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THURSDAY OCTOBER 16, 2025
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teawamutunews.nz
OCTOBER 16, 2025
It’s down to specials By Mary Anne Gill
The political futures of 10 Waipā candidates rest with special votes which are unlikely to be processed before today. (Thursday) As The News went to
press, Liz Stolwyk and Stu Kneebone were neck and neck in the race for the second of two WaipāKing Country spots - Garry Reymer is comfortably in - on the Waikato Regional Council.
Late drive swelled voting
A Waipā District Council ‘drive and drop’ initiative had pop-up voting stations in council offices in Cambridge and Te Awamutu. Waipā staffers manned portable voting areas - made obvious by gigantic orange bins and billboards – and walked the streets all morning. Reminders via the Antenno App and the big orange signs prompted a steady stream of voters and a final flurry arriving in the last half hour before voting closed at noon. Two arrived in Te Awamutu with two minutes to spare. The voter return excluding special votes was 41.25 per cent – 16,991 votes. Some people thought they had to vote on the day. One voter believed everyone should vote but cutting it fine “was just the sort of person” she was. Richard Tiddy had just flown in from America after four weeks away. “We felt strongly that it was important to vote,” Tiddy said. “Local government matters and there are some big issues that need to be addressed as well. “I think voters have more influence in local body elections because they are not tarnished by party politics, they are more accountable and if we are interested, we can often hear directly from candidates. “It’s a pity local government doesn’t get a greater percentage of the tax take because there are some
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In Cambridge, Aidhean Camson, Pip Kempthorne, Dave Marinkovich, Hope Spooner, Mike Cater, Barry Quayle, Chris Minneē and Stewart Dromgool are all on tenterhooks. About 600 special votes are to be counted. A surge followed last week’s front-page story – Voters leave it late – and a ‘drive and drop’ initiative outside council offices on Saturday, and added 3057 votes in just three days. That took the Cambridge ward return through to 44.47 per cent of all voters and contributed to a hometown Mike Pettit mayoral victory over incumbent Susan O’Regan and Clare St Pierre. Pettit’s win marks an historic moment – the first Cambridge mayor in 24 years, and only the second in Waipā’s 36-year history. Pettit’s 1222 vote margin was comfortable enough on Monday for O’Regan to ring and concede. He must now gather whatever troops he knows he has and talk about who will be his deputy and who will chair council committees. The experienced St Pierre is odds-on, according to The News sources, for the deputy role. It makes practical sense – she lives in Pirongia and has served on council since 2013 – and some say it’s politically the
Leaders gone: From left Jacqui Church (Waikato district), Adrienne Wilcock, (Matamata-Piako) Paula Southgate (Hamilton city) and Waipā’s Susan O’Regan are out of Waikato local body politics.
right move for Pettit. Roger Gordon is likely to pick up chair of a revamped strategy/growth committee while Mike Montgomerie and Marcus Gower should keep finance and regulatory committees. Service delivery is understood to be under review as a committee, but it seems logical in the interim to have St Pierre continue to chair that as well. It appears too soon to elevate Jo Davies-Colley to a committee chair - despite her three years as community board chair and being highest polling candidate in Cambridge. If Kempthorne is bumped out of the top four, then
he will take a spot on the Cambridge Community Board. That would set the stage for a close contest between Dromgool and Minnee for the final seat on the community board. Spare a thought for Stolwyk, formerly Waipā deputy mayor. Having accepted Saturday’s result, she deactivated her public social media, accepted an invite to attend a tourism conference in China and dropped her work clothes off at Dress for Success. The early votes were rural ones and Stolwyk’s association with high rate increases at Waipā and a perceived association with
the pro Plan Change One brigade counted against her. But her staunch support in urban Cambridge added substantial numbers and by Monday she was ahead of Kneebone. “Who would know?” she told The News. “I’m ready, whatever happens.” O’Regan was one of three women leaders ousted at the polls. Jacqui Church lost to Aksel Bech in Waikato, Adrienne Wilcock to Ash Tanner in Matamata-Piako and regional council chair Pamela Storey failed to keep her seat. Paula Southgate did not stand, so there are now no female Waikato mayors.
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