Mayor Alex Walker leads the Central Hawke’s Bay in New Zealand. The district is home to the beautiful beaches and historic homesteads with a cozy population of 14,412 people. Mayor Alex Walker is the district’s female mayor – elected twice as the district’s mayor.
With the beautiful nature at Central Hawke’s Bay, the district faces water challenges. The current water infrastructure system does not work well for the district and Mayor Alex Walker has been coordinating with the central government to bring about reform.
“We need to be looking at how we do this smarter because the current system just doesn’t work for us or for our community,” Mayor Alex Walker told Radio New Zealand.
The reform is taking shape, along with the government’s Three Waters Reform Programme that is intended to upgrade the water infrastructure across the country. Central Hawke’s Bay has also received the support of a water upgrade package, with a budget of over 760 million New Zealand Dollars to kick-start urgent work to upgrade the district’s drinking, waste, and storm water infrastructure.
Sufficient rainfall has also been a recurring concern in Hawke’s Bay, with a recent drought that has caused damage to Hawke’s Bay farmers that depend on rain to sustain agriculture. To respond to the drought, a relief fund has been set up to help Hawke’s Bay farmers with this ongoing emergency. For both programmes – the water infrastructure and drought relief – Mayor Alex Walker has said that she is considering each step carefully and making decisions with the community needs in mind.
Mayor Alex Walker also pulled the community together to help respond to the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. The motto of Central Hawke’s Bay has been “Together We Thrive” to encapsulate the community spirit in the district of helping one another out. By encouraging residents to support local products and help each other out, Mayor Alex Walker has led the district through the COVID-19 pandemic with the “Together We Thrive” motto as the guiding principle.
Altogether, Mayor Alex Walker has spearheaded through Central Hawke’s Bay challenges with a strong community spirit and genuine concern for the livelihoods of the district’s residents.
