Craig Sanders
Former Waipa Networks Trust chair Craig Sanders is no longer a trustee.
Sanders – who led the trust for nine years – told The News on Monday it was because he had moved to Dunedin and felt it wasn’t “appropriate” to continue.
But current trust chair Sarah Matthews – who took up the role in November – told The News Sanders’ trusteeship ceased “because of a refusal to act”.
The network trust owns Waipa Networks Ltd, which is responsible for the electricity lines throughout Waipā, parts of Waikato and Ōtorohanga districts.
Every three years, the roughly 28,000 customers Waipa Networks delivers power to vote for up to six members for the trust.
Chair and deputy chair Sarah Matthews and David McLean
The trust, in turn, appoints company directors who are responsible for running Waipa Networks.
In the trust’s last election in October 2021, Sanders was elected as a member after receiving the fifth highest number of votes – 2224 all told.
Ray Milner
Matthews told The News the trust would avoid a by election because it’s now five-person board could legally operate through until its next election in October 2024.
The remaining trustees are Matthews, Judy Bannon, Ray Milner, David McLean and Marcus Gower – a by election would only be required if that number dropped to four people, Matthews said.
She said the trust’s last election process cost an estimated $70,000.
Marcus Gower
After the trust held its annual meeting in Te Awamutu last week, Matthews said Sanders had departed last month.
“In my opinion, it wasn’t appropriate to be on the trust anymore simply because I no longer live there,” Sanders said. “It’s not a big deal. I’ve lived in Dunedin for about a year. It’s too far away and I’m busy doing other things.
Judy Bannon
“Even with technology, it’s a long way away and I think you’ll find all the other people on the trust live in either Te Awamutu or Cambridge.”
Matthews said the trust was “pretty happy” with Waipa Networks’ performance during the last financial year.
“Some of the key performance indicators which weren’t met were in and around reliability, and obviously that was fairly challenging in a year in which there were some severe weather events such as Cyclone Gabrielle.
“I think that’s part of why we were pretty happy with the overall results, because with Gabrielle, on top of growth challenges subsequent impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve done really well,” Matthews said.
