Richard is Mayor of Napier.

Here’s who he is and what he has promised.

Voter Guide Profile: Are you and your family finding it hard to pay the rates bill with rises of 28.85% over the last two years? Do you want a change in direction and priorities and a back to basics approach? I’m the only councillor that voted against these increases and the poorly prioritised projects. I have a background in nursing (NZ Blood Service) and 20+ years in St.John Ambulance so I have a people first approach. As an experienced councillor and chair of the People and Places committee and the City Services portfolio holder I know what our priorities should be. Water roads and rubbish need to be sorted first while other projects need to be put on hold, these decisions should be made by Napier people not by people outside our city’s boundaries. I will continue to turn up (highest attendance rate of current councillors) and represent you and keep rates affordable.

Responses to BayBuzz questions:

1. NCC plans to spend $701 million through to 2034 to improve water infrastructure. Is this appropriate and who should pay?

I believe we have struggled to prioritise and deliver spending $20m on water annually, now we are going to be capable of spending $70m plus annually, why weren’t we delivering this over the last few years when water was said to be our number one priority.
Who should pay? With council assets lasting from 30-80 years then intergeneration payment is a fair and practical way for the end user to pay for the service or facility they use or receive.

2. Does Napier need a new aquatic centre? If so, where?

In 8-10 years we will need a new facility. We have just spent money buying us that time. I believe Onekawa is the right place for the facility and ticked many of the boxes set out in Sport NZ’s aquatic guidelines.

3. Do you support NCC continuing to dump partially treated wastewater into Hawke Bay?

Currently we have consent to continue and have invested millions of dollars in the facility and site, as regulations are updated so will we improve. I’m open to having a conversation as to other options and solutions, but the community would have to want to and be in a position to pay for any other option proposed.

4. Name 2-3 specific NCC projects, policies or spends over the past three years with which you personally disagree.

The Ahuriri Regional Park, new Council Chambers, and the $58m Library. These are nice to haves not essentials at this time. Post the 2020 floods, Covid and the Cyclone, we should have been concentrating on water projects. We currently have the same number of water bores as we did 5 years ago and still had water restrictions in mid-April and have only renewed 113m of storm water pipes in the last 2 years. While I agree we needed a new library, I believe a cheaper option should have been considered, noting that South Dunedin’s new library is about $ 22m.

5. Do you support building homes in these two areas – Riverbend Road, Ahuriri Station?

Yes, we are short of space to build in Napier. Both of these sites will have to comply with the relevant regulations and engineering standards. The developer will then determine if it’s financially viable to proceed with the build.

6. Should residential water metering be introduced in Napier?

I’m not a big fan of water metering, if its about water conservation lets start with a real education program, if its about leak detection then it’s a good tool but we should sort our own water loss issues before we bill everyone else. It is estimated to cost of installing water meters in Napier is $26m, then there’s the ongoing cost of monitoring them.

7. Do you personally support retaining Māori seats at your council table?

This decision is now in the hands of the community via a referendum, I will respect whatever the result is.

8. Do you believe councils’ rates should be ‘capped’ by legislation?

Rates capping is worth exploring and understanding exactly what the Government has in mind. It’s like all new ideas its about knowing what the fishhooks are and see if its suitable for our city. Rather than waiting for it to happen we should be looking at what we are currently prioritizing our spending on and make appropriate changes and savings.

9. Does Hawke’s Bay need five councils, or do you support amalgamation, in any form?

I do not support amalgamation, it certainly hasn’t fixed the problems in Auckland, their rates still go up and I believe they have more staff now than when it was 5 councils, Wellington Water is another example of bigger not necessarily being better. Regional set ups haven’t worked well for us, think Buses, Hospitals, Civil Defence during the cyclone. Talking amalgamation is just a polarizing distraction from everyone getting on and doing their jobs.

10. Would you support Councils appointing an independent “Hawke’s Bay Auditor General” to monitor councils’ spending and programme performance?

Yes, I have no issues with that, we are already audited annually currently. Will this be an additional cost to the ratepayers?