Regional Council chairman re-elected

At this week’s inaugural meeting of Environment Southland (Southland Regional Council), councillors were sworn in and Nicol Horrell was re-elected as the chairman.

This will be his second term as chairman, and fifth on the council. Chairman Horrell was the only councillor nominated for the position.

Chairman Horrell said he was ready to commit the time and energy needed to carry out the role and identified the Government’s National Policy Statement for fresh water as the council’s biggest challenge.

“There’s a lot of talent around this council table and I am looking forward to working with our new councillors in particular. We will be working hard to form a strong team to meet the challenges we will face over the next three years,” he said.

Councillor Lloyd McCallum was re-elected deputy chairman.

The following chairs were elected to council committees:

Eric Roy, Strategy and Policy Committee

Jeremy McPhail, Regional Services Committee

Neville Cook, Regulatory Committee

Lyndal Ludlow, Organisational Performance and Audit Committee

David Stevens, South Port subcommittee

Lloyd McCallum, Regional Transport Committee

Neville Cook, Southland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group

The full council includes 12 councillors elected by the public in six constituencies.

Nicol Horrell (Western), Lloyd McCallum (Southern), Peter McDonald (Hokonui), Allan Baird (Fiordland); Robert Guyton, Bonnie Mager, Neville Cook, Lloyd Esler, Eric Roy, Lyndal Ludlow (Invercargill-Rakiura); Jeremy McPhail and David Stevens (Eastern-Dome).