A Horowhenua district councillor has announced she will be standing down from her role as of November 1, with her final council meeting on October 30.
Piri-Hira Tukapua has represented the Levin ward for almost 12 years, or four terms. She announced her decision to stand down at the start of the council’s September 4 meeting.
“The timing means that this will not trigger a byelection and there will be no cost to the community.”
At the meeting, Māori ward councillor Justin Tamihana acknowledged Tukapua’s contributions to the community.
“I hope that people strive to do exactly what you have done - you stood in a general ward when many people were scared to do so.”
While she didn’t win the mayorality, she did win a Levin ward seat, with the 2441 votes she received placing her as the fourth-highest-polling candidate across the 17 standing for the ward that year.
Her popularity with voters remained, and she was successfully re-elected three more times. In the 2016 and 2019 elections, she remained in the top five highest-polling candidates for the ward, while in the 2022 election her ranking shot up, with 2676 votes making her the second-highest-polling candidate for the ward.
Council chief executive Monique Davidson said when a vacancy occurs in the office of an elected member 12 months or less before the next triennial election, the council can decide to either appoint someone to fill the role who is qualified to be an elected member, or they can choose not to fill it.
With the number of elected members dropping from 13 to 12 with Tukapua’s resignation, there is the possibility of ties in voting, but Davidson said it was not unusual for there to be an even number of members voting anyway due to absences or conflicts of interest.
“Regardless of the number of elected members, any decision must be made by a majority of the members voting at a meeting. If there is an even number of members voting, the vote must be won to pass - if a vote is tied it is not won, there for the vote does not pass.”
Tukapua was contacted for comment but did not respond.
Horowhenua mayor Bernie Wanden said while Tukapua has verbally indicated she will be resigning in November, he doesn’t feel it’s the right time for him to comment on this until she officially resigns. At that point he said, he would be in a position to comment on her many years of service to the Horowhenua District Council.
