Job interviews underway

Every three years a bunch of people dust off their CVs and ask ratepayers for a job – it’s local body election time.

Recent Meet the Candidates events attracted good turnouts (80-100 people each time), the majority in the 50 plus age bracket. The meetings are hosted by Grey Power and Orewa Ratepayers & Residents, whose membership is older, but everyone is welcome to attend and the disinterest of younger people in elections is a concern.

In the 2013 elections, voter turnout nationally was 41 percent and in Auckland just 36 percent. Research found that it was particularly low among young people, those with lower education levels, and the Asian population, and was generally thought to be due to administrative, information and infrastructure barriers.

A trial of online voting that was to have taken place this election was canned – Local Government Associate Minister, Louise Upston, said this was because the Government’s trial requirements and those of the Local Electoral Act 2001 could not be met in time.

Council tried to make election information super simple on its website, using cartoon graphics, as well as hitting the road in a Combi van with a Show your Love slogan – it remains to be seen how successful that will be.

The fact remains that the connection between local body politics and residents’ day-to-day life often doesn’t hit home. We try to make those connections every issue in this paper but there is still a lot of misunderstanding and apathy out there.

One local board member recently described her work as “not sexy”. A look through last week’s local board agenda showed topics such as park equipment renewals, funding and leases for community organisations, community facilities maintenance contracts, a local business survey and road name approvals.

Maybe not ‘sexy’ – and perhaps not surprising that most meetings are poorly attended by the public – however, you can’t have it both ways. A constant cry from ratepayers is that Council should ‘stick to its knitting’, and looking after, or advocating for, those local services is what the local board is all about. It’s up to the public to come half way, take an interest and get involved.

What is needed though, is more transparency – currently our local board debates issues in workshops that are closed to media and the public, and its decisions are therefore based on information presented in secret. Perhaps the incoming local board will address this.

From the public’s side – we employ these people to represent us. It’s our money that goes into their wages and it’s time to step up and have your say. Voting starts this week – September 16.You have until October 8.