For Thames-Coromandel’s Mayor Len Salt, the biggest learning he’s taken from his first term is the importance of finding the balance.
It’s a lesson he’ll be holding onto as he vies for a second stint in the district’s top job.
Mayor Salt announced his intention to restand last week, and told The Profile the decision was only made after being given the nod by his partner Svargo.
“The job comes with a very high level of personal commitment, and that’s not just for me, that’s for both of us, and I couldn’t do it without her support,” he said.
“So it was really about, are we both able and ready and keen to do this? And that was the essence of the discussions, and Svargo was 100 per cent behind me all the way. Without that, I would have been making a different decision.”
Mayor Salt said the district faced some “significant challenges” over the last three years, including the major weather events of 2022 and 2023 which cut off communities and contributed to economic decline.
He also said the diversity of the district, while being one of its unique features, also presented a challenge in achieving fairness and equity for all.
There were personal trials, too.
“The main challenge is finding a balance between the inevitable criticism that you get,” he said, “because not everyone’s going to like the decisions that you have to make as a mayor and as part of a council.
“I guess where that becomes a real personal challenge is when that criticism becomes a personal attack. That’s hard to deal with sometimes, but it’s balanced out by the fact that when I go out into my communities, I get such incredible levels of support and affirmation from people.”
Mayor Salt said he had become “better at finding the balance” and learning to switch off for an hour or so.
“When I first started, especially when we had the storms, I’d be waking up at three in the morning and going through things in my mind and rehashing stuff that had happened during the day,” he said. “But you need to develop the ability to step away from that and come back in the morning or the next day with a fresh look at things.
“And for me, my escape is I play some music. I don’t play golf. I don’t do any other sports. My leisure activity is playing music. But for the first 18 months or so, I didn’t pick up my guitar at all.
“Once I found that I needed this, I needed a way to switch off and relax, I picked up the guitar again.”
Mayor Salt, who will be 69 in May, has a spinal condition and can sometimes be seen using a walking aid on his jaunts around the district – but he said his ailment gives him common ground with some constituents.
“For the first 10 or 15 minutes when I get together with people of my age, we are always talking about, you know, how’s the hip? How’s the back? How’s the eyes?” he joked. “And then we get on to talking about roads and rubbish and parks and libraries and rates. But it gives us some common ground.”
Election day for this year’s local body elections is on October 11, 2025.
Thames ward councillor Peter Revell has already announced his intention to stand for Mayor. Candidate nominations officially open on July 4.
BY KELLEY TANTAU
