Wairoa District Council has announced the appointment of local woman, Te Arohanui Cook (pictured) as Wairoa Recovery Manager in the wake of the June flooding event.
The Council says Mrs Cook has extensive experience across 30 years of working in local government, Civil Defence and emergency management.
For the past five years, she has worked as Group Manager of Regulatory, Planning and Community Services for the Westland District Council, based in Hokitika.
She has also been a Civil Defence Group Controller for multiple weather events on the West Coast and deployed as a Group Controller to the Hawke’s Bay Emergency Co-ordination Centre for the first two weeks of Cyclone Gabrielle. She was also the Local Controller and then Recovery Manager for the 2019 Flood Event in Westland.
Wairoa Mayor, Craig Little said the town is fortunate to have someone of Mrs Cook’s calibre to take on the Recovery Manager role.
“Benita Tahuri was our Recovery Manager directly after Cyclone Gabrielle. Benita did a great job of looking after our people in what was, at that time, a very unknown space for us,” he said.
“When Benita’s fixed-term contract ended, Council’s Chief Financial Officer Gary Borg took on the position as the role was brought in-house to Council as we began to get on top of our plans for Cyclone Gabrielle Recovery. This latest event is catastrophic, and the Recovery Manager role is vital to shape our future.
“Te Aroha is well known and has local knowledge and experience in this role and many connections. We look forward to all working in partnership to help our town and district recover and rebuild to the best of our ability.”