There are three new faces on the Waitaki District Health Services board. A Waitaki district councillor, a former Southern DHB commissioner and a former long-serving chairman of Te Runanga o Moeraki have been appointed as directors to the board. The Waitaki District Council this year advertised three vacancies on the board of the council-controlled organisation, created by the resignations of Mark Rogers, Andrew Blair and Andrew Wilson. Mr Rogers, who chaired the board, stepped down at the end of his three-year term for personal reasons, while Mr Blair and Dr Wilson cited workloads in their other roles as contributing to their decisions. Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said the council received “several strong” applications for the roles. After discussions in a publicly excluded council meeting, Melanie Tavendale, Trevor McGlinchey and Kathy Grant were appointed to the board. Mrs Tavendale is a Waitaki district councillor, and deputy mayor, at present, but has announced she will not be seeking re-election this year. Mr Kircher said under the council’s policy, councillors could be appointed to the boards of council-controlled organisations if they had the “requisite skill set to add value to the overall board”. “[Mrs Tavendale] was appointed with particular regard for her governance strengths, her strategic and analytical skills, and her strong connections to our community.” Ms Grant served as the Southern DHB commissioner from 2015 to 2019, and has governance experience on the boards of commercial companies and not-for-profit organisations. “Her recent role as the lead commissioner running the Southern DHB gives Kathy a unique view of the health sector, and connections within that sector, which we expect to help our local health services transition through the current health reforms,” Mr Kircher said.
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