Bay of Plenty Regional Council's offices on Elizabeth Street. Photo / NZME
Bay of Plenty Regional Council's offices on Elizabeth Street. Photo / NZME
Longstanding Kawerau Mayor Malcolm Campbell has announced he will not be standing again – but he is not leaving local government politics altogether.
At a Bay of Plenty Mayoral Forum, Campbell said he planned to stand for a seat on the Bay of Plenty Regional Council. He also endorsed his deputy mayor, Faylene Tunui, to follow in his footsteps as Kawerau's mayor.
"I hope I'm not pre-empting anything there. Nonetheless, I'll put a plug in for her," he said.
Campbell was one of three retiring mayors to be recognised at the mayoral forum in Tauranga last week. Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick and the Western Bay's Garry Webber are also not standing for re-election.
Tauranga City Council commissioner Anne Tolley, who chaired the meeting, acknowledged Campbell's long service, having been mayor since 2007 and before that, a councillor since 2001.
She described him as "the epitome of a small-town leader who really has their community at heart".
"I had the pleasure of being your local MP and saw the work that you and your council did to rehabilitate Kawerau from a place that people didn't want to live, to a place where you were having to buy land to build houses to cope with the burgeoning population.
Kawerau mayor Malcolm Campbell. Photo / NZME
"That's a reflection of the work that you have led in your town. I remember being so envious of the way that the council was able to bring together your whole industrial sector to work as one. You led all of that and that was not insignificant."
Campbell said it had been "a hell of a journey" but that his terms in council had taken their toll as far as his family and business were concerned.
"The last six months has been a bit traumatic for myself and my family, with the loss of my business. But, hey, you brush yourself off and get on with it."
He acknowledged his predecessor as mayor, Lyn Hartley as his teacher.
"I've used her philosophy all the way along my career in local government. I've kept my deputies – I've had three deputies – close to my hip. I've always made sure they were included."
He said that over the past two years he had been working on his succession plan.
"Nobody out of my council has ever stood against me and it's time for councillors to stand up. It's a matter of stepping aside for, particularly, my deputy.
"I'm going to be looking for another challenge in local government so I'm going to be running for regional council. That's something that really interests me. I think that being the smallest district council, we've always kept closer to the bigger picture stuff, and particularly the two chairs of regional council over my term, with John Cronin and now Doug Leeder.
"I seek their wisdom, regularly, and have always had a reasonably good rapport with both of those gentlemen. We don't always agree, and that's good. We shouldn't always agree."
- Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
