Community board chair, deputy named

Former deputy mayor Adrian Catran was named chairperson of the Thames Community Board at its inaugural meeting last month.
With no other nominations received, Mr Catran moved seamlessly to the head of the table and, inspired by the words of the 35th President of the United States, John F Kennedy, told fellow members to “ask not what Thames can do for you, but what you can do for Thames”.
“Thank you very much for having the faith in me to be the chair of the Thames Community Board. I know we have a difficult road ahead of us… we have less than 1000 days to sort things out, and I want the board to be a very collective board, one that works together unitedly,” he said.
“The personalities amongst us here – it will be a very strong community board, I’m sure of that.”
Mr Catran has 18 years of local government experience – nine as a district councillor and six as deputy mayor. He nominated Rob Johnston, trustee of the Thames Public Art Trust, to be his deputy chair and said he’d be relying on him “heavily” throughout the term. Thames ward councillor Peter Revell, who was elected to the community board back in 2019, told the table – including new members Holly MacKenzie and Kishan Raikwar – that he “came in largely not knowing what I was doing, certainly not knowing what I was getting into, and not knowing any of the people around the table”.
“But one of the things that has convinced me is that the Thames Community Board can be a hugely significant contributor to the wellbeing, culture, and feeling of this town.
“I believe that in the last term, we didn’t manage to quite grab that opportunity, and one of the things that has excited me both during the election campaign and subsequently, is the people that are represented around this table,” he said.
“The potential for us to make a difference to this town is really huge. It’s a diverse group of people and I think we need to make sure we grab that opportunity and work together in trust and cohesion and make a difference, because our people, our community, deserves it.”
Meanwhile, the Whangamatā Community Board elected Dave Ryan and Denis Beaver to be chair and deputy chair, respectively; with Warwick Brooks chair of the Tairua-Pāuanui Community Board and Chris New as deputy chair. In Coromandel-Colville, Gavin Jeffcoat is chair and Jean Ashby is deputy chair; while Mercury Bay Community Board’s chair is Krissy Robinson.