I have decided that this will be on my last term on the Waimakariri District Council.
The term ends in October 2019 and by then I will have been Mayor for nine years and a member of the Council or its predecessors for 30. I started as a Rangiora Borough Councillor in 1983. Three years later the Borough amalgamated with the surrounding District to form an enlarged Rangiora District Council. The Waimakariri District Council came into being in 1989 and included the former Rangiora District (by them amalgamated with Eyre County), Kaiapoi Borough, Oxford County and the southern part of Hurunui County.
In 1995 I was appointed Deputy Mayor alongside Mayor Janice Skurr. In 2001, I stood down under pressure of work – it had become too much along with my job as Assistant Principal at Rangiora High School. For the next six years I chaired the Rangiora Ward Advisory Board, an appointed predecessor of today’s Rangiora Ashley Community Board.
I was re-elected to the Council in 2007 and won the Mayoralty in the local government elections of 2010, just one month after the 4 September 2010 earthquake.
Today’s media statement follows.
Media Statement from David Ayers, Mayor of Waimakariri
David Ayers Announces Intention to Retire from Waimakariri Mayoralty
The Mayor of Waimakariri, David Ayers, has announced his intention to retire at the end of the current Council term in October 2019.
“Marilyn and I are at a stage in our lives, in our early 70s, where we want to step back rather than to commit a further three years to this role,” he said. “I am looking forward to the next 18 months of Council work but it will then be time for someone else to take on the responsibilities.”
David Ayers was first elected to the Rangiora Borough Council in 1983 and is the only Rangiora Borough Councillor to have served on the Waimakariri District Council. By October next year, he will have spent 30 years as a councillor or mayor – plus six years in the early 2000s chairing the Council’s Rangiora Ward Advisory Board. He was Deputy Mayor between 1995 and 2001 and was elected to the Mayoralty in 2010.
“Coming to the mayoralty one month after the September 2010 earthquake has meant that my time has been dominated by earthquake recovery, earthquake-prone buildings and town centre rebuilding,” he said. “However, the time to look back will be some time in the future. There is plenty ahead of us on the Council over the rest of the term, including the on-going post-earthquake projects in the Kaiapoi and Pines-Kairaki Regeneration Areas.
“I continue to enjoy the role and being out in our fantastic community, but announcing my intentions now gives others plenty of time to consider standing. It is not a job to be taken on lightly as it requires a good 60 hours a week, including most weekends.”
David Ayers
Mobile: 027 648 5677
Home: 03 313 6262
Council: 03 311 8900
David Ayers' Weblog 
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