Snow put paid to many events at the weekend, including Central Otago Mayor Tim Cadogan’s final official duty — a community welcome home for Olympian Finn Butcher.
Regardless of the weather, Mr Cadogan handed his official resignation to council chief executive Peter Kelly on Saturday and has left Central Otago for his new role at water services authority Taumata Arowai.
As his resignation came within a year of the local government elections, on October 11 next year, the councillors will, according to legislation, select one of their number to fill the role until next election.
The councillor most widely expected to be in the hot seat at the end of Wednesday’s meeting is Vincent Community Board chairwoman Tamah Alley.
Cr Alley first stood for council in 2019, and that year was the highest polling candidate for the council and the Vincent ward.
At the last election in 2022, Cr Alley once again collected the most votes, although her friend and fellow councillor Tracy Paterson was close behind.
A former St Kevin’s College girl, the former police officer grew up inland from Oamaru. She spent 12 years as a police officer in Counties Manukau and Central Otago.
One of the things that makes her the likely candidate for the top job is her role as chairwoman of Local Government New Zealand zone 6, the only zone chairman or woman in the country who is neither mayor nor deputy mayor.
Zone 6 covers all councils from Waitaki south: the Dunedin and Invercargill city councils, the Queenstown Lakes, Southland, Waitaki, Clutha, Gore and Central Otago district councils, the Otago Regional Council and Environment Southland.
Publicly no-one has put their hand up to wear the chains, although some, including district councillors Cheryl Laws and Martin McPherson, have ruled themselves out.
Deputy mayor Neil Gillespie has said he could not imagine taking on the role as he had a full-time job. Cr Paterson said she was considering her options for next year’s elections.
Dark horses in the race could include Teviot Valley councillor Sally Feinerman, who was instrumental in the Ida MacDonald Roxburgh pool being completed, and Maniototo councillor Stu Duncan, who farms at Wedderburn. Cromwell councillor Sarah Browne, who is passionate about connecting people with their council, is another who could be a contender.
The mayoral choice will happen in the public session of Wednesday’s scheduled council meeting. Cr Gillespie will chair the meeting through the appointing and swearing in of the new mayor, who will then immediately take office.
Once the mayor is appointed, the council will only have 10 councillors. The next step is for them to decide if, or how, the vacant councillor’s seat will be filled. There are two options — leave the seat vacant or the councillors agree to nominate a candidate. That process will be managed by the council’s governance officer.
— At a scheduled meeting on Thursday the Teviot Valley Community Board will consider how, or if, to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of board member Russell Read. There is no requirement for a by-election given the proximity of the local body elections, but the board will have to decide whether to nominate a candidate or leave the position vacant.
