Waikato District Council 2018 Representation Review Final Proposal

Please be notified that the appeals/objections period for the Waikato District Council 2018 Representation Review Final Proposal opens 12 September 2018 and will close at 5.00pm on 12 October 2018.  

As required by the Local Electoral Act 2001 (LEA), the Waikato District Council has considered submissions it received on its Initial Proposal regarding representation arrangements that will apply to the local elections to be held in 2019.

In summary, of the 147 submissions received:

• 19 submitters indicted their support of the Initial Proposal;
• 126 submitters indicated that they did not support the Initial Proposal;
• 2 submitters gave no indication (or it was not clear to determine) if they did or did not support the Initial Proposal;
• 26 submitters indicated that they wished to speak at the hearing for the Initial Proposal (of which 15 submitters did speak at the scheduled hearing). 

At its meeting on 10 September 2018 the Council resolved, in accordance with the provisions of the LEA, its Final Proposal for representation arrangements that will apply to the local election to be held in October 2019, and subsequent elections until altered, as follows:

• 1 Mayor elected at large; 
• 3 councillors elected from 10 wards;
• that the population of each ward, and the names of these wards, be represented as follows:

•  that there be 30 community board members be elected from 5 community boards as follows:
  

The Council previously made the decisions in 2017 to retain the First-Past-the-Post electoral system and not to introduce Maaori wards into the Waikato District. 

Council has chosen to make amendments to their Initial Proposal.  Amendments have been made for the following reasons:

• Retain Rangiriri in the Whangamarino Ward, from the Huntly Ward. 
  o   Reasoning: submissions received supported this amendment.
• Retain Mercer in the Awaroa ki Tuakau Ward, from the Whangamarino Ward (exceeding fair representation rules set out in the LEA).
  o   Reasoning: submissions received supported this amendment. Submissions received from Mercer supported inclusion in a single ward; considered that Mercer identifies with northern communities.

• Retain Onewhero Tuakau Community Boards current structure and board area with the inclusion of the extended Tuakau north and west boundary incorporating the meshblocks.
  o   Reasoning: submissions received supported retention of the Onewhero-Tuakau Community Board. 

Council has not rejected any submissions received on the Initial Proposal. 

The meshblocks that were initially proposed to be moved on the south-eastern border of Whangamarino Ward to the Hukanui-Waerenga Ward received no submissions against, so these meshblocks will be moved as part of the Final Proposal. There being no submissions received on the Initial Proposal to move several meshblocks on the north-eastern boundary of the Awaroa ki Tuakau Ward to the Whangamarino ward (excluding those meshblocks that include the village of Mercer and are being moved to the Awaroa ki Tuakau Ward), these meshblocks will be moved as part of the Final Proposal.  All other ward boundaries will remain as they currently are. 

In accordance with section 19V(2) of the LEA, the population that each councillor represents must be within the population range of 5,670 plus or minus 10% (5,670 being the total population of 73,710 in the Waikato District divided between 13 councillors). This means that each councillor must represent somewhere between 5,103 and 6,237 people. 

By amending the Initial Proposal and retaining the village of Mercer in the Awaroa ki Tuakau Ward, the two ward councillors will be exceeding this threshold and the Waikato District will be non-compliant with fair representation criteria. The Waikato District Council 2018 Representation Review Final Proposal will therefore be treated as an appeal under section 19V(5) of the LEA and referred to the Local Government Commission following the appeal/objection period for determination. 

Notice of appeal and objection process

Any person who made a submission on the Waikato District Council 2018 Representation Review Initial Proposal may lodge an appeal against the Council’s Final Proposal in accordance with section 19O of the LEA.  The appeal must contain issues/matters raised in the appellant’s submission on the Initial Proposal. 

As Council has chosen to amend their Initial Proposal, any person who is opposed the Final Proposal may lodge an objection against it in accordance with section 19P of the LEA.  The objection lodged must identify the matters to which it relates. 

Appeals and objections must be made in writing to Waikato District Council by 5pm 12 October 2018 and must include your name and contact details.            

Appeals and objections are to be:

Emailed to:   consult@waidc.govt.nz

                        Subject line: Representation Review - Final Proposal

Posted to:     ATTN: Corporate Planner

Waikato District Council

                         Private Bag 544

                         Ngaruawahia 3742

Delivered to: Any Council office or Library

If you have any queries/require further information about this notice please contact Stacey Solomon on 0800 492 452 or visit the consultation page on Council’s website www.waikatodistrict.govt.nz/sayit.

GJ Ion
Chief Executive