Two new Councillors appointed to Economic Development Committee

Councillors Diane Connors and Tony Brljevich have been appointed to our Economic Development Committee. This follows the resignation of Bob Renton, Tairua-Pauanui Community Board Chairperson.

Under the Committee's Terms of Reference, membership is to be appointed by Council (the Chairperson is appointed by Mayor) and was made up of up to three elected members and up to three Economic Development subject matter experts.

The Economic Development Committee is now made up of four elected members:

1. Mayor Glenn Leach
2.
3. Deputy Mayor Peter French
4.
5. Councillors Tony Brljevich, Diane Connors
6.
The three External members are:

• Mr Brent Page - Chairman
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A resident of the Coromandel, Mr Page is a director and part-owner of a nationally recognised computer and IT services company. Mr Page is currently the Chair of Destination Coromandel (our Regional Tourism Organisation) and was instrumental in the successful restructure of the RTO over the past few years. Mr Page brings to the committee extensive commercial and governance experience.

• Mr Leigh Hopper
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A well-known and successful businessman on the Coromandel, Mr Hopper has extensive experience in property development, marketing, contracting and entrepreneurship. As the principal shareholder and managing director of Hopper Developments, Mr Hopper is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Hopper Construction company and the strategic planning and direction of the organisation.

• Mr Grahame Christian
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Mr Christian is a property-owner at Whangapoua, and managing director and single shareholder of Smart Environmental - a large national refuse and recycling firm. Mr Christian has extensive commercial and governance experience and is very also experienced in the local government sector. He is Chairman of the Pare Hauraki Asset Holdings Limited, a significant commercial entity in the region, managing fisheries assets for the Hauraki Maori Trust Board

The Committee meets every six weeks. To find out more about what is on its agenda click here.

Economic Development Chair now has speaking rights at Council.

Economic Development Committee Chair Brent Page will also now attend full Council meetings (every six to eight weeks) and have full speaking rights.

Council endorsed this at its meeting today.

"This is a logical and practical solution to bring the Economic Development Chairman to Council. Our ED Chair is doing a lot of work with us involving our I-Sites and Destination Coromandel," says Mayor Glenn Leach. "We have an ambitious work programme we're working on around Economic Development and Mr Page as an astute businessman can provide real insights."

Mr Page will only attend full Council meetings (not deliberations or hearings).

Find out more about our Economic Development work programme here.

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