"I love the place and there is unfinished business."

Those are the words of current Taupō District mayor David Trewavas, who has announced he will run for a fourth term in this year's election. He will be up against his deputy mayor Christine Rankin who has also announced she will run for mayor.

Trewavas has been mayor since 2013 and says he still has the passion and desire to lead the district, as well as some "big projects" he wants to see through to their completion.

"There are projects like Waiora House, the Taupō Airport upgrade and the Taupō Towncentre Transformation. I want those to be finished, clear, concise, on time and on budget, which is so important with these bigger jobs."

The 59-year-old says Taupō is in the middle of a transitional period and needs a steady, experienced hand to lead the way.

"Taupō is going from a semi-provincial town to a mini-metro sort of thing. You see that living here, the weekends are so busy. We used to have the clear seasons before, where the town would fill up at certain times, but now it's just busy all the time.

"It's fantastic but we have to be mindful of the fact that we want it to remain a beautiful place to live. We need to prepare for growth and have the right infrastructure in place. The CBD is the heart of the city and I'd like to think in the last nine years we've kept that nice and tight, kept it busy and resisted the temptation of going out too far to the satellite areas."

While finishing current projects are high on his list, Trewavas says he still has a great appetite for new projects and ideas.

"We still have all the Wharewaka land to develop. There is definitely a need for more industrial land, so we're going through a rezoning process for that.

"Because of the central location, this has become a very desirable place to live. We're well over 40,000 and still growing but we want to maintain that good feel about the place."

He says the biggest challenges facing the Taupō District and its council are keeping up with infrastructure, keeping the roading network well maintained and easy to navigate and rising costs.

"Inflation is running high but what they're telling us is it has peaked, so hopefully it comes back a bit now. Inflation, operating costs and challenges around Covid-19 are there, but we're keeping that development going, just in a nice calm and balanced pace."

When asked what he is most proud of in his time as mayor so far, Trewavas says his inclusive style of leadership has served him well.

"I'm not a dictator, I like to think I'm calm and collected, and prepared to listen to all views - I think that is really important in a council. You've seen around the country, there is quite a lot of dishevel in local government. It's a collective really and I have very good connections, I believe, with central government.

"We've been very successful in securing almost $100 million of central government funding for local projects in the last few years, which takes some of the burden off our ratepayers. That's been a team effort and the Government has viewed us as a good, safe council which will spend money wisely."

He is also proud of the relationship he and the council have built with Ngāti Tuwharetoa throughout the last decade.

"We're proud of that connection, which makes sense, 75 per cent of the land is owned by them. If we can start getting some of that land reactivated or developed, we certainly work in partnership with them to make that happen."

His favourite part of his role as mayor? "Helping people".

In the 2019 election, Trewavas won the mayoralty by a majority of 3164 votes over his closest rival Zane Cozens who picked up 3864 votes. Rankin polled third with 1989 votes and Kim Eyles was fourth with 235 votes.

Candidate nominations for the Taupō District Council elections are now open and close on Friday, August 12 with the election results announced on Saturday, October 8.

The Taupō District Council election will be for the mayor and 12 councillors with one councillor for the Mangakino-Pouakani ward, one councillor for the Taupō East Rural ward, seven councillors for the Taupō ward, two councillors for the Te Papamārerea Māori ward and one councillor for the Tūrangi-Tongariro ward.

Information about the elections can be found at taupo.govt.nz/vote22, or lgnz.co.nz .

Credit: nzherald.co.nz