Councillors elected for the Otago Regional Council (ORC) this month will be sworn in at their inaugural meeting in just over a week (October 26).

Gary Kelliher received the most votes (9,885) for the Dunstan regional constituency, followed by Alexa Forbes (9,874) and Michael Laws (9,517).

Candidates Tony Lepper and Mike Barker were unsuccessful, with 9,496 and 6,283 votes respectively.

The next full council meeting is set for November 9.

Read more here: ORC explained and why you should care 

ORC chief executive Pim Borren said the new three years will have a heavy workload for councillors

ORC interim chief executive Dr Pim Borren said the next three years have “many challenges ahead”.

Pim said the heavy workload will include “the setting of critical policies and rules to protect Otago’s water, land and air, ongoing environmental monitoring to better inform decision-making, and also in responding to numerous types of environmental incidents”.

 Along with the councillors’ role in governance, strategy, oversight, partnership with mana whenua, and engaging with Otago’s communities, he said, they are facing “unprecedented reform at government level”.

The 2022-2025 triennium will see the release of the government’s Future for Local Government Reform report, plus more Resource Management Act reform.

“While we need to continue with a business-as-usual approach, ORC has to remain agile to the changing legislation and priorities which will unfold,” Pim said.