Former councillor elected to community board

Kerikeri electors have selected a former Far North District councillor to fill a vacancy on the Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Community Board.

Dave Hookway will represent the board’s Kerikeri Subdivision and replaces Councillor Rachel Smith, who was elected to the Far North District Council in October 2019.

Mr Hookway received a total of 1080 votes when voting closed yesterday at midday.

Returns for the other five candidates were:

• BAMBER, Tyler          784
• TURNER, Doug          631
• WOLFF, Bob               301
• BROWN, Harko          223
• CRAWLEY, Tim          89

There were five informal and five blank votes.

A total of 3118 votes were received. This represents 33.47 per cent of the 9315 postal ballots issued to eligible voters in the Kerikeri Subdivision.

The Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Community Board has seven elected positions and is currently chaired by Belinda Ward.