Rotorua Lakes councillor Tania Tapsell. Photo / File
A Rotorua Lakes councillor has missed six council meetings since announcing her candidacy in the general election.
The councillor, Tania Tapsell, says she has taken an approved leave of absence and continues to be involved and engaged in the Rotorua community.
Tapsell announced her candidacy for the National Party in the East Coast electorate on June 6.
Since then, she has missed six council meetings, including an Operations and Monitoring Committee meeting, of which she is chairwoman.
In that instance, councillor Mercia Yates, deputy chairwoman of that committee, took her place, chairing a meeting for the first time.
On Tuesday the council confirmed Tapsell had missed two council meetings and four committee meetings. She had submitted apologies for all except two, which were covered by an approved leave of absence.
Before June 30, Tapsell had not missed a single meeting during this term, which began in October last year.
Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick said it wasn't an unprecedented situation and elected members "often have to balance dual or multiple roles they may have at any given time".
"The expectation is that elected members contribute as much as they can and ultimately, each individual takes responsibility for managing that."
On Tuesday Tapsell said she had taken an approved leave of absence for the month of September "to avoid any potential conflict of interest".
She said that was the first time she had taken approved leave in her seven years as a councillor.
"I have been engaged with the council process but did not attend those meetings.
"During this time I continue to receive inquiries from local ratepayers and am still working to assist them with these.
"My on-going involvement in the community continues despite me being on leave from attending meetings in September."
Tapsell was the highest-polling council candidate for the last two local elections, attracting 9893 votes in 2019 - more than the mayor.
Tapsell's council salary is set at $83,042.
Political opponents were also happy to defend Tapsell's intentions and ability to continue to carry out her job.
At the end of June Gisborne District councillor Meredith Akuhata-Brown announced her candidacy - also in the East Coast electorate - for the Green Party.
The Gisborne District Council confirmed on Tuesday Akuhata-Brown had not missed any council meetings since that announcement.
Akuhata-Brown said she was pursuing the party vote while Tapsell was "very passionate about becoming a Parliamentarian" and was focused on winning the East Coast seat.
Akuhata-Brown said she had to travel around the electorate for Green Party events but had always made it back to Gisborne for council meetings.
For her, not attending meetings would be "doing a disservice for all the people who voted for me".
"They are my priority."
She said Tapsell was "highly professional and proficient" and probably wasn't missing meetings in a "flippant" way.
"She had to manage this differently to me because she's pursuing the seat.
"I think she's well organised [and] managing it the best she can."
Closer to home, fellow Rotorua Lakes councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait is also running in the general election, albeit on the list for the Māori Party.
Raukawa-Tait also sat on the Lakes District Health Board.
"She rarely misses a meeting otherwise. She wants to win the East Cape seat for National, even though it is viewed as a safe seat.
"She is putting the effort in to raise her profile and is not taking anything for granted.
Raukawa-Tait said in her case she was a list candidate for the Māori Party and was lending her local and national profile to that party's campaign.
She said due to Covid-19 many of her out-of-town meetings were held over Zoom, so she could "easily juggle" both her council and health board positions, as well as her role as chairwoman of Whānau Ora.
"There is so much happening at council at present that I would not want to miss any meetings if possible."
Should Tapsell or Raukawa-Tait be elected to Parliament and step down from their current roles, the council estimated the cost of a by-election would be about $120,000.
A Local Government NZ spokesman said councillors could be absent from meetings when their apology was accepted by the rest of the council, or if they were granted leave over a period.
"For example in the case of illness, pregnancy, or any other reason, including campaigning in a central government election."
He said an issue may arise if the elected member did not give an apology or if their apology was not accepted and said absentee rules only applied to meetings of the full governance body, not workshops or "other sub-committee meetings".
"We wish local councillors the best of luck when running for central government.
"Often MPs have no experience of how local government works or how the decisions they make affect the lives of people on the ground.
"It's a good thing to see representatives move from local to central government, because it helps close that knowledge and experience gap."
Rotorua Lakes Council provided attendance records for all councillors during this term. Among them, mayor Steve Chadwick, deputy mayor Dave Donaldson and councillors Sandra Kai Fong, Reynold Macpherson, Mercia Yates and Fisher Wang have perfect attendance.
The numbers reflect attendance for full council meetings as well as Operations and Monitoring, and Strategy, Policy and Finance committee meetings.
Mayor Steve Chadwick
Missed - 0
Deputy mayor Dave Donaldson
Missed - 0
Councillor Peter Bentley
Missed - 1
No Apology - 0
Councillor Sandra Kai Fong
Missed - 0
Councillor Raj Kumar
Missed - 5
No Apology - 3
Councillor Reynold Macpherson
Missed - 0
Councillor Trevor Maxwell
Missed - 1
No Apology - 0
Councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait
Missed - 1
No Apology - 0
Councillor Tania Tapsell
Missed - 6
No Apology - 0
Councillor Fisher Wang
Missed - 0
Councillor Mercia Yates
Missed - 0
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