Melanie Tavendale has been elected as Waitaki's mayor. Photo: Jackie Tav
Waitaki's new mayor says keeping rates affordable and sorting the district's water plan are top of her agenda.
Progress results show Melanie Tavendale, a former councillor of three terms, has received nearly half the total mayoral votes.
She was one of four candidates contesting the top job, after former mayor Gary Kircher stepped down, and she would be the district's first woman mayor.
Tavendale said her honest and transparent approach seemed to resonate with voters.
"I didn't promise the world," she said. "I tried to just be pragmatic and honest about the situation we're in, and what we need to work through.
"I think people liked the positivity."
Shortly before the election, officials rejected the former council's in-house water services plan, and ordered the council to carry out a full review of the district's water assets or face ministerial intervention.
Tavendale said she was committed to getting a new plan over the line.
"We need to stay at the table," she said. "We don't want to have that decision taken out of our hands and made for us.
"We don't want commissioners taking over our council and making all decisions for us.
"We do, probably, need to be willing to cooperate, but I think also we need to make sure we're protecting our community's assets and the ability to plan in the future."
Waitaki District Council developed its own standalone water services plan, after backing out of the Southern Waters partnership with three other councils.
Tavendale said she would like to stick with an in-house model, but that was a decision the whole council needed to work through.
"We also needed to keep affordability top of mind. We're going to spend some time as a new council, just looking at what our options are, and I don't want to be deciding anything at this early stage."
Keeping costs down was her top priority as mayor, Tavendale said.
"Affordability is top of the pile. Just working out how the future for local government looks and how we can make it more affordable, rather than just keep putting everything on rates."
Tavendale was blown away by the election results and excited for the challenges ahead.
Waitaki District Council chief executive Alex Parmley welcomed the mayor-elect and thanked the candidates who put themselves forward to represent their community.
"We'd also like to thank Waitaki's voters, who have kept democracy strong and chosen the governance team for their council for the next three years," he said.
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