According to preliminary results, Adrienne Wilcock is Matamata-Piako's new mayor, but fellow candidate Stu Husband is only 123 votes behind. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
According to preliminary results, Adrienne Wilcock is Matamata-Piako's new mayor, but fellow candidate Stu Husband is only 123 votes behind. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
Matamata-Piako District has spoken and elected former Matamata Ward councillor Adrienne Wilcock as its new mayor.
It was a close race with a slim margin of just 148 votes, but according to the final results, Wilcock received 4244 votes and Stu Husband 4096 votes. Mayoral candidate Russell Smith has also been unsuccessful, receiving 1709 votes.
Wilcock will succeed previous mayor Ash Tanner who announced earlier this year he would not be seeking re-election.
Speaking to the Waikato Herald after the final results had been released last night, Wilcock said she was very happy and relieved.
"It has been a bit stressful there for a while, but I'm humbled to be elected into the role and serve the community," she said.
"There are lots of challenges ahead..., but I'm ready."
Husband says he is accepting the result and won't be asking for a re-count of votes.
"I would have liked to win, I'm gonna be honest, but it is what it is. Adrienne is a nice person and hopefully the new council backs the community," Husband said.
"I think the election results are a clear message that people are not happy with how things are at the moment."
Wilcock said her first task as the new mayor was to bring the new council together. Apart from six previous councillors who have been re-elected, Matamata-Piako will have five new councillors.
"My first priority is to build the team, on-boarding everyone."
Before the new councillors and mayor will be sworn in on November 1, Wilcock, as a first-time mayor, will go to Wellington.
"I'm off to mayor school [elected member induction training] on Monday and Tuesday... and will also meet with Communities for Local Democracy [local government action group C4LD] to get an idea on what's happening in that regard," Wilcock said.
Husband says he was done with politics - for now.
"Never say never, but at the moment I'm pretty content going back to being a farmer. I am also looking at doing something to help young people get into the industry [and] through their apprenticeships."
The four Morrinsville councillors are Dayne Horne (1888 votes) and Sharon Dean (1333 votes), as well as previous councillors James Thomas (2424 votes), Bruce Dewhurst (2079 votes) who have been re-elected.
The unsuccessful candidates are Zarsha Osborne (1173 votes), Mac Aitchison (1105 votes), Ian Stuart Hauraki (886 votes) and Cameron Sawyer (857 votes).
It is a close race for the Matamata-Piako mayoralty between former regional councillor Stu Husband and two-term Matamata councillor Adrienne Wilcock. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
The four Matamata councillors are council newbie Caleb J. Ansell (1201 votes), as well as previous councillors James Sainsbury (2926 votes), Sue Whiting (2780 votes) and Kevin Tappin (2759 votes) who have been re-elected.
Wilcock also stood for a Matamata Ward seat and received 2996 votes. However, since she has been elected as mayor, her nomination for the ward seat was withdrawn.
The unsuccessful Matamata Ward candidate is Stephen Cope who received 797 votes.
The Te Aroha Ward will be represented by newbies Peter Jager (1444 votes) and Sarah-Jane Bourne (1346 votes) as well as previous councillor Russell Smith (1241 votes) who has been re-elected.
This means candidates Brett Smyth (712) and Jill Taylor (716 votes) and Bruce Donaldson (519 votes) have been unsuccessful.
In August, Gary Thompson (Ngāti Paoa), a member of the Matamata-Piako District Council Te Manawhenua Forum, has been elected unopposed to the inaugural Matamata-Piako District Council Māori seat Te Toa Horopū ā Matamata-Piako Ward.
Matamata-Piako's voter return sits at 40.93 per cent (10,173 votes).
