Western Bay of Plenty Mayor Garry Webber will step down from council at the next Local Body Elections set for this October 2022.

Now into his second term as mayor and with eight months left to run, Webber made the announcement at the Waitangi Day ceremony at Whareroa Marae last weekend.

'I turned 75 in February 2021 and always maintained that I don't believe anyone over 75 years should be putting their name forward for local government,” says Webber.

'We're supposed to be there sorting out the future for future generations. At 75 years of age you're past the point where some are not as in touch as they should be.

'Therefore I've made this commitment. I am past 75 and will not be standing at the next elections. If you believe in principles, then I say live them don't just say them. That's the reason for it.”

By the time he's completed his mayoralty he will have rounded off 14 years of public service, starting with the Ōmokoroa Community Board for nearly two years, followed by two terms as a Western Bay of Plenty District councillor doing what he says was his apprenticeship.

'I think that's fundamental; you need to do some time as a councillor before standing for mayoralty and putting your hat in the ring.”

All up, he will have completed 12 years serving at Western Bay of Plenty District Council.

'I stepped into this because there were a few things happening in Ōmokoroa where I thought that ratepayers deserved better. Some may think I don't think of the ratepayers. If you don't think of the ratepayers you have to ask ‘what are you there for?'”

Webber, who tries to keep himself reasonably physically active and agile of mind, says one of the most interesting achievements in his time on council was dealing with multiple rates across the district.

'They were all different. Don Thwaites and I showed the common sense of having one flat rate for everyone across the Western BOP. That's what three waters is about across New Zealand right now – how can we leverage the big players to help the little players.”

As well as dealing to the rates issue, a notable highpoint was leading the unanimous council vote in 2020 in favour of returning the 172 hectares of land, commonly known as Panepane Purakau, to the five local hapū that connect to Matakana Island that are part of Ngāi te Rangi Iwi and include Ngāi Tuwhiwhia, Ngati Tauaiti, Te Ngare, Te Whānau a Tauwhao and Ngāi Tamawhariua.

'Panepane Point was a significant achievement that I'm incredibly proud of but again that took a team on council to understand that there is nothing to be embarrassed about righting a wrong. I think some of the public believe we've done the wrong thing but I don't think they'd understood the history.

'This was going back prior to 1820 when the first confiscation happened and then the second confiscation through the Public Works Act.”

Webber says you can't rewrite history 'but there are things we can do to put fundamentals right”.

'In the past Maori have not been treated all that well and we have opportunity to do what is possible. If you're purposeful we will get there,” says Webber.

He believes amalgamation of Tauranga and Western BOP should be on the radar of both councils in the near future.

'In 1989, in the last big restructuring, Tauranga and Western BOP were supposed to be one territory but they ended up as two,” says Webber.

'We are Siamese twins and the sooner we understand we need to join together and overcome the stupidity of what we have, the better off we'll all be.”

Ōmokoroa waste water being processed by Tauranga City is one example he gives.

'And the Waiāri Water Supply Scheme started in Te Puke provides water to Papamoa. It's really silly, as we wrap around the outside. If they want to sneeze we've got to duck.”

He believes instead of having Tauranga's 10 councillors and one mayor, plus Western Bay's 11 councillors, a mayor and 20 community board members, there should be one organisation run by a mayor with 10 councillors.

'If we amalgamated there'd be two Māori seats and eight geographic seats. And less than a quarter of a million people, which is not a large jurisdiction.”

His efforts to get State Highway 2 sorted has been a time-consuming aspect of his mayoralty.

'The problem with local government is akin to snail racing or watching paint dry,” says Garry. 'Things take a long time. The classic is the Ōmokoroa interchange between Ōmokoroa Road and SH2. That's been on central government and regional transport's plan for more than 15 years and Western Bay has been promoting it for longer.

'To get it into the Regional Transport Plan, we had to get all the other councils to agree with us and then get central government to fix our road. It's consumed an incredible amount of my time, patience and diplomacy.

'The latest we're hoping to hear is they'll tell us in April whether we've been successful in the next round.”

As to the future, he plans to spend time working with greenstone and NZ native timbers. 'I don't think I'm productive, it takes me a lot of time, but I enjoy it.”

He also hopes to give his wife Carole more of his time, previously often taken up by the 24/7 role.

'For 55 years work has come first, but you try and put family in front of it. The dairy industry and the mayoralty have been very time-consuming and are very disruptive to family life.”

Carole, who is an avid gardener and volunteers at the Ōmokoroa and Bethlehem Community Church Opportunity Centre, says they both have their own interests but Garry stepping down as mayor means they will be able to plan activities without mayoral duties taking over.

'So often you can't plan because being a mayor is 24/7. I knew that when Garry and I discussed all this in the beginning,” says Carole, who says there's also so much she will miss about his role.

'I've met so many amazing and interesting people – at the multicultural festivals, fire brigade awards, St Johns Ambulance awards, and citizenship ceremonies. You get to see what these amazing volunteers do in the community – most people don't know what they are doing behind the scenes.”

'Being able to do a lot of things together which we enjoy doing and getting out to the back of NZ and enjoying the scenery appeals to us,” says Garry. 'The tranquillity of walking through the bush alongside a stream is very therapeutic.”