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Download AudioNew Zealand’s longest-serving councillor says receiving his tohu as a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit was a proud moment.
Trevor Maxwell was invited yesterday by Governor General Dame Cindy Kiro at Government House in Wellington for services to Maori and local government.
The Ngati Rangiwewehi leader first stood for the Rotorua council in 1977.
“Sir Peter Tapsell put a piece of paper before me an hour before closing – ‘sign here’ – and I said ‘what’s this?’ He said ‘going for council,’ and I said I know nothing about council other than at our marae in Awahou – ‘hide the dogs, here comes the dog ranger from council,'” Mr Maxwell says.
By the time he completes his term, he will have matched former Greymouth deputy mayor Doug Truman’s record of 48 years on a district council, as well as serving a concurrent term in 1980 on the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.
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