Mayor and councillors

Jacqui Church is the first female elected Mayor of the Waikato District Council.

Before entering the political arena, Mayor Jacqui had a solid background in the business sector, and had built a long-term record of community ground-up advocacy, support and leadership of people and their communities.

Prior to her election as Mayor, she represented the Tuakau-Pookeno ward as Councillor for nine years.

She calls Port Waikato home but since her election she has also established a temporary base in Ngaaruawaahia. This is to be closer to the Council head office and more central to the myriad of communities that she represents as Mayor. Jacqui is known for her willingness to make genuine and authentic connections with people from all walks of life. She has an approachable manner and loves to celebrate the success of people, communities, and business. 

Her focus in leading the Waikato District Council centres on the delivery of positive outcomes and robust infrastructure to the community.

“Our District embraces the state of high growth we find ourselves in. We acknowledge that this will be the case for some time, and it requires us to prioritise these opportunities with our people.” She is a strong advocate for partnering on these many opportunities with all those that share a vision for building thriving, robust and resilient communities.

Mayor Jacqui is a memorable and respected leader across her wide and extensive network. She is known for her high energy and no-nonsense approach to getting things done, while meeting challenges head-on. Along with her team of councillors they are dedicated on delivering to Waikato District Council’s vision of creating “Liveable, Thriving and Connected Communities,” for the benefit of all those who call the Waikato District their home, their place of business and for its many visitors.

Deputy Chair of the Policy and Regulatory Committee, I bring governance experience (including 9 years on District Health Boards) and a background in business communications and advocacy to the Council.

I have lived in Tamahere-Woodlands for 21 years, raised a family, volunteered locally (a life member of Diabetes Youth NZ), and run a consultancy business.

I am a certified Hearings Commissioner and an Institute of Directors’ member with an MA (Hons) and PGDipMgmt (Distinction).

I have a background in science and is passionate about food production systems, fungi and trees. I produce a small volume of citrus that ships up into an Auckland fruit and vege box supplier, teaches pruning and grafting through Waikato Tree Crops. I have found multiple new fungi species in New Zealand and also first records of overseas fungi found here.

With council in mind, I is interested in service requests, getting the basics done right, affordable housing, appropriate regulation for easing housing supply and providing helpful information to the community. Service delivery is the basic function of council, and it is essential that this runs smoothly and does what is promised.

I am passionate about Huntly which has many wonderful assets including eight lakes that are or have strong potential for community assets. And I look forward to supporting all the positive work done by members of the community to make this town a positive place to live and work.  

I represent you in the Newcastle-Ngaaruawaahia Ward. This is my 4th term so have over 9 years' experience in local government. I Chair the Performance & Strategy Committee, have qualified as an RMA Commissioner Chair.

My goal has always been to make strategic decisions to use rate payer funds as efficiently as possible to deliver not only what we must do but also what our community would like. This is a real balancing act and our challenges have grown especially with costs of infrastructure.

I am available for you to contact me and will help work through any of your concerns. I may not always get you the answers you want but I will always explain the process and the reasons.

My history is in financial management particularly in community organisations. Community has been my focus for over 40 years. I am a Justice of the Peace for New Zealand and the President for Business and Professional Women NZ - an advocacy and mentoring non-profit organisation supporting women and children, lobbying government for equity and fair treatment for all.

I am a wife to a dairy farmer in Taupiri, mother to two grown up children and a very new nana. I grew up in Ngaaruawaahia, worked in Hamilton for over 30 years and now dedicate myself to representing my community in local government.

I am a Beef and Sheep Farmer and married to Avril with three adult children. My past interests have been in sports administration in golf and horse sports. 

Formal education includes a B.Ag Com Degree from Lincoln University, which led to nine years of Rural Banking work in the 1980’s.  This and my own businesses and farm work (including dairy) means I hope to have an impact in the business and governance side of Council.

Ko Waikato te Awa
Ko Potatau te Tangata
Ko Tainui te Waka
Ko Te Awamarahi me
Turangawaewae oku Marae
Ko Tilly Turner ahau

Kia ora, my name is Tilly Turner, I was born in Pukekohe and lived in Tuakau and Maramarua.

Hone is my husband, and we have a large family of seven daughters and our son is the (potiki) youngest, with our son in laws and daughter in law with many mokopuna grandchildren and growing numbers of mokopuna tuarua great grandchildren. We live in Ngaruawahia, and we built an intergenerational home where some of our adult children, mokopuna and until just recently a mokopuna tuarua live in our papakainga home. This home - housing model of living is my proven successful solution for whanau into the future.

I have lived in the Waikato District throughout my whole life. The Waikato is my tribal boundary that starts at Kawhia Harbour across to Katikati on the East Coast and as far North of Auckland to Mahurangi East and Western Coasts.  I am totally committed to my Kiingitanga and Maori community and my commitment to being a local elected Councillor has brought a whole new environment and learning for me. I have strong skills to bring to my seat of Tai Runga Takiwa Maori o Waikato – The Maori seat for the upper Waikato District Council which takes me across five of the eight Wards in our Waikato District Council. I firmly believe “what’s good for Maori is good for everybody – if we care for our environment the environment will take care for us”. Climate Change is our biggest challenge in our country and globally today. For our grandchildren who are yet to be born our future environmental decision making is going to be crucial and essential to their futures.  

I campaigned on three issues “Whanau – Whare – Whenua” I haven’t changed my focus they are still high on my priority list.

Whanau: whanau centred solutions is what I believe help in any situation – so my first goal is the Mana Whenua Forum where I am engaging with Marae (because Marae don’t move and our people understand which Marae they belong).

I am asking Marae to select a mandated person to represent their voice in their region clustered Marae Committee. This will bring the communications to the Council between the Maori voice in our communities. There are 37+ Marae and they will be clustered together into four separate groups, they will meet every six weeks where they can ask for support for things that happen around their region and Marae community with staff support. Staff can use individual representatives to inform projects, submissions, consents and hearings between Council and their Marae. 

Whare: Intergenerational living is what I am advocating in opposition to variation three. This is a model that my whanau are living and the positive aspects of this type of living is rippling through to my mokopuna (grandchildren’s generation) who are becoming home owners and business owners.

Whenua: Maori owned land development – working with Maori communities to get their lands into productivity. This growth will create income for our Council. To look at why there are statutes that hinder the growth of our little bits of land that Maori in my community still own.   

These are my plans for this triennium, and I am concentrating on one goal at a time so as to make sure programs stand up successfully.