Frans for Waihemo and Waitaki
Hello there! I am Frans Schlack and I have lived in the Waitaki District near Herbert for over 11 years now and at 67 years old, I am now retired. These days I still do some occasional marine consultancy work, enjoying operating my small digger and truck and involving myself in local community projects including Neighbourhood Support which focuses on our community's safety and security.
Before I retired, I worked around the World in the maritime industry starting as a deckhand and working my way up to manager of major marine infrastructure projects. As such, I have learned to respect many different people, environments and cultures.
The Waihemo Ward is right next door to where I live with my wife of 29 years, Maxine. As a result, our interests lie more in Hampden than in Herbert. However, I don’t stand as a councillor candidate just for Waihemo but for every resident in the Waitaki District who shares my believe that Elected Councillors and Council Staff must focus on core council tasks whilst maintaining governance transparency towards ratepayers & residents, our District's development and freedom of private property enjoyments.
From our 'Postie 'after making it easier for her to reach our, and our neighbour's, mailbox.
A picture says a thousand words
My story
I was born in the countryside of The Netherlands (Holland) on the same day as the local annual cattle market and at 23 years old, migrated to Australia on the day that the space shuttle Columbia was launched into space for the very first time. Together they probably explain my love of farms and my interest in astronomy. During my residencies in Holland and Australia I worked in many different countries like Australia, SE Asia, the Middle East and South America. It is during these periods I learned to appreciate and respect people's cultures and, I'll admit, their cuisines!
My career started as a simple deckhand in a place that, at that time, not a lot of people had heard about ....Dubai! Throughout my career I have always strived to self-develop myself with studies and practice. This culminated in becoming a manager of major infrastructure projects and finally as one of those dreaded consultants.
Shell LPG Project Hazira, India.
Annual Easter Bunny run through Waianakārua
Final progress drawing Palm Jumeirah, Dubai UAE
Annual wilding pines gathering with our Canadian guest
My capabilities
Having been a manager of small and major infrastructure (marine) projects, I have significant experience in managing projects. In terms of value, my projects ranged from small ($10,000.-) to large ones ($120M+) and with relatively short completion terms. I believe that my management experience will assist me in evaluating Council's projects, including their progress, budgets, environmental impacts and improvements that can be made.
Community work...
Throughout the time that I have lived in the Waitaki District I have been, and still am, involved in my own local community of Waianakārua. Per example:
- Together with other locals (and the occasional visitor), annually gathering wilding pines for a Dunedin Children's Charity;
- Setting up a weekly food delivery service with the Hampden supermarket and collecting the Neighbourhood rubbish during COVID;
- Using my own small equipment, repairing potholes in our local gravel road and digging out blocked drains, when required;
- Organizing and executing the annual Easter Bunny run for our local kids;
- Successfully, organizing and galvanizing our local community and local businesses into getting a local fire hydrant installed at no cost to Council; and
- Heading our local Neighbourhood Support group to improve our local safety and security.
To me, becoming a Waitaki District councillor is the ultimate way of meaning something for a community and our District as a whole.
Hampden Voluntary Fire Brigade at the new Waianakārua Community Fire Hydrant connection 30th of May 2024
What do I stand for...
Many people within the Waitaki District will remember me from the public meetings of the Waitaki Property Guardians I participated in and the presentations I made to Council in regards to the Draft & Proposed District Plans.
If elected as councillor I will continue to pursue my aims towards a fair and balanced District Plan with a focus on Private Property Rights and Development of the Waitaki District. If this means scrapping the current Proposed District Plan and starting anew when the heralded Resource Management Reforms have passed into law, as forecasted by Central Government to be sometime next year, then so be it!
In my dealings with Council over the past 3 years I have learned that the Councillors and Mayor are often blamed for when things go wrong or are not 'agreeable' to ratepayers or residents. From my experience, I believe that a lot of problems are caused by (senior) Council Staff who at times fail to provide our Councillors, as our Elected Representatives, with correct or complete information that is also often presented in closed Council sessions and workshops.
I strongly believe that the Waitaki District Council should transform itself back to carrying out its core duties towards it residents and ratepayers and only by exception, involve itself with projects outside of those duties.
There has been a lot of attention on the Water Done Well services Waitaki District Council has to provide and the recent courageous decision by the majority of our sitting councillors to reject the Southern Waters CCO proposal and instead keep our water services in house for a period of two years. I support that democratic decision but am still of a personal mind that Council needs to pursue joining our immediate neighbouring districts like Waimate and McKenzie in forming a CCO. I am convinced that there is significant cost savings to be made in such a joint venture and will also provide future opportunities in water infrastructure developments and innovation. I do not support a CCO with non-neighbouring districts like the Southern Water Done Well option.
Mayor Gary Kircher 17th of June 2025:
"One of our important roles is providing scrutiny, holding officers-staff members to account from a democracy point of view, from a governance point of view...."
"We swear we will make decisions on behalf of the District".... "....we put aside any other allegiances and so forth..."....."make the big decisions for the whole district..."
Councillor Jim Thomson (Waihemo Ward) 17th of June 2025:
"....so if you're coming in with an axe to grind, or think you can fix something, you need to actually look in the mirror and think, how am I going to achieve those things?"
What will I do....
If elected, my focus will be on all data and information being presented to the Elected Councillors by senior staff to be complete and correct so we as Councillors can confidently base our decisions on it.
Our District's financial situation is not good and will require careful management to keep rates and their rises within affordable limits. Therefor, any decisions on expenditure will be held against what I call the WRIST Principle. The WRIST Principle is a simple evaluation tool I have developed for myself and will apply to take the Waitaki District Council back to the core duties people expect from any council:
Water services; Drinking, Storm Water and Wastes;
Roads & Rubbish that Council has to maintain;
Infrastructure maintenance, Council owned or legally obligated to maintain;
Services Council has to maintain to stay operational; and
Transparency, in all Council's actions and dealings.
