Takena Stirling resignation: Waipā District Council forced to call byelection

Takena Stirling. Photo / WDC

Waipā District Council has been forced to hold a byelection following the shock resignation last week of Waipā Māori ward councillor Takena Stirling.

Takena resigned following his suspension, on an interim basis, by the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal of the New Zealand Law Society.

His resignation was accepted immediately by Waipā Mayor Susan O’Regan, who confirmed later he would not be returning to the council.

Takena was born and raised in Kihikihi, studied law at Waikato University and previously worked as a commercial lawyer in Hamilton and in the King Country.

He opened his own law firm, Stirling Legal, in Te Awamutu in 2019, focusing on commercial and property law and asset protection.

The Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal suspension, announced last week, is effective from December 22, 2022.

The Standards Committee has laid two charges before the tribunal relating to the inappropriate use of trust funds and causing a loss to his bank.

The tribunal noted that the first charge was based on affidavit evidence that Takena had deceived his bank or misappropriated funds advanced for a purported settlement by diverting funds for his own use.

The bank suffered a net loss of $85,000.

Charge two indicated that Takena’s trust account dealings had been irregular for some time.

Takena told the Law Society Inspectorate that he would repay the money to the banks, which led them to comment that he did not seem to appreciate that obtaining and using the advance for his own personal reasons was wrong and that he was a risk to the public and any bankers that he may engage.

He is suspended from practice on an interim basis until the charges are disposed of.

Susan says she is “deeply disappointed”.

“It’s not just me. All councillors are disappointed and frankly, quite disheartened. This is not what we wanted for our council or our district, or for those whom Takena represented,” she says.

“Takena has taken full responsibility for his actions and I am grateful for that.

“Now we can get on quickly and get someone else into his seat.

“By law, we have no choice but to hold a byelection, so let’s just get on with it.”

Council has advised the postal byelection will cost between $22,000 and $25,000.

As the vacated seat is for a Māori ward councillor, only voters enrolled on the Māori electoral roll will be able to cast a vote.

Bill Harris and Gaylene Roberts are standing in the by-election.

Nominations for the byelection will open at the end of March and close on April 27. The delivery of postal voting papers will start on June 1.

Voting will close on Friday, June 23, with a successful candidate likely to be announced the same day.

The election will be managed independently on the council’s behalf by electionnz.com.

Gaylene Roberts and Bill Harris, who both stood in October, have confirmed to the Courier that they will stand in the byelection.