District councillors in Central Otago want some young blood around their table.
Discussing the debate on the council's compulsory six-yearly representation review at yesterday's meeting, councillors said one of the key issues was the lack of young people and women around the council table.
"It would be nice to get a 25-year-old Maori woman but unless you're self-employed or retired, you can't afford to be here," Gordon Stewart said.
He likened the monthly net pay councillors and community board members received to what an orchard packhouse worker would receive in a day or two.
Deputy Mayor Neil Gillespie said he thought not many young people stood for council "because, generally speaking, they haven't got time; or the time they are at in their lives, they are not interested".
However, attracting younger candidates was not one of the issues covered in an initial proposal after the representation review, which will now go out for public submission.
All but two councillors agreed to the initial proposal, which, if unchanged after public consultation, will see eight rather than 10 councillors elected next year, and all elected at large.
Crs Stewart and Terry Emmitt both disagreed with the drop in number, Cr Stewart so much that he said he would be "campaigning against it".
He said fewer councillors would mean more work for the eight who made it on to the council and, with elections at large, smaller communities such as Teviot Valley and Maniototo could lose their representation.
However, other councillors disagreed.
"In my opinion, it is all about your [councillor's] accessibility," Mayor Tony Lepper said.
Cr Gillespie moved the change but not necessarily because he wanted to see change.
"I want people to tell us whether we have got this right or wrong ... so far, the public has not had enough say."
Only 1% of the Central Otago population had engaged in the consultation process with the independent representation review panel earlier this year.
Included in the recommendations passed by councillors were that the Roxburgh Community Board be renamed Teviot Valley and that each of the four community boards comprise six members: four elected from within the community and two, both elected councillors, appointed.
