Core duties, rationalising spending focus for council candidate Rodger Anderson

Rodger Anderson is looking to make practical decisions if elected to council. Photo / Supplied.

Candidate Rodger Anderson wants a seat at Whanganui's council table to put a stop to what he views as unnecessary spending.

"You have got to question where money is going because everyone knows where it's coming from," Anderson said.

"The council has to be far more prudent and accountable for how money is spent."

Part of what inspired Anderson to run for council was when he recently saw work being done on the Whanganui District Council building entrance.

"The council has done up its entrance way for about the sixth time in 20 years, and the question is why?

"Why did it need it and why does it need doing so often?"

The candidate was born in Ohakune and trained as a mechanical fitter in Whanganui in the early 1970s. He has lived in Whanganui for most of his life, aside from brief periods living and working in Australia.

"I'm a practical, mechanically minded person who looks at a problem and fixes it the easiest and quickest way," Anderson said.

"Most problems can be solved reasonably simply, and yes and no are perfectly good answers to most questions."

If elected, Anderson wants to put more focus on council's main duties.

"There's probably five to 10 core areas the council should focus on like roads, water, sewage, public transport, pensioner housing.

"Any other minor interest groups shouldn't be ignored, but should be treated to their degree of importance to the general public.

"I've got no special aims that I want to get done, it's more to stop things getting done that don't need to be done.

"Anything that can be done that will actually achieve something I'm all in favour of looking into, but a lot of the thought these days is that something is going to cost a lot of money and achieve nothing."

Anderson said he wants to see public excluded portions of council meetings made public as ratepayers have a right to know where money is being spent.