Gore District Councillor wins national award

It's official - Gore District Councillor Neville Phillips is SuperHuman.

Cr Phillips was named the inaugural SuperHuman Award winner last night at Local Government New Zealand's annual conference for his outstanding work representing Mataura as an elected member for 21 years.

Council employee, community board member, councillor, volunteer fireman and sports administrator – Cr Phillips has spent half a lifetime serving the Mataura community and wider Gore District in one way or another.

Cr Phillips said the win was not only for him, but also for everyone he has worked with to achieve the best for the District.

He was humbled to be nominated but there were still unfinished projects to see through, he said.

Community service was ingrained into Cr Phillips from a young age with his parents, siblings and wider family involved in their local volunteer fire brigade or St John.

When Cr Phillips received his Gold Star for 50 years of service to the Mataura Volunteer Fire Brigade, it meant his immediate and wider family had collectively given 600 years' service to the fire service or St John.

Cr Phillips' contribution to Mataura started in 1987 in a most practical way – he was a supervisor on the old government PEP employment scheme. At only 24 years old, he oversaw 14 trainees whose job was to look after the town.

His political career was launched in 2003 when he was elected to the newly created Mataura Community Board.

His motivation was to ensure the town had a voice. There was also a degree of nostalgia – he could see some of his work in the 80s, the cobblestones and footpaths, were showing their age and needed repaired.

However, it was a project that would give the town a focal point and place to meet that earned Cr Phillips the respect and gratitude of his community.

The development of the Mataura Community Centre took 12 years from when it was first mooted to when it opened on 30 January 2009.

Never one to be put off by how long something might take, Cr Phillips has quietly worked away negotiating, persuading, and sharing his big-picture vision of how to make Mataura a vibrant, safe community.

Tulloch Park is another example of his ability to look long-term and put the interests of his community above all else.

There's no doubt in Cr Phillips' mind Mataura is throwing off the shackles of its past. It's not the town made famous by Jon Gadsby over 40 years ago – although Cr Phillips says he is most definitely 'proud to be a scourer from Mataura'.

He has lived by the philosophy that whatever he's involved in – whether it's the fire brigade or ice sports (his other love) – he's not there for himself. He is there for the community. In his opinion, anyone who serves the community for their benefit shouldn't be there.

Cr Phillips - Neville - has shown an unselfishness and willingness to affect change at all levels. He is as much at home talking footpaths and multi-million-dollar infrastructure projects as he is operating at the highest level of diplomacy.

Every town needs a Neville. You can read his story by clicking on this link..