18 September, 10.45am
The division is easy enough to spot. It’s steady as she goes in one camp, and time for change in the other. Aksel Bech has the backing of one Tamahere-Woodlands councillor, Mike Keir, though while Crystal Beavis speaks positively about the work of the last three years, she has remained neutral in terms of the mayoral race.
The print version of this story incorrectly placed her in the Church camp.
18 September 8am
It’s highly competitive – but it’s also very cordial.
Tamahere-Woodlands candidates, from left, Mike Keir, Anne Cao-Oulton, Crystal Beavis, Mark Manson and Peter Mayall. Photo Roy Pilott
Five candidates – including the two sitting councillors – are in the running for the Tamahere-Woodlands ward seats and they met Tamahere residents last week.
Also in the community centre were the two mayoral rivals – Aksel Bech and mayor Jacqui Church who are going head-to-head for the second time – and candidates for the Waikato seat on the regional council – Rhys Craig, Gary McGuire, Noel Smith and Pamela Storey.
The division is easy enough to spot. It’s steady as she goes in one camp, and time for change in the other. Church has the backing of one Tamahere-Woodlands councillor, Crystal Beavis, Bech is backed by the other.
In fact, Mike Keir planned to end up a frustrated single term councillor before deciding to fly the flag for Bech. He has an ally in fellow candidate Anne Cao-Oulton, known in the Matangi community for running the annual Waikato Cherry Blossom festival.
ACT contender Peter Mayall and Mark Manson, who brings extensive management experience to the table, round off the five.
They were each given an opportunity to talk for slightly longer than their allocated time last week, a common theme was frustration with rates, planning and the absurd delays and costs in consenting processes.
They were also pretty easy to pin down for a “team” photo at the end of the night.
Council had to understand that what it was spending was not their money, Manson said.
“This is a business, not a glorified government department.”
Mayall took a similar line in explaining that as an ACT candidate “you know what you are getting”.
He said councils could not treat people like an ATM.
Crystal Beavis went against the flow in acknowledging the council’s achievements.
A line-by-line review of budgets had kept the general rate rise down to 4.25 per cent she said, and concerted efforts had been made to keep staff costs under control.
Anne Cao-Oulton spoke of changing the council culture and improving efficiencies to keep rates under control and echoed concerns over consenting issues raised from the audience, saying it was everyone’s problem.
Mike Keir said his goal was efficiency and “in three years we’ve gone nowhere.” Of his aims he lamented “I’ve had little success in my first term”.
The two mayoral contenders were watched by one who was going to be a third. In June The News announced 19-year-old Fabio Rodrigues was running for mayor as well as the Tuakau-Pōkeno ward. But he then pulled out and put his support behind Bech.
The Tamahere-Woodlands Ward is politically aware. When 32.3 per cent of voters had their say last time round it was the highest percentage in the Waikato District Council area.
The ward seat poll was topped by Keir with 1768 votes followed by Beavis on 1709. The ward population was 14,352 in 2023
Church won the mayoral chains in what became a two-horse race – she polled 6066 votes to the then deputy mayor Bech’s 5398.
