Ashburton Mayor Donna Favel is planning on a good strong run for the next 12 months. Photo supplied.With one year to run in her first term in the mayoral chair, Donna Favel says it’s likely she’ll be seeking a second term in office.

While stopping one step short of making a binding commitment to seek another term, Favel said she believed she had more to offer the district.

Deciding whether or not to seek a second term was like any decision, the pros and cons had to be carefully weighed up, she said.

“The first two years have definitely been more challenging than I expected and there have been obstacles and personal challenges, but not standing again is like leaving a job half done.”

“While I feel I can keep adding value to the community I’ll keep offering my services to the community.”

Over the past two years both she and seven first-time councillors had been on a huge learning curve, she said and while she had seen her role, initially as supporting and growing those councillors, she had now pulled back to focus her energies on her mayoral responsibilities.

There had also been significant change within council with one chief executive leaving and a several month vacancy before new chief executive Hamish Riach arrived, she said.

“I am excited to now have Hamish in place and we’re looking to have a good, strong run for the next 12 months.

“There’s a lot we can get done in those months and then I can definitely make my decision for the future with my eyes wide open.”

Favel believes she has now developed her own mayoral style.

“I believe I’m a leader who is flexible, adaptive and responsive.

“The world is changing very quickly and we need to respond quickly to events and situations.

“It will be nice to get to the point as a council where we can be agile and pro-active rather than reactive.”

The past two years had been years of challenge and change for the community, too, she said.

While the council had initially been in clean-up mode inheriting partially completed projects from the previous council, Favel said it was now time for the team to move forward.

“I like my foot on the accelerator hard, I like to be moving.

“I believe we’ve planted the seeds over the last two years and we will harvest over the next 12 months.

“We all need to be moving forward.”

It is her goal to have elected members working in the best possible way for the wider community.

“I want to see us putting our best foot forward – every time.”

The job of a mayor was not easy and the reality of the position, she said, could be summed up in a piece of advice from another politician –“if it was easy it would have been sorted out before it got here …”

By Sue Newman © The Ashburton Guardian - 13 October 2018