Upcoming event: A current perspective on local government

Event details

Date: Wednesday 21st May 2025

Time: 7:30pm

Venue: zoom (online only)

Zoom link: https://aut.zoom.us/j/98737688067

Crystal Beavis will be talking about her experience as a first-term Councillor for Waikato District Council.  It has been a “baptism of fire” due to the substantial changes brought about by the present Government and the fact that 9 of the 14 Councillors are new.  One of the characteristics of Local Government is their focus on infrastructure, engineering and related matters such as: roads, drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, building consenting, district planning and noise control. In these and all the other areas Councils operate in (community services such as libraries and parks and regulatory services such as dog control, etc), there is an inherent conflict between statutory and community expectations of the level of services councils should offer, and the level of services that the community is willing to pay for. This conflict has been more marked than usual due to decreases in funding from central government, unfunded mandates, and legislated water reform.

About the speaker

Crystal is a Ward Councillor for the Tamahere-Woodlands area, Deputy Chair of the Council’s Policy and Regulatory Committee, and sits on all major committees of Council including the Infrastructure Committee. She has many years’ governance experience as a Board member of both the Waikato and Auckland District Health Boards, as well as other charitable organisations.  She has an MA (Hons) in Political Science and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration (with Distinction) from the University of Waikato. For mane years Crystal has been involved in Public Relations across a range of sectors including health, local government, electricity, and higher education.  This presentation represents Crystal’s personal views and does not necessarily represent the Waikato District Council.