Undoubtedly there will be some expenditure required that does not comply with this simple principle but they will be closely vetted with a focus on that (by and large) it will benefit all or most of the District’s ratepayers and not just one specific group of people with a specific interest or gain.
I realise that sometimes things have to be discussed 'behind closed doors' but not as frequent as they have occurred in the past few years. If elected as councillor, I will aim to break down the current culture of 'closed workshops and meetings' and make them the exception, not the rule.
Holding Council Staff to account is one of the duties of a Councillor. Our current Mayor Gary Kircher made that quite clear in his candidates presentation in the Opera House on the 17th of June 2025. I am not afraid to do just that. During the past two years, I have challenged Council Staff on two occasions already via a complaint to the Ombudsman who, after its investigation, agreed with me and as a result Council Staff had to apologise and comply with my requests. I intend to do make holding Council Staff to account, one of my main focusses as the Waihemo Councillor, if elected. To be clear, I'm not standing as a candidate for councillor to grind an axe or seek some revenge on a staff member or councillor, that is in the past whilst I operate in the present and work towards the future. I'm simply going to take what I have learned in the past few years and apply that experience.
What about Waihemo?
Frankly, I'm not aware of all the problems that Waihemo residents like to see addressed by Council but rest assured that the moment I hear someone mention Hampden, Palmerston, Waihemo or any other place within the Waihemo Ward that requires its councillor's attention, I will dedicate my time to it. During this election period I will conduct at least one public forum within the Waihemo Ward to create an opportunity for all voters from throughout the Waihemo Ward and the Waitaki District to raise any fair questions. I'm not going to promise I will have an answer for each and every one of them but I will take them 'on-board'.
Some of the main issues that are known to me and already have my focus are:
Macraes' Gold Mine operations. Come what may, this operation has to be allowed to continue. The contribution this operation makes to our District's economy, the employment benefits for direct employees of the gold mine plus the many suppliers and subcontractor ones are in a word 'irreplaceable'. Besides that, Macreas' operations provide opportunities for our young people in training, education and apprenticeships. All these things are just too valuable to the District and its families to loose.
Hampden's sewage problems. I do not agree with Council's attitude towards Hampden's sewage problem. I find it unacceptable that a town like Hampden does not have a proper sewage system. I do not accept Council's excuse of "we did a study on it and it was not feasible...". I have since learned that "the study" was a simple desktop exercise by a person unknown and that "study" has never been made public. If I am elected as the councillor for the Waihemo Ward, I'm going to reignite this debate and personally satisfy myself that all facts have been considered in providing Hampden a proper sewage system.
If elected, I invite all Waihemo Ward's residents and ratepayers to get in touch with me to let me know of any concerns they might have and think I can assist with.
How to get in touch:
Election Phone: 027 323 7679
Email: info@frans4waihemo-waitaki.com
So, why are you standing for Waihemo and not Corriedale?
We live just outside the boundary between the Waihemo and Corriedale Wards and as a result, our interests lie more in Hampden than in Herbert. Maxine (nee Keen-Lockerbie) is the genuine kiwi in our relationship though, being born in Geraldine but raised and prospered in our local area including over a decade in Palmerston. My own connection with Waihemo goes back from when I spent many weeks washing dishes when Tim and Vanessa started Vanessa's Cafe in 2014 in Hampden. It was during that period we called one afternoon into the Waianakārua Area and we decided to stay...
Then, during COVID, I organised with Yorky and Corrine, who managed the Hampden supermarket at that time, to have our groceries safely delivered to our small Waianakārua community without risk to those of us who were vulnerable to it.
More recently, during the Draft District Plan consultation I have been very active and vocal as a committee member of the Waitaki Property Guardians in my opposition to the large Sites and Areas of Significant to Māori ('SASM') and other Overlays proposed in this Plan over our Waitaki District. Particularly, the large SASM proposed over Hampden, together with its accompanying Rules & Objectives, that is of my concern as it not only impacts all properties on the eastside of SH1, I am also concerned that if this Overlay is formally adapted in the eventual District's Operational Plan, it might ruin any chance of ever fixing the sewage/septic tanks issue in Hampden.
To be clear, I remain firmly opposed to a SASM, or any other Overlay for that matter, that is not indisputably identified with tangible evidence. I am in equal terms opposed to interfering with SASMs identified in legislation or by actual evidence, past or future. In my simple view on this contentious issue, Māori and post colonisation cultures currently exist side-by-side and in a balance that benefits both. So, leave the bloody pendulum alone and let us prosper together.
And then there is another important reason as to why I stand as a candidate for the Waihemo and not the Corriedale Ward where (strictly technically speaking) I just reside in. Having been engaged with Council during the past three years I have learned that a single Councillor on his or her own cannot make a difference. The only way to make a difference when it becomes time to get something done or decided upon, you need a majority of councillors to be on your side of your argument. I know that the candidates standing in the Corriedale Ward hold very similar views as my own on how Council should be managed. Knowing that, the chance of a 'majority decision' on things important to us increases by me standing for Waihemo, a ward where I also have a strong personal interest in, and not be in opposition to the Corriedale Ward candidates. 'Yes', that's politics but it is also democracy and the only way we can actually achieve a difference.
Finally, my nominators Publican Mrs. Shirley Blanchard and Councillor Jim Thomson obviously reside in the Waihemo Ward and are well known citizens who know and appreciate what I stand for. They would not nominate me if they did not believe I would be an asset to the Waihemo Ward as its elected councillor.