
Former Waihī Beach Community Board member Alan Kurtovich. Photo / WBOPDC
Kurtovich said he believed the matter should have gone to the community before any decision was made.
He referred to the binding poll that overturned a 2017 council decision supporting Māori wards, saying that showed how people felt.
The $70,000 poll involved 40.38 per cent of eligible voters. Of those, 78.09 per cent opposed the decision. A legislation change since 2017 meant last week’s decision could not be overturned in the same way.
“In the five years since that poll, have the thoughts changed that much?” Kurtovich said.
Mayor James Denyer, who voted in favour of Māori wards last week, said he believed things had moved on since 2017 and people’s views on Māori wards were changing.
“I’ve had positive feedback on the decision, by and large,” Denyer said.
“The fact 35 other councils that have got those, people are more used to the idea. There’s nothing to fear, I think.”
Western Bay of Plenty District Council Mayor James Denyer. Photo / Alex Cairns
Denyer said councillors and community boards were “well briefed”.
“That’s their job, to keep the community up to speed with what’s going on. Community members were well aware of the decision coming up.
“The reality is it has been well signalled for the past year in our workshops and work programmes.”
Denyer said it was easy to hear certain sections of the community and be swayed one way or the other but, in his view, he “made the right decision based on having all of the information”.
“The position I’ve always had is I’m here to make the right decision, not the popular decision.”
Denyer said the byelection, having been triggered so soon after the Te Puke one, was “unfortunate”. He did not, however, believe both were related to the Māori wards issue.
The Bay of Plenty Times attempted to contact Paudel for comment.
Council governance manager Greer Golding said previously Paudel resigned “due to personal reasons and changing priorities”.
