District wide Councillor Jackie Elliott has announced she is standing as a candidate for the Electra Trust.
Cr Elliott says she has strong family connections in the industry.
“I’m standing for the Electra Trust, following my Grandfather and many family friends and past colleagues of our family business, E. C. Buckley Electrical, Contractors Ltd, of Paraparaumu.
“Of course that was in the days of the Horowhenua Electric Power Board, but Electra, and especially the Trust remain icons and are the public’s successful partnership in ownership of our energy assets in Horowhenua and Kāpiti.”
Cr Elliott has a background in marketing, ran her own business and is a trained journalist. She is a frequently published freelance writer and is currently a Councillor on the Kāpiti Coast Council.
“Eight years ago my husband and I moved from Raumati South to Te Horo, and I began a journey learning our rich local history.
“Our family enjoys a long association with the Levin Waiopehu Tramping Club, we have been members since I was four and have grown up with generations of many of Levin’s fellow member families, side by side, building LWTC’s ski lodge on Mount Ruapehu. My father, Mike Buckley, is a past president during the seventies/eighties and my family still all love snowsports and tramping in our beautiful hills.”
Cr Elliott is also well known for organising the exhausting Ask Us First petition for a referendum on water meters in 2012. This 8012 signature petition gained in nine weeks became a huge community effort across Kāpiti, and was the biggest petition ever in New Zealand on a single local government issue. “I wish the Council had been sensible and listened to us.”
Cr Elliott says she is continuing to be a strident advocate for the public, following the petition up with being elected to the Ōtaki Community Board, then, standing as Mayor of Kāpiti in the October 2013 elections and was the second highest polling successful District wide Councillor candidate.
“This ensures that I am placed in the best position to continue to lobby for the rights of all residents for affordability, especially with the basics, water, housing and electricity.
“Ensuring that you are able to provide a healthy home and standard of living in Kāpiti and the Horowhenua is paramount to me.
“I see a key role as representing the electricity consumers of Horowhenua and Kāpiti to maintain public ownership of our assets and to ensure profits are redistributed to consumers by way of annual discounts,” says Cr Elliott.
