Mayor proposes an extra Waimarino district member

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 273, 7 February 1989, Page 1

Mayor proposes an extra Waimarino district member

Mayor Garrick Workman said last week that the Waimarino should be represented by four councillors on the new Ruapehu District Council. He told the Waiouru Community Advisory Committee last Monday night that the Waimarino would be "keen to talk to Waiouru" to find out if Waiouru feels it should be represented by the same number of members as the Waimarino, that is, three members each. He suggested that Waiouru should be represented by two members. The draft scheme released by the Local Government Commission recently proposed that both wards would be represented by three councillors. The other three wards in the district,

Ohura, Taumarunui and National Park are to be represented by three, three and two members respectively. "It is on that particular point that Waimarino will be keen to talk to Waiouru to see if, in fact, you feel that representation is fair," Mayor Workman told the WCAC. "Or if you agree with Waimarino when they contend that it ought to be four for Waimarino and two for Waiouru." His reasoning for the change in representation was that the Waimarino is made up of three former local authorities and that the Waimarino has "a far, far greater number of ratepayers as opposed to Waiouru, where there are a handful in comparison".

He said Waimarino was prepared to talk with Waiouru on the matter, adding that unanimity would be necessary for the commission to change any part of its proposal. Region representation Mayor Workman said another bone of contention was the Ruapehu District's representation on the Manawatu -Wanganui Regional Council. He said Waimarino was not happy that a district the size of Ruapehu, the largest in the region in land area, should be represented by only one member. "I believe it's farcical that you have four in Palmerston North, three in Wanganui and only one in rural areas such as ours," ' said Mayor Workman.