Hamilton City Council contenders continued their journey to potential election yesterday aboard a bus tour of key sites to highlight challenges, priorities and opportunities facing the city.

Fifteen mayoral and councillor hopefuls joined the Council’s Chief Executive Richard Briggs and fellow senior staff who presented information about the election process, Council business and trends, such as growth, impacting Hamilton.

The tour was based on the Council’s bold Pre-election Report which outlines in plain terms a number of issues candidates should be thinking about during their campaign.

Mr Briggs was encouraged by the turnout and hopes the tour will inform the rigour of thought required before deciding to stand for Council.

“If candidates are going to propose projects or financial implications, such as rates decreases, they must be aware that these have consequences elsewhere in what Council can deliver to the community,” says Mr Briggs.

“The tour was an opportunity for candidates, both undecided and confirmed, to be more aware of the complexity of what Council does and the scale of the challenges they will be tasked with tackling if elected.”

Starting with a presentation from Hamilton’s Electoral Officer, Dale Ofsoske, the tour visited the Council’s Smart Space, the location of the new bridge linking Peacocke and Hillcrest, parks and playgrounds, the wastewater treatment plant and Waiwhakareke Natural Heritage Park.

“The tour was by no means exhaustive of every aspect of Council business,” says Mr Briggs.

“But it was another avenue to engage people with what Council is responsible for and the forces influencing Council decision-making. We are committed as a Council to exploring every opportunity to do this and being innovative in how we do so.”

Nominations for Hamilton City Council close at 12pm on Friday 16 August 2019.

Click here for more information on Hamilton's elections

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