New horizon: Timaru's new council sworn in, deputy mayor elected

Wednesday, 29 October 2025

Faced with some of the biggest decisions his council is expected to face in many years, Timaru’s mayor has reappointed his deputy and says he is excited by those who will sit around the table for the next three years.

“I think we have a team that will work really well together,’’ mayor Nigel Bowen told The Timaru Herald ahead of the first meeting of the new triennium on Tuesday.

“The key opportunity is to get early alignment as a governance team working together, which will be beneficial to continue on the change path we have been following,” Bowen said.

Councillors were sworn in at a ceremony at the council chambers, before the first meeting got under way on Tuesday afternoon.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Bowen made no bones about the fact there was a lot of work to do and the next three years would see some challenging decisions.

“There are some grunty topics the council needs to finish such as water, and take on [others] such as the rate and revenue review,’’ he said.

“This triennium will be as difficult as any.’’

He said the council had also commissioned “an independent review of our economic development and tourism activities, with a report due before Christmas’’.

Bowen had suggested Pleasant Point-Temuka ward councillor Scott Shannon be reappointed as deputy mayor.

“He did a great job in the last triennium bringing integrity and work ethic to the role,’’ he said.

That suggestion was endorsed unopposed by the other councillors on Tuesday.

The council’s chief executive Nigel Trainor, who suffered a brain bleed at work in late September, remained on leave with general manager corporate Stephen Doran acting in the role until his return.

Bowen said Trainor was doing “really well’ and was likely to return to work in the coming weeks.

After he was re-elected mayor for a third time earlier this month, Bowen said he planned to look at a different way of governing, in terms of the council’s committee structure.

Asked what those changes may be, Bowen said the council would reshape its structure to be “leaner and focused’’.

He tabled a memo at Tuesday’s meeting about the changes, with councillors receiving and noting it.

“Instead of large standing committees, we’ll have three key subcommittees of council which will focus on key areas,’’ he said.

“Development which will include building, planning with an economic enabling lens. There is significant reform in these areas and we want the council to be better able to meet the needs of the community.’’

He said projects would be another focus, with all to come under one subcommittee to include the Claremont Water Treatment Plant, Aorangi Stadium, the Theatre Royal and South Canterbury Museum.

He said the subcommittee would likely pick up financial system upgrades, water metering and others that “we need key governance oversight’’ of.

A third subcommittee would focus on financial planning and performance and would allow council to deep-dive into key areas, he said.

Committee chairs would be appointed on November 4, he told Tuesday’s meeting.

Meeting, workshop and public event attendance by elected members would also be better reported and published in a regular report, Bowen said.

Local government faced rising costs and limited tools and central government did not return GST on rates or pay rates on its own assets, he said.

“The Timaru District is still underfunded in the roading space.

“That has to change if we want sustainable communities and we will be asking those key questions to all parties in next year’s central government election.’’

Bowen said as mayor he only had one vote and progress depended on teamwork; collaboration, locally, regionally and nationally, remained key to unlocking economic opportunities and delivering “for our communities’’.

“I want to continue to drive a customer-focused approach.

“Like in hospitality – if you serve a bad steak, you fix it immediately. Councils should be no different. We need to be efficient, responsive and outcomes driven. We must stay competitive and cost- effective.’’

When asked about a recent firmly-worded challenge by MP for James Meager to his home town, telling it to “get its act together”, Bowen said he believed the two had alignment in their vision for Timaru.

“We both want to leverage our location, port and transport links to grow sport, business, and community opportunities.

“We have had an excellent working relationship since he entered Parliament, the best I have experienced with an MP.’’

He said in their roles, people could become frustrated by the speed of change.

“There are a lot of positives happening with legislative change and growth opportunities for our district but they never happen as fast as you would like,’’ he said.

“I think the key for me from James’ comments is that we continue to work closely together so we aren’t duplicating efforts to grow our region.’’