We had a very interesting political gathering last Thursday at the Kaipaki Centre with Dennis Finn addressing the group and showing how reliable a mayor he would be and how experienced a person he is as he has had lots of real life experience. He is a person who is well versed in taking/making hard decisions and appears to do this based on good preparation and assessment of the issues involved. He was and is a great supporter of The Kaipaki Centre and such rural initiatives.
Bruce Thomas and Clare St Pierre were also present and very relaxed as both are councillors as no other people were standing in our ward. They both spoke and will be great advocates of what has happened at Kaipaki and what will happen in the future – again we are very fortunate to have very good representatives for our Ward.
We also had Alan Livingston address the group saying how he is going to stand for Regional Council which we all agreed is fantastic news as all the experience he has gained from his 12 years as Mayor can now be used to help the region to coordinate and be more cohesive with District Councils – which can only be good for all of us and the region as a whole. From all accounts Mr Kneebone (sitting member) has also done a great job and most felt that we would be well represented by electing both to the Regional Council.
It was great that Diane Sharpe was present and we thanked her for her support over the years – she has done wonderful things for her ward and the district and we thanked her for that.
Good interesting gathering – something we will do more of as we should all be more interested in local politics – shouldn’t we?
Regards
John Parker
Chairman
Kaipaki Community Centre