Richard is a local lad, who went to Waikanae school and later Kapanui school, then Paraparaumu College. After a year overseas, Richard completed an accountancy degree.
In 1993 went to work with his father Bruce's firm. Richard has lived at Otaihanga and then moved to Waikanae. He is married to Yvonne; a Hawkes Bay girl and they have three children and one grandchild.
Richard has been involved in a lot of local sports over the years.
He’s spent the last 7 years the CEO of Coastlands. It’s the best education for business I could have had, watching Bruce and the way he dealt with Coastlands.
Richard’s had lots of “interesting” interactions with the Council and has learned a lot about how the council operates, which will be useful in the Community Board role.
He’s had experience on School Board of Trustees, Is a director at Horowhenua Rugby, and on the board of the Nikau Foundation, an organization he’s very proud to work with.
Richard sees the Waikanae Community Board as an interesting challenge. The Board’s area covers a diverse set of people. Rural, residential, lifestyle sections, and rest homes. All with different requirements and needs.
The position he’s running for is an elected position with no power whatsoever, apart from the allocation of local grants.
He sees his role as a voice of the people.
The Board’s current strategic plan has 4 started objectives:
- Completion of town centre developments
- Library redevelopment
- Review and redevelopment of Waikanae parks for youth, and
- A hall for the Waikanae beach area.
Some other issues Richard would like to address are:
- connection over the railway line
- extension of Waikanae River track, which is hugely popular
The Community Boards stated priorities are:
- build and maintain critical relationships
- create opportunities for feedback, and
- advocacy for the people of Waikanae
Richard noted there are 429 people who follow the Community Board on Facebook, compared with in excess of 2,000 for Paraparaumu. Richard sees lots of different opportunities to gather feedback.
In summing up why he’s running for a position on the Board, he said he has:
- a connection with the community
- always considered Waikanae to be home
- has history with and a current attachment with Waikanae
- well known in the community, and
- skills and experience from having been in business
He’s realistic however and accepts that he might not be able to change things, because local government moves at glacial speed
He doesn’t believe there is a conflict between his role at Coastlands and his role on the Community Board. Instead, Richard feels Coastlands is a focus for the whole community.
There were many questions from members about a number of local issues including the Waikanae library; ownership of empty shops in Mahara Place and Kapiti airport.
Postal voting for the election commences mid-November. Remember it's a single transferable voting system so you only need to vote for one or two candidates, not all of them.
