Ben Stace brings staff experience to Marlborough District Councillor role

Ben Stace is a new face at the Councillors’ table for Marlborough District Council meetings. Around the building, though, longstanding employees recognize him from a previous role, as one of their own.

Before starting his architectural firm, Design Marlborough, Ben worked at Council in 2009 on GIS (geographic information systems) projects and digitising documentation for assets and services. So, while most new Councillors need a crash course in institutional history, he brings his own.

“For me, it’s largely been what I expected,” Ben said about his new position. “Having worked for Council, a lot of the induction was not new. It was quite interesting to go back after this many years to see how things have progressed and how issues have changed. It really has been interesting hearing from staff first-hand what their challenges going forward are. Coming from the outside, you don’t know any of that.”

What has he noticed from his distinct vantage? “The challenges have changed a lot -- what the staff are dealing with, particularly right now with Government legislation changing so quickly,” Ben says.

“They’ve got a lot on their plates, and it’s good to see some of the new Councillors aware of that situation. No one is trying to throw any of the staff under the bus; we realise they are quite stretched.”

Results
Ben can empathise on stress after a nail-biter of an election. He secured the final Blenheim Ward seat by a sliver: The early margin of 29 votes wound up at 11.

The outcome did not affect his outlook, he says: “I would feel like I need to prove myself in this term no matter what the result had been.”

His “first instinct” upon learning the final count was to call the candidate he edged out, Tamsin Cooper, to encourage her to run again.

“She assured me she is,” Ben said. “That was good, because we planned to work together – we had similar issues we saw in town. And we need good people to run in the future.