Talking policy in Te Puna

This week we had the first mayoral candidates meeting of the Western Bay council elections, which I attended along with most mayoral candidates.

Te Puna has been through the mill with a 20-year fight against an industrial zone plonked in its midst by the Environment Court, against the wishes of both council and locals. It also has severe roading issues, due to rat running by commuters and an increasing burden of heavy trucks on Te Puna Road.

There is a strong slate of candidates for the Kaimai ward this year and they were quizzed about local issues while the questions to the mayoral candidates were focused on rates and governance across the whole district.

The event, hosted by Te Puna Heartlands, was videoed by Tim Maltby of the Tauranga Residents group so here are a couple of videos of me at the event.

The first was my opening statement and the second video was in response to questions about leadership within the council and last year's deficit.

Speaking at the Priority Te Puna meet-the-candidates meeting, Aug 27 candidates meeting

The second video covers the need for a new CEO and how council's $4+ million deficit in the last financial year was handled:

Answering questions about Council leadership and the council deficit last year, Aug 27 candidates meeting

You can see all the videos from the Aug 27 candidates meeting on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/@taurangaresidents