Ashburton Mayor Neil Brown has appointed Cr Liz McMillan as deputy mayor.

Her appointment was confirmed after Mayor Brown and councillors were officially sworn in at a special inaugural meeting in the Council Chambers yesterday.

Mayor Brown said the Western ward councillor, who was his deputy last term, brought experience, commitment and energy to the role, and the pair would continue to make a great team.

Cr McMillan served nine years on the Methven Community Board before being elected to Council in 2016.

She said there was a lot of big work to conclude in the next three years and she was looking forward to the conclusion of the $9.6m Methven drinking water upgrade, which includes new water reservoirs and a new treatment plant for the town.

“Another part of my role as deputy is representing Council at the Safer Communities table, and making sure our wellbeing goals are being achieved across all sectors of our community.

“It’s a real privilege to be a councillor and deputy mayor, and see our district grow economically, culturally and socially, and maintain our environmental footprint.”

Ms McMillan said two projects important to her included trying to lower the speed limit on State Highway 77 outside the new Opuke hot pools so the area was safer for pedestrians, and boosting use of the Mid Canterbury community connector vehicle.

She is also putting some time aside in her diary early next year to use a leadership scholarship awarded recently by the Advance Ashburton Community Foundation. She intends to do a challenging five-day women’s leadership course at Outward Bound.

Mayor Brown welcomed all the councillors on board yesterday and said they would all face some challenges in the next three years as they navigated reforms of the Resource Management Act, the future of local government, Three Waters and inflation, the latter which would put pressure on budgets.

“We have some big projects on the books already and we are working to sort Methven’s water quality issues by winter, lobby the Prime Minister for funding for our second bridge and bring the library and civic building to a finish by mid-2023 and as close to budget as possible.

“These projects will transform the district for the better for the generations to come and we must keep the momentum going and ensure there are no hold-ups.”

Mayor Brown said the councillors had taken an oath to work together for the greater good, and they would do that.

“We have an excellent Chief Executive to make sure the right people are in the right places to get things done and it is our role as governors to give him the resources to do that through our longterm planning processes.”