Jump in nominations for Ashburton District Council seats
From local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
Two sitting councillors and three fresh faces have officially joined the race for a place on the next Ashburton District Council.
Leen Braam and Lynette Lovett have filed their nominations to run for another term while Hayden Tasker, Richard Wilson, and Bev Skates have come forward as new candidates.
With just over a week before nominations close, their names bring the total nominations to nine, with 10 seats needing to be filled or the district will bear the cost of a by-election.
Lovett and Wilson, the son of current councillor Stuart Wilson, are chasing the two vacancies in the eastern ward.
Tasker, the son of former councillor Bev Tasker and former deputy mayor Roger Tasker, joins former two-term councillor Russell Ellis in the Ashburton ward which has five vacancies to fill.
Carolyn Cameron has indicated she will stand, whereas John Falloon is yet to signal his intentions.
Incumbents Liz McMillan and Rodger Letham are in the running for the two vacancies in the western ward.
Mayor Neil Brown is looking likely to run unopposed.
Chris Robertson and Robert Harnett make it three nominations for the Braided Rivers Community Trust while there have been no nominations for the five Methven Community Board seats.
Ashburton District electoral officer Anthony Morton said that in the event that there are not enough or any nominations to cover the vacancies, those that have been correctly nominated will be declared elected unopposed and no election process is required.
“A by-election process is then started in November to seek candidates for any remaining vacancies,” Morton said.
The organisations requiring by-elections have to meet the costs he said.
“The cost of the by-elections would largely be determined by the number of nominations subsequently received and whether a voting process was then required.”
In Selwyn, the race is on in the Malvern ward with six nominations in for the two vacancies.
Incumbents Jenny Gallagher and Bob Mugford are nominated along with Andrea Clemens, Lydia Gliddon, Samantha Samuel, and Samuel Wilshire.
Only one name is down for mayor and it’s not Sam Broughton who has confirmed he is running for a third term but is yet to file his paper work.
He will come up against Calvin Payne, who is also the only nomination for the three-seat Rolleston ward.
Sitting Councillor Shane Epiha is the lone name in the Ellesmere ward, and there have been no nominations yet for the Springs ward.
Meanwhile in the Environment Canterbury Mid Canterbury/Ōpākihi ward, incumbent councillors John Sunckell and Ian Mackenzie have filed their nominations.
They join NZ Federation of Freshwater Anglers president Peter Trolove as confirmed candidates.
Nominations close at midday on August 12.
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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61.9% Summer
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36.6% Winter
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1.5% Other - I'll share below
Worst Xmas ever?
There's a a lot of planning that goes into Christmas day and sometimes things just don't go to plan. But it can be a good thing - a family mishap or hilarious memory that you can laugh about in Christmases to come.
Whether you burnt the dinner or were stranded at an airport...
Share your Christmas mishaps below!
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