Candidates line up to multi-task

Brian Neeson. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Former MP Brian Neeson and pharmacy owner Warren Flaunty are each standing for election to five local authorities, heading a bigger than usual field of candidates who have put their hands up for three or more Super City roles.

Both men say they can cope with the workload if they are successful in several of those bodies.

But it is the possibility of both of them serving on two local boards of the Auckland Council that has raised rivals' eyebrows.

Mr Neeson, an MP from 1990 to 2002, is nominated for the council's Albany Ward as well as the Rodney Local Board and the Upper Harbour Local Board.

If he was elected to the council, he said, he would drop the boards.

But there is also the possibility of him being elected to the Waitemata District Health Board and the Waitakere Licensing Trust.

"If I got two local boards and the health board I'm sure I could manage that," said Mr Neeson, who is chairman of the health board's finance committee, and sits on the Massey Community Board and the Human Rights Commission.

"I juggle those quite well." He said the local boards would take up no more than 20 to 30 hours a week.

His wife, Vanessa, is standing for the Auckland mayoralty, the Waitakere Ward for Auckland Council and the Henderson-Massey Local Board.

"Whichever one I get chosen for, the rest drop off," she said.

Mr Flaunty, a Waitakere City Council member since 2004, decided against seeking a place on the Auckland Council "because I'd get stuck on the motorway trying to get to the meeting".

Instead, he is seeking re-election to the health board and licensing trust, as well as places on the local boards for Rodney, Upper Harbour and Henderson-Massey.

Mr Flaunty, who lives in Taupaki and works one day a week in his Westgate Pharmacy, said: "I would be as busy as now, doing 40 to 60 hours a week."

Asked about a trend towards people looking to local body service as a paying job, he said: "Why do 35 people want to get on the health board for $25,000 a year? That's unbelievable. But I think some are doing it as a backstop for a position."

Auckland mayoralty candidate Andrew Williams and Auckland Council candidate Christine Rankin are also seeking places on the Waitemata District Health Board.

Another prominent North Shore resident, former Takapuna City nmayor Wyn Hoadley, is seeking re-election to the board.

She has a flat in Thames and is also campaigning out of town for a seat on the Thames Coromandel District Council.

"I think it's going to fit very well - it's a matter of getting everything in the diary."

Mr Williams said that if he became mayor, he would quit the health board.

"But other councillors are on district health boards, and I see the roles as complementary."

Ms Rankin, who is a families commissioner, is also standing for the Upper Harbour Board but says the local board "is a second option".

* Annual pay: Auckland Council ward member $80,000. Henderson-Massey Local Board member $36,900; Rodney Local Board $33,000, Upper Harbour Board $34,100. Waitemata District Health Board member $25,000 base up to $32,800, including committee fees.