Second-term district councillor Kate Taylor has announced she will be contesting her seat for a third time in the rural Aramoana-Ruahine Ward of the Central Hawke’s Bay District Council.

She has been one of four rural councillors since she topped the poll in October 2019 and was re-elected unopposed in 2022. “My first term was a challenging learning curve, especially when it came to the mechanisms of local government. We all hit the ground running in the second term, eager to make a difference and get things done. I’m dedicated to being a strong rural voice on council. I’m asking for re-election so I can make further use of the investment and faith that have been put in me.”

Kate and her husband Thomas, who have two adult children, lived in Takapau for 20 years before moving to Ōtāne in early 2025.

Professionally, Kate is a self-employed writer for a range of companies and organisations through her own business, communiKate, and holds several governance positions both locally and nationally. The volunteer firefighter (14 years) has also had a variety of roles with community, school and sports organisations.

She says she originally stood six years ago to keep the momentum of the good work being done by the revitalised CHBDC.

“That desire hasn’t changed. We just have a harder environment to do it in now. We had a vision to start the long road to more resilient town water supplies and getting wastewater out of our rivers… thanks to covid, record-wet winters and Cyclone Gabrielle, that road is now even longer.

“Speaking of roads, we’ve completed millions of dollars’ worth of roading recovery projects since February 2023. I chair our Transport Committee with the aim to improve our procurement process and contract management, boost the use of local contractors and workers, reduce traffic management costs and hopefully reduce the number of potholes we hear so much about.”

Kate is also on the Regional Transport Committee, helping to keep CHB on the radar alongside its larger northern neighbours.

“I’ve enjoyed building our relationship with our neighbouring councils and building a stronger Hawke’s Bay as a result.”

She says affordability of rates is an ongoing concern, particularly for connected residents. “I’m a positive person by nature and I have enjoyed my time on council to date, but we are in the middle of hard trade-offs between dealing with the underinvestment of the past and keeping services running for today. We need to continue to make hard decisions so I will do my best to make sure we’re continuing to spend on core infrastructure for coming generations.”