Councils to have new chairmen

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33665, 15 October 1974, Page 18

Councils to have new chairmen

The three Banks Peninsula county councils, Akaroa, Wairewa and Mount Herbert, will have to elect new chairmen as a result of the elections on Saturday, and the North Canterbury Catchment Board will elect a new chairman of its soil conservation committee.

Unlike municipalities, | which elect mayors for the! full three-year term between elections, county councils and boards have annual meetings to elect their chairmen and committees. All county councils and boards will hold their annual meetings within the next month. In the great majority of cases, sitting chairmen will be re-elected unless political changes on the boards dictate otherwise, and new committees, with i new members added to 'them, will be set up. There may well be a contentious election of a chairman for the Mount Herbert County Council. Two new councillors have been elected for the* Port Victoria riding, and one of them, Mr B. S. Johns, may be nominated for the chairmanship left vacant by the defeat of Mr E. R. Radcliffe. The other six councillors may feel that Mr Johns lacks experience of local body work, and put up the senior councillor, Mr C. E. Jenkins, elected in 1953, a former chairman, and chairman of the works committee. The deputy chairman, Mr R. F. G. Gardiner, did not seek re election. The Wairewa chairmanship is also open; the chairman, Mr P. N. Ussher, lost his seat. The senior councillors are Mr E. G. Grant

[(Little River) and Mr P. H. I Parkinson (Kaituna), both entering third terms. Mr A. N. K. Quentin-Bax-ter, who can claim credit for changing the council on the amalgamation issue, may get the nomination, because the new council will be committed to discuss a merger with its neighbours. He has been on the council for three years. At Akaroa, because the chairman, Mr G. P. A. de Latour, did not seek re-elec-tion, his deputy, Mr T. J. Brocherie, is almost certain to fill the vacancy. Mr J. M. Pickering, a Catchment Board member since 1953, and chairman of its soil conservation committee since 1959, was defeated on Saturday by Mr F. J. Bain. A likely successor as committee chairman is Mr H. T. Grigg, representing Amuri and Cheviot counties.