Opotiki Mayor elected Vice President of Local Government New Zealand

Opotiki Mayor John Forbes has been elected Vice President of Local Government New Zealand at today’s National Council meeting held in Wellington.

Mayor Forbes represents the Rural Sector on National Council. In October he was elected to his fourth term as Opotiki Mayor and has been an elected member since 1986. Mayor Forbes will hold the position of Vice President through to the LGNZ Annual General Meeting in July 2011 when the position of President and Vice President will be voted on by the membership.

LGNZ President Lawrence Yule congratulated Mayor Forbes on his election as Vice President and looks forward to working with him advocating on behalf of the local government sector.

The LGNZ National Council is the national voice of the local government sector. While each National Council member has been elected to the group by their sector or zone the body is tasked with representing the national interests of local government.

There are still four places to be filled on the new National Council with two representatives each from the Metro Sector and Zone One to be elected by March 2011.

The meeting in Wellington today was the first since the local body elections in October and there were seven new faces around the National Council table.

Mr Yule says the meeting was very positive and a clear direction was set for the group to take forward into the next three years.

LGNZ National Council:

President – Mayor Lawrence Yule (Hastings District Council)
Vice President - Mayor John Forbes (Opotiki District Council)
Zone Two – Mayor Meng Foon (Gisborne District Council)
Zone Three – Mayor Jono Naylor (Palmerston North City Council)
Zone Four – Mayor Adrienne Staples (South Wairarapa District Council)
Zone Five – Mayor Maureen Pugh (Westland District Council)
Zone Six – Mayor Tracy Hicks (Gore District Council)
Provincial Sector – Mayor Brendan Duffy (Horowhenua District Council)
Regional Sector – Chair Fran Wilde (Greater Wellington Regional Council)
Regional Sector – Chair David MacLeod (Taranaki Regional Council)

ENDS

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