I have lived in the Manawatu for most of my life, more recently I now live in Kimbolton with my partner and our 5 children, on a small lifestyle block.

Living in a rural community I have become aware of the issues concerning our unique rural environment, how things taken for granted, in a town or city, are not provided in a rural setting.

One of my recent achievements has been to secure high speed reliable broadband for Kimbolton, Cheltenham and close surrounding communities, this will shortly include VOIP. Providing rural communities with high quality, reasonably priced access to technology is important to me.

I will

Ensure that the Council become more involved in delivering a reliable highspeed, cost effective broadband and a phone service solution to the wider rural community.

Look at reducing the increasing cost of rates and other ratepayer expenses.

I believe in honesty and integrity.

Top 5 Issues

1. Rural Access to Broadband - Rural communities are the back bone of the economy and as such having access to technology is an important part of their work these days. It is important that the rural community can get access to fast, reliable braodband. While the rural fibre plan will address some of this for schoola.It will not serve farms and rural locations, these can be better serviced by other means, and with a proper partnership we should be able to get Manawatu Farmers a fast reliable broadband at a reasonable cost.
2. Manfeild Park - I am a passionate believer that Manfeild Park is and will continue to be a valuable and usefull asset to the district. I do feel that there needs to be a review on how the park is used by local community groups and national groups.
3. Waste Management - Efficient waste collection and recycling. Living in Wellington, for a short period of time, placing recycling in seperate bins became an unconcious task, moving back to the Manawatu it became a chore. I would like to see recycling become an unconcious task, and that it is managed properly
4. Boundary Changes - To fully support the community on what is going to be the best long term solution for this change.
5. Rates - It seems that the rates are increasing at a larger rate than what the support for rural communities are. I will put pressure on council to ensure that these increases are justified and appropiate for each community.

Personal Profile

 I have lived in the Manawatu for most of my life. I was born in Marton and lived in Sanson for a short period of time, before moving to Feilding.

I went to Feilding Agricultural High School, from there I started an Electrical Apprenticeship with Central Power, when completed I worked in the electronics department and completed my registration as an Electrical Inspector. I then worked for a Fuelquip in PN, servicing petroleum equipment from Levin to Waiouru, and eventually transferred to Wellington where I lived for approximately 10 years. In Wellington I worked for Cryovac Sealed Air, servicing vacuum packaging equipment nationwide, mostly in Meat Processing plants and dairy factories. In 1998 I was transferred to Hamilton and in 1999 I gave up work, moved to Wellington and retrained for the IT industry. While studying in Wellington, I worked part time for the TAB and at Westpac Stadium as a Bar Manager. My first IT role was with the BNZ, and I then moved to Unisys.

I met my partner and we moved to Masterton, onto a 13 acre lifestyle block. In 2006 we moved back to the Manawatu and bought a lifestyle block in Kimbolton, where Charmaine manages her Hereford stud, and nurse cows. I currently work at Massey University during the week.

Between the two of us we have 5 children, ranging in age from 3years to 14 years of age. We are both active within the community, Charmaine is President and Supervisor for Kimbolton Playcentre, and Chairperson for Kimbolton PTA, and more recently has setup a support group for parents with Asthmatic children. I support the Kimbolton school’s computer network, and more recently I have secured high speed, reliable, wireless broadband for Kimbolton, Cheltenham and surrounding rural areas. This service will shortly include a phone service, for those of us who are unhappy with the current service.

I believe that this sort of service could and should be rolled out to the wider rural community for little cost, with the correct partner. Farmers are an important part of the economy and providing them with cost effective access to advanced technology will allow them to better make use of technology.

 Having had a range of work experience will make me a useful councillor. I have a practical mind and am able to grasp complicated processes easily. I would look to improving the technology available to rural communities, especially schools. Video Conferencing is critically important for schools, many opportunities to talk to prominent people or other schools are missed with the technology not being available

 There is a growing concern about the rising rates bill, I would like to see that this is kept to a minimum, or that it is dispersed.