Thames-Coromandel mayor Len Salt. Photo / Supplied
Thames-Coromandel mayor Len Salt. Photo / Supplied
Thames-Coromandel has a new mayor as preliminary results indicate Len Salt who received 5195 votes will be replacing long-standing politician Sandra Goudie.
Salt is a Whitianga local who already ran unsuccessfully for mayor in the 2019 election. He formed the Whitianga Residents and Ratepayers Association and wants to make "major changes to the way things are done" in the district.
Speaking to the Bay of Plenty Times in June, he said he felt like there was a "lack of forward vision" in local government, particularly in terms of infrastructure.
"There is not enough ... creative and innovative solutions, modern solutions, to solve the problems," Salt said.
Previous Coromandel-Colville Ward councillor John Morrissey had already been re-elected unopposed in August.
According to preliminary results, the three new Mercury Bay Ward councillors are John Grant (2056 votes) as well as former Mercury Bay Community Board members Rekha Giri-Percival (2652 votes) and Deli Connell (1840 votes).
The three Thames Ward councillors are former Thames Community Board member Peter Revell (2108 votes) and previous councillors Robyn Sinclair (2646 votes) and Martin Rodley (2240 votes) who have been re-elected.
The two candidates representing the South Eastern Ward are previous councillors Gary Gotlieb (1811 votes) and Terry Walker (1676 votes) who have been re-elected.
Despite saying she didn't take "much interest in the election" this year, former Thames-Coromandel mayor Sandra Goudie said she was disappointed in the average 45 per cent voter turnout across the Thames-Coromandel region, given New Zealand's history of pioneering suffragettes and war heroes.
"We owe it to all of them to vote after what our forebears did for democracy," Goudie says.
Hauraki mayor Toby Adams returns unopposed. Photo / Supplied
Meanwhile, preliminary results show there are five new faces elected to the Hauraki District Council.
The ward with the most new councillors is Waihi. The five councillors representing the ward are set to be Sarah Holmes (1598 votes), Bhavesh Ranchhod (1575 votes), Josh Martyn (1319 votes), Austin Rattray (1310 votes) and previous councillor Anne Marie Spicer (1723 votes).
There are also two new councillors in the Plains Ward. Neil Gray (1309 votes) and Stephen Crooymans (920 votes) will represent the ward alongside previous councillors Ray Broad (1214 votes) and Phillip Buckthought (979 votes) who have been re-elected.
The four previous councillors for the Paeroa Ward Paul Armstrong Milner (1437 votes), Rino Wilkinson (1390 votes), Carole Anne Daley (1293 votes) and Jo Tilsley (1286 votes) have all been re-elected.
Mayor Toby Adams was returned unopposed.
When speaking to the Hauraki Coromandel Post in August, Adams said he was "very humbled" that nobody put their name up against him in the mayoral race.
"This for me feels like I'm doing an okay job, but I have to keep up the same level of workload. It would have been easy to step back and let it all roll, but I got into the job because I'm passionate about the community I live in," Adams said.
