Dedicated Dannevirke JP Bob Trotter retires

Tom Castles, chairman of the Dannevirke sub-branch of JPs, left, with Janet Trotter and her husband Bob, who has now retired from active JP service and Tararua District mayor Tracey Collis, at a funct

Dannevirke's Bob Trotter has served as a Justice of the Peace since his days with the Woodville County Council and, this week, his retirement was acknowledged at a special function in Dannevirke.

"We're not quite sure how long Bob has been a JP, but we know he became a JP when he was chairman of the Woodville County Council and continued when he became the first mayor of the Tararua District, from 1981 to 1995, and for the past 14 years since his reappointment," Tom Castles, chairman of the Dannevirke sub-branch of JPs, said.

"Bob has served this community so well over the years and I came to appreciate his skills and abilities when I was on the Tararua District Council.

"Tararua, the last district in New Zealand to be created, was formed out of frustration and those first few years were very trying with a small number of councillors going out of their way to make Bob's job difficult. But his skills came to the fore and I have a gained an enormous admiration of his work."

Castles said the people of this community have been well served by Trotter and he acknowledged the life of a wife, or husband of a JP isn't easy.

"JPs are sometimes rung all hours of the day and night and so really being a JP is a co-operation between two people," he said.

Having three mayors in attendance at his retirement function - Tracey Collis, (2016 to present), Maureen Reynolds, (1998-2010) and Bill Bly (1995-1998, showed the high esteem in which Trotter was held, Tom said.

"JP retirement is relatively new, something not forced on anyone, but we all will take the decision to retire at sometime," Castles said. "JP retired status isn't a decision taken lightly and Bob has taken a couple of months to come to this."

Ralph Mountford, also a retired JP, said in a letter to Trotter, "I wish I had done this years ago, if only I'd known being a retired JP was this good."

Trotter said there had been some funny, difficult and interesting things he had to deal with during his time as a JP.

Changes are also coming for the delivery of JP services in Dannevirke, Castles explained.

"We are going to establish a JP service desk in Dannevirke, based in the Tararua District Council offices and it will be open once a fortnight, between noon and 2pm, probably on a Wednesday," he said.

"These seem to be working in other areas and we hope to get it up and running in the next few weeks."

However, Castles said the service wouldn't be relying on the mayor and the two other JPs on the council staff to man the desk.

"We're doing this to take some of the pressure off JPs in Dannevirke, but if we don't get the support of JPs to help operate the service desk, we'll abandon the plan," he said.

"We hope to get the service desk up and running in the next few weeks, but if someone wants a document signed urgently, that can still be done."