Clutha Mayor Bryan Cadogan says he has a beautiful council with him as he ‘‘drops the shoulder’’ in what will be his final term.
Mr Cadogan, setting out for his fifth term as the Clutha mayor, said the council, which was sworn in on Thursday night, had a busy three years in front of them so it was vital to him as mayor to have a unified team.
‘‘In my heart this is my last term and I have got things I want to finish. So I will be dropping my shoulder hard to get things achieved,’’ he said.
‘‘For that to happen I need a unified and well-knitted together council and I think we have got that.’’
Mr Cadogan (63) appointed Ken Payne as his deputy mayor. The mayor and deputy mayor first met each other in the shearing sheds when they were 12.
‘‘His dad was the only one who would employ me and we have known each other ever since. From my point of view you have got a good solid person who is totally committed to the district. I was so happy to get him as deputy.’’
Cr Payne first became a councillor in 2012. He is a tutor at Telford — Southern Institute of Technology.
He replaces Stewart Cowie, who stood down at the last election.
There are nine returning councillors: Wayne Felts, Alison Ludemann, John Herbert, Bruce Graham, Dane Catherwood, Gaynor Finch, Bruce Vollweiler, Ken Payne and Michele Kennedy.
New to the council table are: Simon McAtamney, Brent Mackie, Dean McCrostie, Kevin Barron and Jock Martin.
Cr Ludemann was appointed the new chairwoman of the corporate and property committee, Cr Graham was appointed chairman of the service delivery and Cr Finch is the new chairwoman of the regulatory and policy committee.
Mr Cadogan said he did not want to cast the wand for the chair roles so passed the decision over to a group of senior councillors.
‘‘We have now got a beautiful council, a unified council all the way through.
‘‘I used more than 100 years of experience in the senior group of council to come up with the chairs and it was a unanimous agreement for all three of them. And that is the sort of council we want.’’
