Whangarei District Mayor Morris Cutforth is to ask Council for four months’ leave, starting immediately, to recover from the minor stroke he had in February this year.
Updated:
10/05/2011 12:16 p.m.
The move is based on a specialist doctor’s advice and will take effect through a resolution of Council at an Extraordinary Meeting to be held tomorrow. If Council passes the recommendation, which it is expected to do, Mayor Cutforth will be given leave of absence for all Council meetings from May until August. He will also stand aside from any other Council business, on the recommendation of his doctors.
“In hindsight I should have taken this leave earlier, but I have only just received this advice and will now act on it,” Mayor Cutforth said. “I have kept on as best I can because I am very aware of the responsibilities of my role, and because Council is pushing ahead with so many wonderful projects that are set to take the District forward - so it has been very difficult for me not to be involved. But I now accept that I should take the advice I’ve got, and give myself the best chance of a full recovery by taking time to heal.”
“I am very comfortable with Councillor Halse as Deputy Mayor, who will now take over most of my duties for this period. Phil has the same philosophy, values and beliefs that I do and has already been working to further the openness and transparency that have been a theme of this Council since the last election. I have complete confidence in him and also in the Committee Chairs, Councillors Deeming, Martin and Syers, who will take on some further duties in the next few months.”
Council CEO Mark Simpson says the concept of a mayor taking leave to recover from illness is neither unusual nor unprecedented. “Mayor Len Brown, who at the time was Mayor of Manukau City, was given leave for six months to recover from a heart attack. He returned within four months and went on to win the Mayoralty of the Auckland Supercity.”
Mr Simpson says WDC will be working with the Remuneration Authority to make some arrangements regarding the mayoral honorarium that will recognise the additional workload that Deputy Mayor Phil Halse will take on during the four month period.