Jenny Rowan — ‘Clear support for macron’

Third term despite the council controversies?

By Alan Tristram

Kapiti Mayor Jenny Rowan says she will stand for a third term in the local body elections in October.

There are no obvious rivals in sight right now. But Ms Rowan has been involved in several major controversies in her second term — and several groups are unhappy about the performance of the KCDC.

There was widespread opposition to a $44,000 pay rise for chief executive Pat Dougherty, to budget blowouts on the Paraparaumu Aquatic Centre project, and to the Otaki Main St upgrade.

And the council’s decision to introduce water meters brought widespread dissent; as did its recent move to place new climate change-related shoreline predictions on many beach properties’ Lim reports.

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STORY OF THE WEEK

Kāpiti Coast councillors have toured of one of Aotearoa's unique buildings, the heritage - listed Rotunda at the former Otaki Health Camp, the country’s first.

Jeremy Smith reports that the 105-year-old, eight-sided rotunda predates the Health Camp.

It wasn't actually built in Otaki, but was one of two built in Rotorua in 1915 as part of a military hospital, on the site of Rotorua’s present public hospital.

Later they were taken to Otaki for the opening of the health camp in 1931.

Full story in the main column (December 19).

100 Years Ago — and the Maori Long March begins

Māori politics was dominated by the influential MPs (and sometime Cabinet ministers) Māui Pōmare ( Waitara statue photo above) and Apirana Ngata.

The 1920's also saw the rise of Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana’s religious movement, and the emergence of Te Puea Hērangi in Waikato.

Ngata worked hard to foster Māori scholarship and education and preserve traditional arts and culture.

He convinced the government to establish a Board of Maori Ethnological Research (1923), a Maori Purposes Fund Control Board (1924) and a School of Maori Arts and Crafts in Rotorua (1927).

The Reform government also took the first, tentative steps towards settling longstanding Māori grievances.

Agreements with Te Arawa in 1922 and Ngāti Tūwharetoa in 1926 recognised their respective rights over the Rotorua lakes and Lake Taupō, and led to the establishment of trust boards with some government funding.

Commissions of inquiry which examined Ngāi Tahu grievances (1920–21) and the Waikato and Taranaki confiscations (1926–27) recommended that modest compensation be paid.

Kāpiti and Coast Independent

Rowan Runs Again

Third term despite the council controversies?