Ruapehu District Council has thrown out its initial proposal for sweeping changes to representation, after overwhelming opposition.
It has approved new representation arrangements for next year's election, including increasing the number of Māori seats from two to three and bringing in two general wards rather than electing all councillors at large.
Seeking a sleeker, faster, strategy-focused council, the council went out to the community in August with a proposal to reduce councillor numbers from 11 to eight, plus the mayor.
All would be elected at large, with two of the eight councillors from a single Māori ward.
The council proposed transferring decision-making for operational issues to Community Boards, increasing the number of boards from three to four.
A record number of submissions on representation arrangements were received during the consultation phase.
The council received advice from its staff of a medium to high risk that an objection or appeal would be made to the Local Government Commission if the council did not modify its original proposal based on the submissions received.
Taumarunui councillor Adie Doyle moved a raft of changes to the council's initial position, including sticking with 11 councillors plus the mayor.
"We had a vision – the community opposed it," Doyle said.
Councillors unanimously supported his proposal for eight general and three Māori seats.
Doyle said he had canvassed councillors and many said they would not stand in the 2022 election.
"A smaller number of new [councillors] won't serve this community particularly well. Feedback from the community has been they want a larger number [of councillors] for effective representation."
Waimarino-Waiouru councillor Elijah Pue said the introduction of three seats for Māori was an achievement for all concerned.
"We had 83 submissions – the majority called for a third Māori seat. The overwhelming support for Māori seats really did mean the council needed to consider having that third Māori seat. The council do actually listen to the submissions that are received," Pue said.
The council also changed its mind about electing councillors at large.
Waimarino-Waiouru councillor Janelle Hinch proposed a two-ward structure comprising four general seats each from a northern and a southern ward. Māori seats will be elected from a single Māori ward.
Mayor Don Cameron, who under existing arrangements is the only member elected at large, cautioned against the original proposal for electing councillors from a single general ward.
"One ward is huge – it would take councillors three months to get around the ward effectively," Cameron said.
Ohura councillor Lyn Neeson and National Park councillor Murray Wilson fought to keep the existing Ohura and National Park wards in the new mix but the council voted to amalgamate the Taumarunui and Ohura wards into one northern ward, and the Waimarino-Waiouru and National Park wards into a southern ward.
Neeson said: "I think we are caving and we're giving everything to everyone and effectively not following our vision."
There was also an about-turn on community boards, with the council moving to replace the National Park and Waimarino-Waiouru community boards and the Taumarunui/Ohura ward committee with three new, restructured community boards: Ōwhango-National Park, with four elected members; Waimarino-Waiouru, with five elected members, and Taumarunui-Ohura, with seven elected members.
The mayor said there had been a shift in thinking on the council in recent months as more information became available about expected changes for local government.
"In the cold light of day, people's minds have probably shifted a little bit because we now know things are about to happen in local government," Cameron said.
"We do know wards are going to change in 2024, the RMA is about to change dramatically … the whole future of local government is going to change.
"I do agree community boards need to do a lot more place-making and that sort of stuff. We do need those people at that ground level."
Taumarunui Māori representation advocate Fiona Kahukura Chase said her kuia and kaumatua were satisfied with the outcome.
"They [council] did listen to the feedback they received. However, three Māori seats is the minimum we should have had in the first place," Chase said.
"We should never have had to fight for it. We should not have had to go through all of the submissions, verbal and written, continuously talking to them, turning up nearly every month to try to convince them of something that was our right in the first place."
