The Star: November 19, 2020

The Star Thursday November 19 2020
4
NEWS
• From page 1
Partridge and Guglietta sit
on the Richmond Residents and
Business Association committee
but sent the letters as individuals.
Jake McLellan, Yani Johanson,
Michelle Lomax, Jackie Simons
and Sunita Gautam comprise
the list of The People’s Choice
members who signed a letter to
city council chief executive Dawn
Baxendale requesting a meeting
be scheduled to consider the
removal of the board’s current
chairwoman.
This came less than a month
after Gautam was elected to
the community board in a byelection
which was held to fill
the vacancy left by long-serving
board member Sally Buck who
died in September. The People’s
Choice now hold a majority with
five members, with the remaining
four members, including
Davids, being independents.
The board is scheduled to vote
on the matter on November 30.
The People’s Choice members
of the board have previously
defended this as “democratic”
and simply delivering on the
mandate they received from the
community, others have labelled
it as “dirty politics.”
In Partridge’s letter, he said the
plot to remove Davids as chair
from The People’s Choice was in
contrast to Ardern’s mantra of
being kind to one another.
Partridge and Guglietta also
sent their respective letters to
Minister of Local Government
Nanaia Mahuta.
Ardern and Mahuta did not
respond to requests for comment
before deadline.
Partridge thought Davids had
been a good servant to the community
since appointed as chairwoman
and did not see replacing
her as the best outcome for the
community.
“This seems like it is purely
politically driven to help certain
members achieve their own
political aspirations. It is just not
acceptable what they are doing,
they have not consulted with the
community they were elected by
about this, it is morally appalling,”
he said.
Said Guglietta: “There is no
room in local body politics for
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‘This seems like it is purely politically driven’
Jacinda Ardern Greg Partridge Alexandra Davids Hayley Guglietta
national politics, those people are
voted in for our communities,
not to block vote for a particular
party.”
Davids said she found the support
“very humbling” in what she
described as a highly stressful
time for her.
“Elections can be a stressful
time but knowing you have colleagues
that want to roll you from
your position is a lot more stressful,”
she said.
The People’s Choice board
member and city councillor Jake
McLellan said the group was
taking a “temporary media blackout”
on the matter and declined
to comment.
“We are just taking some time
to digest,” he said.
Multiple public figures have
voiced their support for Davids
including Mayor Lianne Dalziel,
former Mayor Garry Moore and
broadcaster Chris Lynch.
An event has also been created
on Facebook aimed at supporting
Davids at the meeting towards
the end of this month where she
could very well lose her role as
chairwoman.
The event created by former
city councillor Deon Swiggs
encourages people to “come
along to the public meeting and
support Alexandra and watch
dirty politics try happen in
Christchurch.”
More than 60 people have
shown an interest in attending
already.
Aside from being the chairwoman
of the community board,
Davids is also chairwoman of
Keep New Zealand Beautiful and
Local Government New Zealand’s
community board executive
committee, a trustee of the
Graeme Dingle Foundation and
works for the Battered Women’s
Trust amongst various voluntary
work.
Apart from her various
community commitments,
Davids also boasts a solid
attendance record. She has
attended 16 of 17 board meetings.
She has also missed just one of
the 27 workshops and briefings
this term.
This holds her well ahead of the
two candidates likely to challenge
her for the role of chairwoman.
While The People’s Choice’s
Lomax has attended the same
amount of board meetings as
Davids, she has missed nine of
the 27 briefings and workshops,
whereas Simons has missed 18 of
the 27 workshops and briefings
and seven of the 17 meetings.
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