Final Reflections - The heard voices, the loudest voices and the missing voices


Well the campaign is pretty much done and dusted and lots of people have said lots of things about what they want to see for the future of Cromwell and the Central Otago district.  There have been some grand promises made by candidates, particularly those standing for the first time, and there has been lots of debate on social media. It looks like there is a high level of engagement - but current voter percentages would suggest otherwise. We just need to turn the talk into action and encourage everyone in our community to vote.

I have really enjoyed being part of the community board over the last three years.  I have learnt loads and think that I have represented our community with integrity.  I think I have provided some balance on our board in debate and in decision making.

One of the things that is a huge challenge for any governance board is being sure that we are actually representing the views of our community. Trying to get the community to engage in consultation is really hard.  People are busy or the issues are not particularly exciting and people don't always consider that what happens around our board table has direct and long lasting impacts on our community.

I am really mindful that we have some really vocal community members and we really need to consider who are the heard voices, the loudest voices and really importantly the missing voices when it comes to our decision making.

It is really easy to be swayed by the loudest and most persistent voices in our community and around the board table but just because the loud voices are the easiest to hear doesn't make them representative of all of our community.  The challenge is trying to capture a more representative view and not be constantly distracted and flip flop our decision making because of a really vocal opinion.

It is really important therefore that our board is made up of people who connect with a wide range of community sectors and who don't just rely on single sources for their information.  The board doesn't have to be in agreement as we enter the debate - coming from different perspectives, holding different views, bringing ideas and insights from different parts of our community are all important along with listening to the advice of the council officers who are tasked with doing the background work and bringing reports for consideration to the board table for decision making.

The Cromwell Master Plan was one of the most successful examples of community engagement that I have seen.  A huge amount of work was done by by the CODC team along with the team from Rationale and NMA + Tract to consult widely and to be present in lots of places that Cromwell people are present to gather the voice of as many people as possible in the creation of the 'Let's Talk Options' document. 

The team then focused on getting engagement to vote on the options to give direction to the final recommendations in the plan. The plan is big picture strategic thinking and is an attempt at a road map that takes us several decades into the future to help us to have planned ways forward for growth in the district and will help us avoid the ad-hoc sprawl that our community are worried about. It is however not a cast in concrete plan - the nitty gritty detail will still need careful consideration, debate and consultation as we move to the implementation phase of the document.  All members of our current board are proud to have been a part of this work and I for one am very keen to take it to the next step.

Many of our council and community board candidates have created Facebook campaign pages and have engaged with CRUX, Coffee or Pinot, The Spinoff-Policy Local and the Cromwell Today page to gain an audience for their thinking and gather support for their campaign.  It is however really clear that there is a small number of highly engaged people through these platforms. All these campaign pages have between 90 and 250 followers - a very small percentage of the 5600+ registered voters in our district and it is the same handful of people who comment, discuss and question. It is great that there is anyone out there engaging and I have enjoyed following the campaign through these platforms - I just wish we were reaching a few more people.

https://policylocal.thespinoff.co.nz/ 
Click the link to see the policies of candidates in the local body elections for Mayor, CODC, CCB, SDHB and ORC

Click the link to see candidate videos - all candidates were asked the same set of questions

Click the link to see candidate videos and community conversations

So I urge anyone out there listening - the maybe 5 or so people who will read this all the way through - make sure your voice is not missing - get out there and vote!  The voting paper may say to choose 4 or 5 or however many for a particular section,  but don't tick random boxes just to use up your ticks.  Get onto CRUX, Coffee or Pinot and Policy Local and vote for who you want to represent you.

Votes close on Saturday 12 October at 12pm.  Get your vote in the post by Wednesday 9 October at the latest or drop into council offices in Cromwell or Alexandra. If you haven't received papers pop into the Council and cast a special vote.  Cromwell service centre is open until 4pm on Friday.  Alexandra council offices will be open 9-12pm on Saturday.

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